Tip for cooking steak

[AdmiralDigby]

[Eric]

I'm pretty happy with the grill so far. The convenience of propane is, as you folks promised, very nice.

- Heavy cast iron grates coated thickly in porcelain
- Cast aluminum lid (not prone to rust)
- Heats up to the 600°F range or better (hotter the better for searing)
- Does "2-zone" heating nicely.  Turned off two burners and left one going.  The cool side stayed at 225-250; the hot side in the searing range.
- American made, owned by a Canadian company.
- $150 cheaper than Weber's entry-level and Chinese-made E-Spirit 210

Sold only at Lowes.

Passions aside, I think it'll be very handy to have during the Summer months when the A/C is struggling to keep the house cool. 

[Pearl@32]

That other steak fed us two more meals. Eric had noshed on some earlier in the week and I made a steak salad for him last night. I had a leftover salad that had chicken, craisins, walnuts, apples, carrots and edamame ~ just added more greens and few pieces of steak (served cold). It was super tender. We also had corn on the cob, two cobs each. It's corn season again. I am learning that with just a little planning, dinner isn't really that hard to make.

[Phyll33]

  Maryland has the best corn. We would always go to the farmers markets and pick up good corn.

[Eric]

Yeah, we should probably hit the farmer's markets more often.  There are at least two within a decent distance.

We do have a Mars grocery store just up the street. Their policy is to buy locally-grown fresh veggies if at all possible.

[Phyll33]

Yeah, we should probably hit the farmer's markets more often.  There are at least two within a decent distance.

We do have a Mars grocery store just up the street. Their policy is to buy locally-grown fresh veggies if at all possible.

  My Aunt and Grandmother were big farmer's market shoppers. I used to go with them when I could.
Lot's of good produce in them down there.  I remember summers with big beefsteak tomatoes, silver
queen corn on the cob and steamed crabs or crabcakes. Yum!!

[Eric]

I found this on some website, tried it a couple of times, it works really well.

This works best with steaks an inch to an inch and a half or so thick, maybe two tops. Thinner than that, you ruin the steak, thicker than that, you don't get the full benefit.

Using sea salt (or kosher, but sea salt works the best) coat each side of the steak. And I mean coat it. I use a tablespoon or so on each side. No need to rub it in, just layer it on there. Cover and let rest at room temp for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the thickness of the steak. What this does is pull excess moisture out of the steak and in doing so it breaks down the proteins in the steak, tenderizing it. Any longer than an hour and the salt starts seeping into the steak. Some will, but not as much as you would think. After 45 minutes to an hour, rinse the steak off thoroughly and I mean thoroughly. Pat dry with paper towels or whatever. The steak will probably feel like it is falling apart by this point but fear not. Rub some crushed garlic and rosemary on the dried steak, along with some olive oil. Grill or broil as you normally do. You probably will not need to season with anything at all, maybe a little black pepper.

This makes sirloin are tender as ribeye, ribeye as tender as filet mignon.

We don't cook steaks as often as we once did, but we tried this again and they came out fantastic.

Also tried something new -- the grill grates only have one height-setting, so I turned one of them and laid them right on the flavor bars; just above the flames.  It did the best job of searing that grill's yet done.
It's not charcoal-hot, but I'll take it.