Del Friscos quality steak

[yellowstang]

Even when I had that double grill thing, I never used the gas side. I love cooking with charcoal.



It never bothered me. Now, I have never done this, but my old lady's dad reuses the shit out of charcoal. He also doesn't use much in the first place. He'll make burgers one day and then close up the grill and vents and it will go out. The next time he uses the grill he just puts some fluid down and they start right back up. He can sometimes get three uses out of a relatively small pile of charcoal. Sometimes he may add a few extra coals, but not always. He's mostly just a cheap bastard. His method doesn't work well for steaks, because his fire doesn't get as hot.

Personally, I like using a ton of charcoal and making a big, insanely hot fire. If I'm not going to use charcoal, I would just sear the steak on the stove and then cook it in the oven. No love for gas. I've used the stove/oven method once before (per Alton Brown on Good Eats), and I have to say the steaks came out great. I just prefer the flavor and enjoy the primal nature of cooking over a good fire.

You'd love a BGE, or similar type grill. That's one great feature after cooking on it, close the vents and let the fire die out, and have some lump coal left over. Plus, it doesn't take a lot to cook really. After several uses I finally learned not to add so much to start with. It'll get to 800-900 degrees pretty easy too, and burn the hair right off your arms when you flip a steak!

[Binky]

You need more heat, and far less time. The longer it's over the fire, the more liquid you lose.

My results say otherwise, my times are just estimates as I go by thermometer and touch. I agree with you in that strict time ignores what the food is doing. every steak is different.

With steak on the rack, I get a beautiful sear and seasoning with a warm red center throughout. That is typically in the med high range and on the grill for about 6-8 mins max. I'm lazy, i like propane and Dial-a-Heat

For the pan, it takes a little longer but its at medium and I can dial it in within 2-3 degrees every time and even temp on all sides.. I usually only use this on 2" thick steaks as well so the times are just longer by that fact. an inch thick steak that way is far less time.

[jluv]

You'd love a BGE, or similar type grill. That's one great feature after cooking on it, close the vents and let the fire die out, and have some lump coal left over. Plus, it doesn't take a lot to cook really. After several uses I finally learned not to add so much to start with. It'll get to 800-900 degrees pretty easy too, and burn the hair right off your arms when you flip a steak!

I've eyeballed them some. They seem really nice, but not sure if I can justify the price. The ol' 18" Weber works great, though. And I recently picked up this one to use when cooking for more than 5-6 people.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/KitchenAid-Cart-Style-27-10-in-Charcoal-Grill-810-0021/204461341?N=5yc1vZbx8h

I filled this bastard up with charcoal the first time I used it to cook burgers, dogs, and poppers for some people at work. I lit the fire at about 10:45 and it cranked out food for several hours. It was so insanely hot at 5 PM that I could have easily kept cooking on it, and we had to leave it outside over the weekend to cool off. I'll be doing fajitas on it this Thursday for about 35-40 people. It's nice.

One of my very favorite fires to cook on is a campfire. I'll keep a pretty big fire going for several hours until I have lots of glowing, angry coals. Then I move the wood/flames to one side and shove the coals to the other side under a little grate/grill thing that I just stick in the ground and it hovers inches above the coals. I find it really easy to control temp that way, because I can shove the coals around, put more in, take some out, etc. I like to use a cast iron skillet to cook anything from baked potatoes, bacon, veggies for fajitas, etc. I like to put a big pot of chili over the coals and tend to it all day while I get drunk.

Now I'm hungry, and want to go camping. Fuck this Texas heat.

[Binky]

Once the sides are seared up, gauge how much fat is rendered in the pan. You want some, but you don't want a stew so dump out enough to leave a nice coating. then add a couple tablespoons of butter (real butter like Kerrygold) and sear the faces of the steak for the maillard reaction.

After the steak browns nicely on one side(say 5 mins or so) pull the steak out and dump the fat and butter (which is on its way to being burnt and bitter) and replace it with more butter. Pop in the steak on the reverse face.

Best part. As this side browns, you baste the just browned side in all that nice melted butter.

Quoting to add in a final step that I did this weekend that was amazing.

After the steak is removed from the pan to rest, take the remaining juice/butter mixture and drizzle/spoon it over some french bread halves.

Toss some fresh grated cheese (i had some romano/parmasean mix) and toss under the broiler until toasted and all melty gooey.

[kingjason]

You'd love a BGE, or similar type grill. That's one great feature after cooking on it, close the vents and let the fire die out, and have some lump coal left over. Plus, it doesn't take a lot to cook really. After several uses I finally learned not to add so much to start with. It'll get to 800-900 degrees pretty easy too, and burn the hair right off your arms when you flip a steak!

x2. If I fill it all the way up I get about three cooks out of it. OR I just keep topping it off. Sometimes I let it burn all the way down just to clean it out.

[Mach1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtIiR7DBAqY

[Cooter]

No kidding. On the finger test, it has never let me down. You're looking for a tender squish. It's easy. You can still err on the under cooked side. Even using the same grill, same cut, same thickness - grills behave differently on different days. More pressure in the bottle gets more heat. Less pressure in the bottle gets less heat. Outside temp can make a huge difference, etc. that's why I try to encourage people to stop with the time thing.

meanwhile, my times are rough at best, and a thicker steak will need more...

the thing that took me a while to "get" was the fact that with the high heat I was cooking them at, the state at which I pulled them off the pan was not the state they met the plate...

IE, a steak that looked/felt PERFECTLY medium rare coming off the heat would continue to "cook" from the stored heat for another couple minutes during serving.

I always err to the side of rare and pretty much don't give a fuck as long as it's a good cut, has good sear on the outside, and isn't cool in the middle

[CJ]

What kind of results could I expect if I were to cook a steak with an acetylene torch?

[Chili]

meanwhile, my times are rough at best, and a thicker steak will need more...

the thing that took me a while to "get" was the fact that with the high heat I was cooking them at, the state at which I pulled them off the pan was not the state they met the plate...

IE, a steak that looked/felt PERFECTLY medium rare coming off the heat would continue to "cook" from the stored heat for another couple minutes during serving.

I always err to the side of rare and pretty much don't give a fuck as long as it's a good cut, has good sear on the outside, and isn't cool in the middle

Yeah.. I pull mine off at rare and eat them closer to medium rare.

That was one of the things I did not like about one of the times we ate at Del Friscos. Because they serve them on the super hot plate they continue to cook as you start eating them. Unless you eat them really fast, the last half ends up over cooked by the time you get to it.

[GrayStangGT]

What kind of results could I expect if I were to cook a steak with an acetylene torch?

blackened with a nice fossil fuel flavor?

[GrayStangGT]

x2. If I fill it all the way up I get about three cooks out of it. OR I just keep topping it off. Sometimes I let it burn all the way down just to clean it out.

I rarely fill mine past about half way up the bottom ceramic piece. For normal grilling I go through one ice scoop of charcoal. I will cook mine off and clean it out good if I'm planning a long smoke.