11 replies to this topic

[Icterus galbula]

http://www.nytimes.c...al-cooking.html


I want to try this.

[DJ MC]

[Pedro Cerrano]

(Waits for Mackus to tell us this works best if it's on coals you mine yourself)

[Mike in STL]

I have seen someone cook a steak on a (clean I hope) cinder block. And you take one of those chimney charcoal starters, and when it is nice and hot, the chimney goes on top the Steak for 90 seconds. Flip, chimney on top again for 90 seconds. Done. The heat from the bottom of the chimney where the hottest coals are is nearly 1000 degrees, perfect for a quality sear on you meat. You cant get that heat from a grill top or stove top.

That is probably what they are getting at here, by cooking it right on the hottest temp possible.

[Cisc-O's]

I have always defrosted steaks but I hear they are better off cooked frozen....

[DJ MC]

I have seen someone cook a steak on a (clean I hope) cinder block. And you take one of those chimney charcoal starters, and when it is nice and hot, the chimney goes on top the Steak for 90 seconds. Flip, chimney on top again for 90 seconds. Done. The heat from the bottom of the chimney where the hottest coals are is nearly 1000 degrees, perfect for a quality sear on you meat. You cant get that heat from a grill top or stove top.

That is probably what they are getting at here, by cooking it right on the hottest temp possible.

 

Alton Brown did that, too. It simulates the insane broilers that steakhouses use.

[Mike in STL]

 
Alton Brown did that, too. It simulates the insane broilers that steakhouses use.

I think that's where I saw it. It was on tv quite a while back.

[Mackus]

Speaking of both things Alton Brown's done and cooking on really hot heat, I seared some tuna last night right over my chimney starter (my grill grate was a bit wobbly on top of it, but it didn't topple).  30 seconds a side on two ~1.5" thick steaks.  Got a great sear, maybe 1/4" of cooked tuna on either side and the a solid inch of so of really nice rare in the middle.

 

And then I spread the charcoals into the grill like normal and grilled some chicken breasts just so I didn't waste an entire chimney full of coals for 2 minutes of cooking time.

[Mackus]

Got a vacuum sealer and an immersion circulator for sous vide cooking as a gift (still getting wedding presents nearly a year out, this is great!) and last night I made my first steaks with it. 

 

Damn...it's a pretty foolproof and fantastic way to cook a steak.  Got two ~1.5" thick boneless ribeyes that were about 18 oz each.  Vacuum sealed them with a rosemary sprig and some thinly sliced garlic and shallot.  Into the water with the circulator set to 129 degrees, and left them in for about an hour.  I got a cast iron pan screaming hot (smoking oil), removed the steaks from the packaging, discarded the rosemary and other stuff, seasoned with salt and pepper, and then seared them about 15 seconds at a time flipping 3-4 times for about a minute total.

 

They were perfectly cooked, had a really nice sear (but I think I can get a better sear/crust in the future, could go a bit longer on each side before flipping), and tasted great.  Steakhouse quality, for sure.  Can't wait to try other cuts and meats.

[NewMarketSean]

I've been using the Cowboy wood charcoal recently...having a hard time figuring it out. Seems like it takes longer to get ready in the chimney starter than regular charcoal and you need to bunch it up on the side of the grill to keep it from burning out.

 

I need to try cooking steak directly on the coals once....I put some potatoes on the coals this past weekend. I don't know if they cooked any faster but it's what we did.

[Mackus]

I prefer briquets to lump.

[NewMarketSean]

I've found that lump is harder to get lit all the way through...or it just takes longer.