BGE, Day 2: Steak

After a long delay of 1 day after getting my Big Green Egg (see earlier post), I finally had a chance to grill some steaks and follow an actual procedure for searing them.

Searing a steak is supposed to make it really good, although I'm not exactly sure why. I figure it must have something to do with the sealing of juice inside the meat by cooking the outside of it so fast the juice can't escape. Never having eaten an explicitly "seared" steak, I couldn't say for sure. But I had a recipe, and the hardware available to execute on it, so I did it. I looked forward to the part where I threw the steaks on the grill with it red-hot. I wanted to see what would happen.

It was better than I thought it would be. The recipe I used was given to me by Jason Winter, and goes like this:

1. Take some good steaks and let them sit at room temperature for several hours, thawed out.
2. Rub some coarse salt and coarse-ground pepper into them.
3. Start the BGE and run it up to full speed, somewhere north of 700 degrees.
4. Lay the steaks on the grid, 90 seconds per side.
5. Remove the steaks.
6. Turn the BGE down to 400 degrees.
7. Wait 20 minutes.
8. Put the steaks back on, 5 minutes per side (at most).

As I anticipated, the best part of this process is the point where you drop the steaks on the grid with the fire going like crazy underneath. There's a lot of crackling and smoke, and the smell is pretty good.

I guess the point of the 20-minute wait is twofold: It lets the meat tenderize some more, and also gives the BGE a chance to cool down. Jason suggested it's the most important part of the process (besides, I assume, the grilling itself).

In any event, the steaks were the best I've grilled. They were juicy, the insides were pink, but the outsides had some crunchy black stuff on them, and a nice arrangement of stripes.

I think I'll try some chicken next.