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Drunken Steak-Drunken Cook Win Win

jfm0830
jfm0830 Posts: 987
edited August 2013 in EggHead Forum
16-18 hour days of work, 7 days a week have kept me away from using my Eggs for the last 3 weeks. Last night was my first night post deadline and I didn't want to let my first free night in 3 weeks go by without grilling something. I decided to make Drunken Steak from Cook's Illustrated's 2011 Summer Grilling Guide. The steaks got a 4 hour swim in a rum based marinade, and I decided to celebrate the end of my deadlines and my return to grilling by cracking open a bottle of one of my favorite German hefeweizens (wheat beer). These are not wimpy small beers, they come in a 25oz bottle and I had one while the steaks were marinading, one with the cook and one with the meal. With my lack of sleep and the "small" bottles of beer I was quickly feeling pretty pleased with the world. Also it was great getting back to grilling!! This also marked the first time using the new outdoor Kitchen with the extra cabinets and first time after dark with the new lights. It was a pleasure working out there. Onto the pix.

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The marinade used rum, soy sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic, grated ginger root and minced scallion. The scallion was only used in a 1/4 cup reserved serving of marinade that got poured on the steaks when they were done being sliced up.





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The marinade for the steak in on the left, and the reserved marinade with the scallions is on the right.





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The 1 1/2 pound flank steak gets scored on the diagonal every 1 1/2 inches.





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Then it is into a zip lock freezer bag & into the fridge for 4 hours.





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While I was happy to be out at the Egg and to be giving the new cabinets a try out, I was unhappy to note how early it is starting to get dark outside. This was the first time I actually needed the lights I added in the spring for darkness as opposed to cloudy rainy days. 





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It is 4 hours later & the flank steak is out of the fridge & has been patted dry. It was important ot get the surface as dry as possible to get a great crispy crust out on the grill.





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This is what you gotta love about the Egg...I got it stabilized at my target temp of 600 degrees and then went inside. I was interrupted by a phone call that took me 30 minutes to deal with. When I returned to the Egg with the steak the temps were right where I'd left them 30 minutes earlier. 





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The flank steak cooked for 4 minutes a side at 600.





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The steak has cooked for 4 minutes a side and my poke test confirmed it was medium rare.





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The steak rested for 5 minutes tented with foil. I carved the meat across the grain and on the bias (slanted) to get the most tender slices. As you can see, it was plenty moist.





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The Drunken Steak was accompanied by some steak fries and my 3rd 25 oz hefeweizen. That is where the title of the post came from. Drunken Steak, drunken cook.

The steak was awesome. Between the marinade and thin slicing the steak across the grain on the bias, the steak was melt in your mouth tender. The marinade had soaked into the steak and gave the meat great flavor. The charred crust was crispy and tasty too and the interior was moist and juicy. This was a very simple cook, that yielded great results for very little effort. 

Jim

Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.

Comments

  • hapster
    hapster Posts: 7,503
    Welcome back to the egging... Great looking cook and post as always :)
  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,704
    Nice cook! Love your outdoor cooking spot.

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
  • RAC
    RAC Posts: 1,688
    Nice to see you egging again! Steak look's awesome.

    Ricky

    Boerne, TX

  • Thanks for all the detail.  I am a big CooksIllustrated fan, so will try this one out soon.
  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    Atta boy Jim, I was beginning to think you had lost your touch, Great looking cook. Used a rye based marinade, but never a rum one for beef. Must look up the details - drunk or not, thanks for the information. 
    Did not realize you were pre-disposed. Congrats on a great cook and meeting the deadline!
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • CAT Seller
    CAT Seller Posts: 208
    Super nice table, and environment to be cooking in. Oh yeah, steak looked good too.
    If it ain't a CAT, it's a dog!!! 2 LBGE's & BGE Backyard Chef Edition Cart
  • shtgunal3
    shtgunal3 Posts: 5,616
    Looks great. I wouldn't mind eating and getting drunk with you.

    ___________________________________

     

     LBGE,SBGE, and a Mini makes three......Sweet home Alabama........ Stay thirsty my friends .

  • JohnInCarolina
    JohnInCarolina Posts: 30,823
    Awesome cook. I like the choice of beer as well. Inspired all around!
    "I've made a note never to piss you two off." - Stike
  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    Thanks for looking and commenting.

    I had some of the leftover meat on some toasted garlic bread with slices of melted cheese last night and it was excellent. Next time I make this I may try slicing it super thin on my food slicer to see if it is any better than cutting it on the bias with my electric knife.
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
  • Griffin
    Griffin Posts: 8,200

    Awesome cook, @jfm0830, cooked perfectly in my book.

    I picked up some beer from that same company yesterday on the way home, but I grabbed the Hefe-weizen Dunkel. I've been on a bit of a Germany kick lately, can't wait to try it when I get home. Another bonus in my book is that come next bottling day, those bottles will mean less for me to bottle than if I was doing all 12oz bottles. ;)

    Rowlett, Texas

    Griffin's Grub or you can find me on Facebook

    The Supreme Potentate, Sovereign Commander and Sultan of Wings

     

  • Jim, hope that last 3 weeks is not typical for you! Hope you'll be able to enjoy a little "down" time. That steak looks delicious!

    I've been noticing the daylight hours shorten too and, our nighttime lows have been dropping into the low teens (*C) for the last few weeks now.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    edited August 2013
    @TexanOfTheNorth Sadly things of been leaning more in the other direction-my first year in business for myself I was going great guns. Then with the recession, things went to hell. I am an architect and many of the developers who had me price out jobs for them ended up not being able to get financing for the projects.

    The last week in July I went from having not much to do, to picking up two jobs that were medium-sized and would take me about three weeks each. They had due dates within one day of one another. The next day I had another small job that was due in the same general timeframe. Then a week later I had a fourth job. It was crazy because I basically ended up doing six to eight weeks worth of work in three weeks. I really needed to clone myself. I certainly would've sent one of those clones out to the Egg since I missed playing with it.
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
  • I understand what you're dealing with Jim. I've worked for myself doing software design and development for almost 20 years now. It can be feast or famine sometimes but, I wouldn't do it any other way. Good luck and I hope that things smooth out a bit for you!
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
  • bbqlearner
    bbqlearner Posts: 760

    Great cook! Thanks for sharing.

    Houston, TX - Buddy LBGE, Don SBGE, Tiny Mini & Shiny Momma Pitts n Spitts

  • StlScott
    StlScott Posts: 77

    This looks fantastic (understatement, as I drool into my keyboard).  Quick question - did you have the butcher run the flank through the tenderizer at all ... or just rely on the marinade to help break it down?

    StlScot

  • bucky925
    bucky925 Posts: 2,029
    As I was reading I was guessing the beer was Fransikainer, but not a bad choice at all!

    Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.

  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    edited August 2013
    Thanks again to everyone who's checked this thread out, for all the kind comments.
    StlScott said:

    ?..Quick question - did you have the butcher run the flank through the tenderizer at all ... or just rely on the marinade to help break it down?

    StlScot

    As far as I know the butcher did not run it through the tenderizer. If they did it was before I got there. I could tell from the recipe that the folks at Cook's illustrated had cooking flank steaks down. So I trusted them and was rewarded with a great steak.

    bucky925 said:
    As I was reading I was guessing the beer was Fransikainer, but not a bad choice at all!

    That would've been my first choice. I used to be able to get it around here, but about three years ago everybody stopped carrying it. A couple of bars in Boston had it on draft as well but they stopped carrying it around the same time it went off the store shelves. I was very disappointed, but as you said the Julius Echter isn't a bad second choice at all.<BR><BR>

    Jim
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
  • as I explain to people all the time: a man in business for himself works half a day

    8 to 8, 10 to 10, 12 to 12 any half you want..then when you get busy you put in overtime...40 hrs a week is time off any more...

    Rockwall Texas, just east of Dallas where the humidity and heat meet! Life is too short to get caught in the fast lane behind somebody slow!

    XL, LG, Sm, Mini and Weber for drink holder

  • Dyal_SC
    Dyal_SC Posts: 6,013
    Wow.... =P~ Ya know, for the amount of recipes you try out and for the incredible details of your posts, you need to do a grilling recipe website (kinda like what the naked whiz did for charcoal)... You da man!!!