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Steak help for a Rookie BGE owner!!

Sull
Sull Posts: 5
edited June 2012 in EggHead Forum
I cooked my first steaks (Ribeyes, 1 1/4" thick) tonight at 600-650 degrees (direct heat, BGE lump, looftlighter with
cast iron grate), 2 minutes per side, then shut everything off and left
in for another 2 minutes. Steaks were cooked to perfection, but.... 

The flavor had kind of a chemical taste :(

I cooked chicken wings at 375 the first time I cooked on it this past
Friday and then I cooked a brisket on it Sunday night, both had amazing
flavor and everyone loved them!

Could it be it was the first time at higher temperatures and some of the
"chemicals" of the manufacturing process could have affected the taste?

I know I should not expect the same smokey flavor (hickory chips) with the lower temp/longer time cooks but I really wanted a hint of hickory in them.



Any ideas or tips?



TIA,



Sull
«1

Comments

  • Eggbertsdad
    Eggbertsdad Posts: 804
    stike.....
    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)
  • Ragtop99
    Ragtop99 Posts: 1,570
    Don't close the egg all the way down.  The lack of any airflow creates the nasty smoke.  I leave the DW and bottom vent open enough to hold 250* - 300* if I were doing a long cook.  This allows the drippings to burn like they would on a typical BBQ and not create nasty smoke from a lack of air.

    I let my egg come up to 300* and hold there for a few minutes to pre-heat my CI grid.  I then open the lid and bottom vent to let the fire get really going.  Then I do my sear, with the lid open.  When the sear is done, I close the lid and leave the vents open enough to ensure good airflow, but not enough to run the egg real hot.  By searing with the lid open, the egg is warm, but not so hot that I have to wait for the egg to cool down before starting to roast the steaks.

    The other way is roast first, then crank up the egg and sear at the end.  That will avoid nasty smoke too.
    Cooking on an XL and Medium in Bethesda, MD.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    edited June 2012
    C'mon eggbert. You know the answer. Fresh lump, food on too soon. Gotta wait for it to smell good, before putting the food on

    Or, my pet peeve of the BgE manual, the 'dwell' method. That steak stuck in a shut dome with a dying fire. Fatty smoke and smoke from incomplete combustion. No where to go.

    Never shut done the egg with food inside
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Sull
    Sull Posts: 5
    makes sense!

    Thanks!!!

    Couple more steak questions

    1) How many chips would you put in cup wise for a good flavor?
    2) what cooking times Ragtop for a medium doneness?
  • burr_baby33
    burr_baby33 Posts: 503
    Listen to Stike. He had the answer.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    You can use chunks or chips for steaks. Chips will ignite initially but will go out when the done is shut. You'll get smoke flavor, sure.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • I see all the time on here where people shut everything off with food inside and the results are always the same. I remember stike saying one time to think of it as a candle that you blow out. It burns clean until you snuff it out then the black acrid smoke comes off until it cools down. Same with your lump. If this method is in the BGE cookbook (I glanced through mine once and never opened it again because of stuff like this). it shouldn't be. 
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    incomplete combustion.  burning still, but not well. lots of smoke.

    and not good smoke. sooty smoke. lots of particles
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • BYS1981
    BYS1981 Posts: 2,533
    I don't know if it is in the official cookbook, but on the free CD with my egg they suggested doing the shut down egg with steaks. I didn't see any benefit from it, and luckily never ruined a steak.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    the idea is to roast the steak, after searing.

    works ok with tenderloin (not too fatty), but trust me, on a cook with a few ribeyes, you will taste some gritty not-so-fantastic fatty soot.  all that fat dripping into the fire.  dying fire, smoke with no place to go...
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • I don't know if it is in the official cookbook, but on the free CD with my egg they suggested doing the shut down egg with steaks. I didn't see any benefit from it, and luckily never ruined a steak.
    The CD is worse than the cook book! I'll never get that 32 minutes back.


    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • I did the shutdown or 'dwell' method with burgers on my first cook per the manual.  It turned out well.  In fact I have down it a few times.  But after reading the comments from Stike and CT, I will use another method, it makes sense what they are saying.
    Simi Valley, California
    LBGE, PBC, Annova, SMOBot
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    edited June 2012
    heck, if you don't notice it, don't change.  hahaha

    i cooked that way for a long time.  i honestly couldn't tell the difference between a rib eye or a tenderloin though.  steak was a steak.  different shapes.

    wasn't until i had enough of them off the egg that i even began to 'get it'.  like tasting wine.  if all i drink is the cheap stuff, i'm not gonna notice much of a difference when someone pours me a decent glass.  "meh".  >shrug<

    but after a while, i picked up on stuff.  and i noticed my ribeyes were tasting sootier than say a strip steak.  and that the strip was sootier than the tenderloin.  turned out it was the fat dripping on the dead and dying coals.

    and once i started cooking a different way (Trex/Xert/hot-tub), the steaks were much cleaner (literally and figuratively).

    never went back.
    but it wasn't somethin i noticed right away.  took me time to develop any minor ability to even know what was going on, taste-wise. same for dry aged steak.  first one was 60 bucks and earned nothing more than a shrug.  now, hundred times out of a hundred i could spot the dry aged by flavor alone (as long as it's a good long aged steak. none of this 21 days stuff).  it's a learning process.  for me, anyway

    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Airwolf
    Airwolf Posts: 76
    Your palette is like anything else, it needs to be trained.  And until you have had something done correctly or different, you will never know the difference!
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    zackly.  to me, that's where the fun is. like oiling a steak.  i used to do it.  made tuscan steaks all the time.  after a while, you realize the oil is burning, not helping the sear. if it were in a pan, sure, but i realized it was hurting more than helping, using oil on steak over a nuclear-hot fire
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Sull
    Sull Posts: 5
    Soot! That is the taste I was trying to explain in my initial post.
    Thanks for the advice everyone!
  • Hmmm  never thought of it like that!  I used to drink wine and it was OK, but now I taste wine and really enjoy the complexity, the same for tequila.  I guess Im going to have to keep on cooking to develop my Q palette.
    Simi Valley, California
    LBGE, PBC, Annova, SMOBot
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i have always either needed an awful lot of time to clue into these things myself, or the help of someone who knows what they are doing to walk me through it.

    my wife is the one with the gourmet palate.


    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • BYS1981
    BYS1981 Posts: 2,533
    I am currently developing my beer and BBQ palate. More or less at the same time.

    CT, I watched the egg cook dvd, and more or less it was egg commercial lol. I am going to get Dr. BBQs book Slow Fire because it seems a lot more useful.
  • i have always either needed an awful lot of time to clue into these things myself, or the help of someone who knows what they are doing to walk me through it.

    my wife is the one with the gourmet palate.





    amen on both counts. I am thick headed and have my wife to thank for every meal I have eaten that did not involve gray steak and some type of potato.

    at 30, I was still the guy ordering chicken teriyaki at the upscale sushi joint. CenTex keepin it classy

    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • wasn't until i had enough of them off the egg that i even began to 'get it'.  like tasting wine.  if all i drink is the cheap stuff, i'm not gonna notice much of a difference when someone pours me a decent glass.  "meh".  >shrug<

    I have heard that Peter V's is pretty good if you put it on ice :))

    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • tazcrash
    tazcrash Posts: 1,852
    I don't know if it is in the official cookbook, but on the free CD with my egg they suggested doing the shut down egg with steaks. I didn't see any benefit from it, and luckily never ruined a steak.
    The CD is worse than the cook book! I'll never get that 32 minutes back.


    My wife is still making fun of that disc, but not for the recipes.  
    It has to be the best example of how to introduce cross contamination. 
    Bx - > NJ ->TX!!! 
    All to get cheaper brisket! 
  • chill243
    chill243 Posts: 131
    HAHA, I just found out who Stike was!! and why did you pick that name?  I know it's better than the old one!
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    alrighty, then.
    :-/
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • chill243
    chill243 Posts: 131
    Sorry Stike!  I thought you had changed your name from the Village Idiot, but now I see...   THAT would never happen!  My bad!!
  • I cooked my first steaks (Ribeyes, 1 1/4" thick) tonight at 600-650 degrees (direct heat, BGE lump, looftlighter with cast iron grate), 2 minutes per side, then shut everything off and left in for another 2 minutes. Steaks were cooked to perfection, but.... 
    The flavor had kind of a chemical taste :(
    I cooked chicken wings at 375 the first time I cooked on it this past Friday and then I cooked a brisket on it Sunday night, both had amazing flavor and everyone loved them!
    Could it be it was the first time at higher temperatures and some of the "chemicals" of the manufacturing process could have affected the taste?
    I know I should not expect the same smokey flavor (hickory chips) with the lower temp/longer time cooks but I really wanted a hint of hickory in them.

    Any ideas or tips?

    TIA,

    Sull

    Try the reverse sear method it works. It is amazing how moist the meat is.

    I found a great site that explains how to do it and why it works so well.

    http://www.ironpigbbq.com/Reverse-Sear.html


     

  • Bjorg
    Bjorg Posts: 241
    Interesting link. But really? Cooking the steak at 200-250 only prior to searing? That seems low to me. I was told that cooking steak at low temperature "boils" them and makes them hard. Aint that so?

    And indirect? That is also surprising. I guess I could use my lump reducing ring and put the steaks outside the heat zone. Setting up my ceramic stone and drip pan only to remove it a few minutes later seems like a hassle to me. 

    I have tried the hot tub method and the Trex method and didnt have success yet (flare ups, to much black). I am using a spider with CI grill on it. I went back to the good old 500 on the standard grill level method for now but I want to try this reversed sear and I want to do it right. 
    Quebec - Canada
  • Interesting link. But really? Cooking the steak at 200-250 only prior to searing? That seems low to me. I was told that cooking steak at low temperature "boils" them and makes them hard. Aint that so?

    And indirect? That is also surprising. I guess I could use my lump reducing ring and put the steaks outside the heat zone. Setting up my ceramic stone and drip pan only to remove it a few minutes later seems like a hassle to me. 

    I have tried the hot tub method and the Trex method and didnt have success yet (flare ups, to much black). I am using a spider with CI grill on it. I went back to the good old 500 on the standard grill level method for now but I want to try this reversed sear and I want to do it right. 
    Cooking it at 200-250 will not "boil" them or make them hard as long as you don't allow your internal temps to go past medium.  I do mine Sous Vide (kind of a fancy hot tub) at about 130 degrees and then reverse sear on CI grate at lump level for 30-45 seconds per side.Perfect every time. 

    I'm with you, I don't like setting my egg up to sear then shut down and set it up for indirect when everything is hot. Too much work for me. The way I do it, the steaks are on the egg less than a minute in most cases but it imparts a ton of flavor in that short time. 
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • tazcrash
    tazcrash Posts: 1,852
    IMHO, I think one of the important points to doing a Trex or reverse sear is that you need a THICK steak. 
    You just don't need to do that for 1" thick steaks. In that case, the regular grilling would work. 
    I also agree, Don't like to sear, then shut down. Go Backwards! 
    Bx - > NJ ->TX!!! 
    All to get cheaper brisket! 
  • Bjorg
    Bjorg Posts: 241
    Good point for the thick steak. 

    What about the low roasting temp? Anybody go that low? 

    And outside the lump reducing ring heat zone even at those low temperatures?
    Quebec - Canada