- Prep Work: Clean and Pre-heat Your Grill
No matter what you are grilling, you should always begin with clean grill grates. Cleaned grill grates don’t impart any flavours from the previous grilling and you will discover no residues on your meal. It is easier to flip steaks with cleaned grates.
2. Heat: High and Low
To achieve a crust on the outside while keeping the interior of the steak cooked to your liking, you need to follow two temperature settings. First, heat your grill to high heat to essentially sear the steaks. How long you keep on high heat depends on the thickness of the steak. Once they’re seared and crispy on the outside, move to the medium or low heat area. If you are using a charcoal grill, one side should have a hot-fire while the other a smaller, cooler flame. If you spend more time searing their steaks like professional chefs, the outcome will be a great one. Searing develops a better aroma and flavours on the surface of the steak.
3. Salting Early
After seasoning, salt draws the moisture into the surface. After a while, the meat begins to reabsorb salty water. This process helps during cooking to have a good crust. Because the excess moisture prevents the browning effect that will bring a good hot sear.
4. Thawing
Grilling makes steaks to have a brown crust on the outside and cooking the interior to your favourite doneness. But, if the center of the steaks is too cold, doneness will not be uniform. As well, when you grill the steak to your favourite doneness, below the surface gets overcooked which is dry and grey. To find the secrets of thawing and seasoning steaks read this article (secrets of thawing and seasoning steaks).
5. Cooking
If you want to get restaurant-style “Criss-Cross” grill marks on your steaks, place steaks diagonal to grates. After few minutes (depends on your preferred doneness), give it a quarter turn that makes the Criss-Cross grill marks. Then flip the steaks and repeat what you did. Remember, If you leave thick steaks over direct heat until the steaks reach the internal doneness you prefer, they would burn on the outside. So, when you happy with the steak appearance, you can leave them on a low heat area until they reach the doneness you prefer.
6. Time and Temperature
Don’t walk away when steaks are on the grill. There is a short window, usually a minute or two when steaks go one doneness level to the next. Catching the right window needs some patience and practice. The use of a meat thermometer can be helpful.
7. Give it a rest
During cooking the juices are driven to the center of the meat. Let the grilled meat sit on the plate or cutting board for about 5 minutes after cooking to redistribute the juiciness evenly. Even you take steaks off the grill, the meat will continue to cook for a short period. So, take steaks off the grill a little bit less done than your preferred doneness.
