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The worst steak of my life!

scaryangel
scaryangel Posts: 135
edited March 2012 in EggHead Forum
Just cooked a 3 pound porterhouse steak and it was like shoe leather. I blame my thermometer. I pulled it at 140 degrees let it sit for 20 minutes. It was bad. I should have done the touch test and i did not. I relied on my thermometer and that was a mistake. I need a new thermometer. I used the thermometer i always used in my oven for large cuts of meat. I have to redeem myself tomorrow with my Boston Butt low and slow. :-((
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Comments

  • Pulled at 140? WOW!!!!!! would have pulled at 115 - 120 and wrapped in foil for 10. Thats like a mini Prime Rib
    LET'S EAT
  • scaryangel
    scaryangel Posts: 135
    Thanks .i guessed i should have pulled it sooner.
  • scaryangel
    scaryangel Posts: 135
    I wraped it in foil and let it sit for 20 minutes.
  • ChokeOnSmoke
    ChokeOnSmoke Posts: 1,942
    1.) Calibrate your thermometer in boiling water (you want 212).
    2.) Pull at 125 for medium rare.
    3.) Lightly tent with foil only 5 minutes, no reason to let it sit any longer.
    4.) Perfect every time.
    Packerland, Wisconsin

  • Remember. The thicker the steak the longer it will continue to cook itself after you pull it.
  • scaryangel
    scaryangel Posts: 135
    @choke on smoke. Thanks i will check my thermometer
  • scaryangel
    scaryangel Posts: 135
    @ stilllaughing thanks i will try that. I have to redeem myself.
  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    scaryangle, consider a Thermapen for instant temp readings.
    The Naked Whiz
  • JalopyBob
    JalopyBob Posts: 175
    In addition to the thermometer, you can also watch how the juices rise to the top of the steak. Why 3 LBS,
     that is a monster Porterhouse?
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,665
    you need a thermapen. you didnt mention how you cooked it, the book has that sear and dwell method, i wouldnt use that method on a 3 pound porterhouse or any good steak for that matter
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • JimS
    JimS Posts: 78
    you need a thermapen. you didnt mention how you cooked it, the book has that sear and dwell method, i wouldnt use that method on a 3 pound porterhouse or any good steak for that matter

    agree!
  • ribmaster
    ribmaster Posts: 209

    Try sear and dwell on thin steaks.

    Try reverse(dwell and sear) sear on Uber steaks(1.5" or greater). Cook indirect at 225 degrees  until middle is 120 degrees. Slide thermapen in from side steak. Remove(lay topside down on a cool plate, donot foil or tent) and stoke fire to red hot then sear  direct as close to coals as possible on each side flipping when needed.

    I grill therefore I am.....not hungy.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    A three pound steak is no loger a steak. It's a roast. If you try to cook it by searing alone, you'll incinerate the exterior before the interior was 'done'.

    I might have slow roasted it.

    Like fish mentions, the sear and dwell method is abominable on most anything but maybe a tenderloin. If a steak has any fat at all, it will drip onto the smothered coals as they die, and thatsooty smoke has no place to go but on the steak.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • hogsfan
    hogsfan Posts: 128
    edited March 2012
    140 is not optimal, but it won't make a good piece of meat "the worst steak of my life."  One of my old mentors mentors who used to run one of the nicest steak houses in my home town once told me "It's hard to make a good cut of meat tastes bad and it's REALLY hard to make bad cut of meat taste good." 

    His point was that (once you know the basics of how to to grill) if your steak turns out really bad, you more likely made the mistake at the grocery store and not on the grill.  

    Having said that, I also recommend the thermapen. It's great!
  • scaryangel
    scaryangel Posts: 135
    I seared it one minute each side with a small grid over coals. Then i wrapped it in foil and rested while i let the temperature come down to 375 degrees and stabilize. I then put salt and pepper on the steak and put the regular grid on and cooked it direct. I took it off when my thermometer said it was140. I wrapped in foil and rested it for 20 minutes. It was cooked all the way through. No pink at all. The strip was not edible it was dry and like shoe leather and the filet was ok kind of dry so we ate that but it was the worst steak i have ever cooked. I have been grilling since i was 15 yrs old.
  • scaryangel
    scaryangel Posts: 135
    I am looking online for a thermapen.
  • scaryangel
    scaryangel Posts: 135
    I bought the steak at the local butcher shop and had them frsh cut it for me. Usually their meat is excellent. I think my thermometer was off. I need to do the boiling water check on it.
  • Eggbertsdad
    Eggbertsdad Posts: 804
    I seared it one minute each side with a small grid over coals. Then i wrapped it in foil and rested while i let the temperature come down to 375 degrees and stabilize. I then put salt and pepper on the steak and put the regular grid on and cooked it direct. I took it off when my thermometer said it was140. I wrapped in foil and rested it for 20 minutes. It was cooked all the way through. No pink at all. The strip was not edible it was dry and like shoe leather and the filet was ok kind of dry so we ate that but it was the worst steak i have ever cooked. I have been grilling since i was 15 yrs old.
    That was the problem. Taking that big of a cut off at that temp and letting it rest probably meant you ate it at 160. I'm still new to the heat of the egg for steaks and have had 50/50 success so far. Just keep battling.  =D>
    Sarasota, FL via Boynton Beach, FL, via Sarasota, FL, via Charleston, SC, via The Outer Banks, via God's Country (East TN on Ft. Loudon Lake)
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,665
    the technique works, for one that thick i would want to see the roasting temps lower, saye 300/325 but what the technique works. a piece like that you want off the grill at 122/125 resting on a rack 10 minutes(med/rare) no foil, not on a plate as the juices come out faster. dont wrap a steak. more medium, i find pulling it at 127, same rack, lay foil loosely on top and rest it for 20, works real well for ribeyes. ribeyes are more forgiving for juicy steaks and can be brought to a slightly higher temp internally, you really start noticing this when you get a thermapen. those are all pull it off the egg temps for a descent thickness on a steak, temps go up as they rest, the steak is still cooking
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    that 'steak' was taken off at 140.  eaten at 160.  that big, basically a roast in size, it will have a lot of carryover.  it keeps rising in temp as it is sitting there.  and a thicker chunk of meat will coast higher than a thin one
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • scaryangel
    scaryangel Posts: 135
    Thanks everyone. I appreciate your words of wisdom.
  • mustgrill
    mustgrill Posts: 141

    I did a 3 inch PH last weekend and made a video of it, I was 4+ pounds and turned out great. Try again it was my first also. I don't want to repost my link to youtube but search it out if you need too. I will never hot  grill PH again unless it 3 plus inches thick, the one problem is that PH's are not much more that 4 inches until the T-bone shows up. I have recieved the Itailian Olive Wood which will make it as close to Tuscany as I can get? I can't wait for the next one. Search out the internet and other sources you find all you need?

    Located in Western North Carolina
  • chill243
    chill243 Posts: 131
    I bet my hocky puck boneless ribs were less edible than yours!
  • mustgrill
    mustgrill Posts: 141
    What does that mean? Did you screw the pooch on some ribs?
    Located in Western North Carolina
  • mustgrill
    mustgrill Posts: 141

    Ok, I was not going to repost my 3 inch porterhouse. You do not have to cook it like a roast you can grill it like the Itailians do? It can be done and here's the video to show it. The next time I will be using my Olive Wood I just recieved to grill this wonderful steak. 4 pounds and all.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pvceUSRIpw

     

    Located in Western North Carolina
  • mustgrill
    mustgrill Posts: 141
    By the way check out my Lamb Chops I did this weekend... :D
    Located in Western North Carolina
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    You dont hafta cook it like a roast. But it's a roast.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • scaryangel
    scaryangel Posts: 135
    @ mustgrill. Where did u get olive wood?
  • mustgrill
    mustgrill Posts: 141

    Maine Grilling Woods

    www.mainegrillingwoods.com

     

    Located in Western North Carolina
  • tdbmd
    tdbmd Posts: 46

    I kind of had a similar thing happen with a couple of 1 lb, 2 1/2 inch thick ribeyes this weekend.  Seared them first and then cooked at 425.  Pulled with internal temp of 125 but were a bit too rare and had to go back on.  I don't think I let them rest long enough after pulling them off.

    Take home message - big steaks take a bit more experience!  At least they were not over-done!