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where to grill steaks ?

fairchase
fairchase Posts: 312
edited November 2011 in EggHead Forum

As a brand new xl owner I am suffering from information overload , and have lots of questions. Here is the first.

With the ability to cook from 2" in the fire ring all the way up to 4 1/2 " above the felt ring what do you find is the best height to grill steaks ? Is it different for burgers ?

Comments

  • I did something the other day for the first time and it was great.
    Flank steak. 4 minutes a side and 5 minute rest.
    Right on the coals.
    Nothing stuck. great taste. My only way to go from now on.
  • 4Runner
    4Runner Posts: 2,948
    edited November 2011



    fairchase - nice purchase. You will love it. There are
    many ways to grill steak so you will need to find the technique that works best
    for you.  After much experimenting I do
    the following:

    1.     Salt on steaks, nothing more.

    2.     Using a spider, I throw the steaks on down low over a hot fire to sear each side.

    3.     Pull steaks and season with salt, pepper, and some butter and let rest.

    4.     Insert raised grate in BGE and close down vents.

    5.     @ around 350 or so, throw steaks back on (raised)

    6.     Pull at the desired temp – 10 degrees.

    This has yielded best results for me.  Again, there are many different ways and research
    and experimentation is the way to go.

    Joe - I'm a reformed gasser-holic aka 4Runner Columbia, SC Wonderful BGE Resource Site: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramicfaq.htm and http://www.nibblemethis.com/  and http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/2006/02/recipes.html
    What am I drinking now?   Woodford....neat
  • 4.     Insert raised grate in BGE and close down vents.

     

     

  •  At what height are you placing your raised grid ?
  • I do them right at the normal grid level.  Crank the EGG up to 600 or so and cook until 125 internal.  Let rest a few minutes.  Perfect.
    Packerland, Wisconsin

  • Greygoose
    Greygoose Posts: 103
    edited November 2011

    1.     Salt  and cracked pepper after light olive oil on steaks,

    2.     Using a spider, I throw the steaks on down low over a really hot fire to sear 2 minutes per side.

    3.     Pull steaks and let rest while setting up the egg for a direct elevated cook (turning spider over and removing the small searing grate and inserting the regular grate) of 400 degrees

    4.     After resting for 10 minutes and stabilizing egg at 400, throw steaks back on. I Do not close down the grates cause it makes the steaks too smokey flavored for my tastes. I leave the grate to wherever i can maintain 400 degrees. 

    5.     Pull at the desired temp (130 degrees for medium rare) and let rest for 10 minutes in foil. 

    6. Finish that glass of single malt and crack a cold beer. Then let the carnivorous powers to be lead you through the next steps.


    GreyGoose 


  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    edited November 2011
    as grey goose mentioned, closing the vents is (i think) a bad way to handle things.  it's been pimped repeatedly by the BGE HQ, but the smoke effect is nasty.

    there is good smoke and bad smoke.  good smoke occurs when you get good fresh air feeding the fire.  if you choke it off (by closing vents), any wood or (more important here) FAT will burn poorly.  it can fully combust.

    the smoke is not only filled with fatty particles, soot, etc., but it is different than normal smoke, since it is from poorly burning fuel.

    when you shut vents, the fat from the steak hits the coals and instead of burning away cleanly, it smolders.  that soot wafts thru the dome and lands on your steak.

    if you like wood 'smoke' flavor (and i think the vast majority of us do), then for us "too much" is usually the same good flavor, but simply too much of it.  but when people say these steaks taste "too smokey", i'm betting they think that flavor itself is not good.  it's smoldered fat. the problem isn't too much, it's that it is there in the first place

    a candle burns clean with clear smoke when it gets good oxygen.  snuff it out, and it will smolder for another ten seconds with a lot morevisible smoke.  it's sooty, and smells horrible. same principle: incomplete combustion

    fwiw (yes, tweev, i know "not much") i hot tub my steaks (no, i don't use an actual hot tub) .  sear/sear/pull/rest/eat.


    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • I prefer normal grid level. at 500-525.  I only flip my steaks once. 

    I've been told by my eatters that its the best steak they have ever had...since I went looking for a grill 6 years ago and at the 3rd place I ran across this thing called Big Green Egg...the store had a loin cooking on one out front.  I walked past it the first time looking at traditional custom grills they sell.  I walked in the store.  Saw all the different sizes.  Didn't take much to sale me on it.  I walked out with a BGE-L w/ a table and everything to grill supper that night (except the meet). 

    Reed- Springhill, Louisiana
  • forty_crk

    Did you get your name from fourty creek rye?

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • Squeezy
    Squeezy Posts: 1,102

    Forty Creek is a blended whisky, consisting of rye, barley, and corn ... not just rye!

    Very good, I might add ...

    Never eat anything passed through a window unless you're a seagull ... BGE Lg.
  • Squeezy is correct- its my favorite whisky.  I got burnt out on crown (but still like some crown now n then).  I bought some one day and here I am and its never let me down...only drink crown if 40 isn't available.  I have busted a few bartenders that have poured crown into ther 40-crk bottles.  They tried to play it off...finally they tell me I am correct.  Im like no crap.  Thers not that much difference in price so I really don't get why they do it.

    Thers nuttin better than having the egg rolling and and a toddy in my hand!  My eaters get mad cause I tell em we are eatting at 7...I'm never in a rush...it's normally 9! Good things come to those who wait and if they hungry they will love abt anytg you cook...cause ther hungry 

    Reed- Springhill, Louisiana
  • Squeezy
    Squeezy Posts: 1,102

    @ forty_crk

    Have you tried any of the premium offerings ... you know the $59 and up stuff?

    It's 'really' good!

    Never eat anything passed through a window unless you're a seagull ... BGE Lg.
  • Yes- I like em.  Every once in while I splurge a little bit on em.  Reserve is good- IMO
    Reed- Springhill, Louisiana
  • Squeezy
    Squeezy Posts: 1,102
    It definitely is a splurge .... but it is good IMO as well
    Never eat anything passed through a window unless you're a seagull ... BGE Lg.
  • Sorry, not a whisky drinker here and have never tried it. I always see with the rye in Elsie Beyoh

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • 4Runner
    4Runner Posts: 2,948
     At what height are you placing your raised grid ?
    On my Adjustable Rig from the CGS, I just put it up top.   Not sure how much that matters but that is what I do every time so I have a feel for how long I need to roast before checking temp.   
    Joe - I'm a reformed gasser-holic aka 4Runner Columbia, SC Wonderful BGE Resource Site: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramicfaq.htm and http://www.nibblemethis.com/  and http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/2006/02/recipes.html
    What am I drinking now?   Woodford....neat
  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
    I've been doing steaks the T-Rex method since I got the egg.

    It sounds like some of you just sear the steak on both sides until done (which is basically T-Rex minus the resting and second cooking).  I just bought a couple of prime sirloins, probably about 1.5-2" thick.  Maybe I'll try this faster method on them.

    forty_crk, are you cooking them with the dome opened or closed?