actually. not many pics of what i do at all. so fuck. ill describe it cuz i feel like it.
and as always, everyone has their own way of doing it, but. i like the results i get from this way and it's pretty mindless.
I get two good looking steaks. last night, it was two boneless ribeyes from jewel. because they looked good.
and then i salt them on both sides and leave them on a rack in the fridge until im ready to grill, for at least 40 minutes... why? cuz this.
then. i forgot to take pics because i was doin' lots of shit, along with grilling.
whoops
i reverse sear though... 90% of the time i do this all on my weber.
i put coals on one half of the grill, stacked, and then let the steaks cook on the "cool side" flipping very frequently (OH NO HE DIDN'T)
why do i do this? because science.
then. i pull them when an instant read thermometer (these are sweet, if you don't have one, get one) reads 118-120* or so. and then i get everything else ready to eat.... and then i sear on the now-stupid-hot part of the grill and serve immediately after.
why? cuz science.
right before the final sear:
nom.
a lil more medium than medium rare than i would have liked but. sofuckinggood.
and as always, everyone has their own way of doing it, but. i like the results i get from this way and it's pretty mindless.
I get two good looking steaks. last night, it was two boneless ribeyes from jewel. because they looked good.
and then i salt them on both sides and leave them on a rack in the fridge until im ready to grill, for at least 40 minutes... why? cuz this.
Truth of the matter is that you should salt your meat about 40 minutes before it hits the grill. When the salt first hits a steak, it sits on the surface. Through the process of osmosis, it'll slowly draw liquid out of the mat, which you'll see pool up in little droplets. As those droplets grow, the salt will dissolve in the meat juice, forming a concentrated brine. At this stage in the game—about 25 to 30 minutes in—your steak is in the absolute worst shape possible for grilling. That moisture will evaporate right off, leaving you with a tough, stringy crust.
Give it a bit more time, and eventually that brine will begin to break down some of the muscle tissue in the meat, allowing the juices to be re-absorbed, and taking the salt right along with it.
What does this lead to? Meat that is both better seasoned and more tender and moist when you cook it.
Personally I season my steaks at least a few days in advance, to give the salt maximum time to work its way into the meat. Why steakhouses don't do this is a mystery to me.
Do use kosher salt, not regular table salt. The larger grains of kosher salt (which should more accurately be called "koshering salt," as salt itself is always kosher—kosher salt is coarse salt used in the koshering process) are easier to sprinkle evenly with your fingers, and will also draw more initial moisture out of the meat to dissolve than table salt. You can read more about the differences between table salt and kosher salt here.
then. i forgot to take pics because i was doin' lots of shit, along with grilling.
whoops
i reverse sear though... 90% of the time i do this all on my weber.
i put coals on one half of the grill, stacked, and then let the steaks cook on the "cool side" flipping very frequently (OH NO HE DIDN'T)
why do i do this? because science.
Q: How often should I flip my steak? [TOP]
People say you should only flip your steak once. People say many things, not all of them true.
The reality is that multiple flipping will not only get your steak to cook faster—up to 30% faster!—but will actually cause it to cook more evenly, as well. This is because—as food writer Harold McGee has explained—by flipping frequently, the meat on any given side will neither heat up nor cool down significantly with each turn. If you imagine that you can flip your steak infinitely fast,* then you can see that what ends up happening is that you approximate cooking the steak simultaneously from both sides, but at a gentler pace. Gentler cooking = more even cooking.
While it's true that it takes a bit longer over the hot side of the grill to build up the same level of crust in a multi-flipper steak, the fact that it cooks more evenly means that you can cook over the hot side a bit longer, without the risk of burning the outside before the center cooks. You can also avoid creating a harsh temperature gradient inside the meat, as you would if you were to cook it entirely over the hot side without flipping.
What's more, as Russ Parson's noted in the LA Times, you'll also minimize the curling and cupping problems that can occur when fat and connective tissue shrinks faster than meat as it cooks.
There are two possible advantages to the single-flip method. The first is that if you like pretty grill marks, you won't get them with multi-flipping. The second is that multi-flipping can be a pain in the butt if you have a ton of meat on the grill.
You don't have to flip your steaks multiple times, but if someone tells you that you're ruining your steak by flipping it over and over, you can assure them that science is on your side.
then. i pull them when an instant read thermometer (these are sweet, if you don't have one, get one) reads 118-120* or so. and then i get everything else ready to eat.... and then i sear on the now-stupid-hot part of the grill and serve immediately after.
why? cuz science.
However, Nathan Myhrvold of the James Beard 2012 Cookbook of the Year Modernist Cuisine (see here for some behind-the-scenes shot of their lab) says otherwise. His claim is that it's not so much about redistribution of moisture, but that it's about the relative viscosity of hot vs. cool liquids. The juices stay in place because they've managed to thicken up a bit as they cool.
In either case, the fact remains: resting your meat works. That said, if you are using the reverse-sear method, then resting is largely unnecessary: the steak cooked gently enough that there is not a large temperature gradient inside it anyway.
right before the final sear:
nom.
a lil more medium than medium rare than i would have liked but. sofuckinggood.