Above: Mario’s T-Bone Steaks

Ah, steak. There’s nothing quite like. Few things in life require so little effort and give back so much. I find steak it requires more work to cook a steak badly than to grill it to perfection. And a grill laden with steaks is the surest way to attract looks of envy from any fellow neighbors who happen to pass by your space. Here are a few tips to help ensure that when you cook this most perfect of foods, it will come out even more perfect.

- Let the meat come to room temperature before cooking. This will yield a juicier steak and will allow for a truer cooking time. A half-hour should do it, except if you are in the blazing late August heat, probably 15 minutes will be enough.

- Let the meat rest for ten minutes after it’s finished cooking before slicing it. I know you’ve been salivating the whole time your steak was on the grill and can’t wait to start carving it up, but please be patient. Letting the meat rest allows the juices to reincorporate into the fiber of the meat, producing that beautiful red center that everyone so desires.

- Season both sides of your steak with salt just before cooking. There was a rumor going around for several decades that salting meat before you cooked it drew the juices out and made the steak dry. This is incorrect. Salting the steak ensures it will come off the grill perfectly. And while you’re at it, grind a healthy amount of fresh pepper on both sides of the meat as well.

- Trim excess fat from the steak before grilling, leaving only about a 1/4″ thick of fat around the edge. Grilling fat shrinks faster than the meat and it can cause your steaks to curl. Also excess fat will cause unwanted flare ups.

- Always cook your steaks over high heat. (Except for really thick steaks, which require a two-level fire—see note below.) A high heat will sear the meat and get you that great grilled flavor. High heat also produces a juicier steak, though it doesn’t actually “seal in the juices” as is sometimes thought.

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Here are my favorite cuts of meat to cook on the grill: - New York Strip – lean and flavorful, but easy to overcook, so keep an eye on them. - Rib Eyes – The usually cut these too thin in the supermarket, so try to get them cut for you—about 1 ½ inches is best. - Flank Steak – This cut holds up to a marinade really well. You can do an Asian or Southwestern spiced marinade up to 24 hours. Slice it thinly against the grain. - Porterhouse – The king of steaks. Just some salt and pepper is all this needs. Though sometimes I like to serve it with half a lemon the way they do in Florence. - Skirt Steak – If you can find these, they make a great treat on the grill. I like let them sit overnight in olive oil with lots of garlic and maybe some fresh basil and a few sprigs of rosemary. - Hangar steak – another cut that you can enhance with a rub or a marinade.

Grilling Times by Thickness These times are total cooking times—turn your steak halfway through. These times are approximate and will vary depending on the heat of your grill, the altitude, whether your kids are distracting you while you are trying to cook.

Thickness Rare Medium Rare Medium 1” 8 – 10 10 - 12 12 – 14 1 ½ ” 10 – 12 12 – 14 14 – 16

Note: For steaks 2 inches or thicker, make a two-level fire – cook the steak over the high heat for 8 minutes, turning once. Then move it to the medium side and cook it about 6 more minutes, turning once, for rare; about 8 minutes for medium-rare; about 10 minnutes more for medium.

-Mario Batali

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 11:01 am and is filed under Food, Friends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.