Having steak trouble

gte1

New egg owner and have had great success with ribs and chicken, but having trouble cooking steaks. I have tried a couple of methods.

Sear at hi temp then shut off all vents and let dwell until done: too smokey

Sear at high temp then let meat rest while grill is brought down to ~400 then finish: Steaks were ok but not great partially due to fact that one was slightly overcooked. The part of the setak that was overdone was extreemly dry.

Not sure what to try next? Any help would be great.

George

NC-CDN

Some guys hot tub their steaks on here and love it, but you'll still sear it. I sear mine a few minutes a side then shut it down and let it sit in there a few more minutes and they turn out great. Is it the type of charcoal? I use Royal Oak for the most part and don't have that issue that I'm aware of.

stike

ignore that first sear/dwell method. it's a bad way to cook a steak.

the other way was fine, you just need to not cook by time. you really should take the steak's temp to determine when it is done. that will nail it every time.

Little Steven

Agreed

gte1

NC-CDN wrote:

Some guys hot tub their steaks on here and love it, but you'll still sear it. I sear mine a few minutes a side then shut it down and let it sit in there a few more minutes and they turn out great. Is it the type of charcoal? I use Royal Oak for the most part and don't have that issue that I'm aware of.

Hot tub?? It could have been the charcoal for this method. I bought a bag of BBQ galore lump chacoal and did not like it. I will try again with BGE lump.

Little Steven

You put individual steaks in freezer bags or vacuum seal and immerse in water that is somewhere around 100* for about a half hour per inch of thickness. The meat then only has to come up 25* to 35* to be cooked. A basic sear finishes the cook and the meat is done to your liking through the whole cross section. With a thinner steak or chop it allows you to do rare or medium rare consistently.

fishlessman

trex is a good method, you need two things, thick steak, around 1.5 inches thick, and you need a thermapen. just salt on the sear, then spice or pepper before it goes back in for the roast stage, you dont want to burn the pepper or spice by searing it

NoleC5

I've struggled with getting good results for steaks as well. However, recently, I tried something a little different which seems to have made a big difference.

I typcially pull the steaks out and let them get to room temp (or as close as I can). I also do the sear/dwell method but until recently, I would shut the dome during the sear. This time I tried searing with the dome open (around 600 or so)...60-90 seconds per side and then pulled for a few minutes while the egg settled down to around 400. Then put the steaks back on until desired temp. Much more tender and less smokey as well. Hope this helps.

ibanda

Agree with fishlessman. You were on the right track with the second method (T-Rex), just left it on the fire too long. Get a thermapen, where you can get an instant read and pull the steak off at 125° internal temp for medium rare.

It's quite amazing what a a BGE, thermapen, $7 choice grade NY Strip from Sam's Club, and the T-Rex method can do.

Morro Bay Rich

Try your dwell method with only the bottom vent closed (top vent totally open). This will allow the nasty smoke come out without it being trapped inside with your steak.

This method solved the "too smokey" steak comments my wife made.

gte1

Thanks for the suggestions will give it a try.

wmd36

i think a real key is getting THICK steaks, 2 inches is best. RIbeyes. Use the Trex method, w the spider for the sear for about 90 seconds per side, rest for 20 minutes, finish at 400 w a small mesquite chip on the SIDE of the lump. The spider helps a bunch.

Hoss

450 dome,direct,regular grid height til it hits 120 internal,pull,rest 10 minutes,serve.If that don't fix it,buy better grade of steak.Never buy lesser grade than CHOICE.