when i would come home from college (a distance of almost 900 miles), my parents knew that with my arrival would also come a special request for us to grill out (at least once) before i returned to my dorm-room and school cafeteria.
and we did. regardless of the weather.
i remember a time when my daddy hung a tarp up above the beautiful brick grill (that he built by himself) in order to avoid the heavy rains as he fired up the grill.
and boy can he grill!
and when he grills, there is no such thing as lighter fluid or quick burning briquettes. it's all about patience. he has a special technique to getting the fire to start and to remain. then, once the flame has died down and is not so hot, it's time to put the meat on.
....this past november i was able to attend a conference where i got to hear shannon hayes, a woman after my own heart, talk about all things beef and how to prepare and cook them. she grew up on a livestock farm and knows pretty much all there is to know about a good steak- from farm, to butcher, to grill. she actually shared with us, step by step, about the importance of each of the aforementioned stages in order to have the best possible piece of meat on your plate come dinnertime.
she shared a lot of interesting and helpful information, including recipes - two of which i want to share with you---
her steak on the grill recipe is similar to my dad's method:
- steaks should be 1 1/4- 1 1/2 inches thick
- salt/season your steak (preferably grass-fed) ahead of time
- 1-2 tablespoons coarse salt
- 1-2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- allow meat to come to room temp as you prepare your grill
- use charcoal or hardwood, never ever briquettes, and ignite using a charcoal chimney starter. when it is ready, dump the charcoal/hardwood out on one side of the grill. if you have a gas grill, warm grill until it is hot, then turn off all but one of the burners.
- hand test = if you cannot keep your hand hovering 3-4 inches over the grill for more than 4 seconds, the meat is ready to sear
- sear for 2-3 minutes on each side (add more salt/seasoning to other side if need be) with the lid down
- after both sides are seared, indirectly cook steaks on the cooler side of the grill for about 10 minutes per pound of steak. grass-fed steaks should reach an internal temp of 120-135 degrees
she frowned upon using any other method to cook a nice piece of steak, but acknowledged that sometimes weather (or other circumstances) may not permit a grilled steak. so she reluctantly gave us a pan-frying recipe that i have fallen in love with during these wintry months:
- salt/ season your steak ahead of time
- use a cast-iron skillet and turn heat up to high. do not put anything in the skillet
- preheat oven to 200 degrees fahrenheit
- wait for smoke to come off the skillet and then add 2 tbsp of lard or butter to grease the skillet.
beef and lamb fat offer the least amount of splatter
pork and butter fat are the next best thing (so if you don't happen to have any lard laying around, feel free to pull out the fresh butter that you just made via the previous recipe)
- sear steaks for 2 minutes on each side, then stick in oven for about 10-20 minutes (sidenote: if you want it more well-done (she, and we, like it moo-ing a bit), keep it in the oven for longer)
- enjoy
she even has cookbooks for sale!
Well, I wanted to learn about cooking grass fed steak when I came across your article. Lots of really good information that I needed to know. Thanks.
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