I have a standard (non-gas) charcoal grill, and I’ve been trying to grill steaks on it. Usually ribeyes or sirloins. I say “try to,” because I just have no talent for cooking or grilling. I am a total newbie at it.
Anyway, here’s what I do:
After the coals are hot, I plop the steaks on the grill. Juices from the meat drip onto the coals, causing them create large flames. The flames scorch the surfaces of the steaks. I flip them a few times in an effort to minimize the scorching, but it doesn’t seem to help much. When I take them off after a few minutes, they look black & burnt, yet the insides are still too pink for most of my family. (I don’t mind it – I love rare steak – but they prefer medium.)
Assuming that you are using tongs for handling the meat…are you resting the meat and letting it come to room temp before putting it on the grill?
In fact, let’s get into more detail. How are you prepping the whole process. What do you do, step by step, before you plop the steaks on the grill. How do you prep the steaks themselves, how do you build your fire etc etc. Some bit of flare up is normal, but you shouldn’t get that much. How are you making sure that the coals are ready? What do they look like?
A quick solution is to keep a spritzer bottle with some water on hand when you grill to tamp down flare ups (good practice just for general grill safety anyway). You don’t want to allow the flame to come into direct contact with your food, so shoot down the flare ups right away when they spring up.
Around 2:00 PM my daughter will make some marinade sauce using this recipe. She will pour the sauce into ZipLock bags, put the steaks in the bags (two steaks per bag), and then stick them in the refrigerator. Around 5:00 we’ll take the steaks out of the refrigerator and rinse each one under a faucet to get rid of the chunks of garlic. I’ll then start the coals.
FYI, I usually cook steaks and potatoes on the grill. The potatoes take a long time to fully cook, so I cook the potatoes first. When the potatoes are done, I throw the steaks on the grill.
I build a pyramid, squirt lighter fluid on it, and then light them. After about 20 minutes the corners on most of the briquettes are white. I will then spread them evenly on the grate using a wood stick. At this time I put the potatoes on. The potatoes come off the grill about 45 minutes later, and the steaks go on immediately after I remove the potatoes. At this time the coals are very white.
Being such a newbie to this, I can only assume I am making many tactical errors here. So I am open to any and all suggestions and criticisms.
I’ll endorse the suggestion above: sear over the hot coals until you have a crust you think looks good, then move to a cooler part of the grill to finish cooking. Keep the lid closed for less flareups, more smoke. ETA: or what wolfman hints at: some charcoal grills let you raise and lower the cooking surface to control cooking heat.
Also, you don’t really need to marinate ribeyes; they’re already quite tender. You can do so, but watch that you don’t marinade too long and they don’t get too tender, or you’ll have delicious cow-flavored mush after cooking. Regular old sirloin, on the other hand, is a tough cut; marinade, absolutely.
Just sounds like the coals are too hot. direct/indirect heat (over coals and not over coals) coupled with wolfman’s suggestion of distancing the entire grilling surface from the heat will mitigate that. You’ll have to cook your potatoes for longer though. Or just microwave them.
(1) Decent sirloins or ribeyes don’t need a marinade, and a wet steak won’t brown (as opposed to burning from direct flame) as well as a dry steak. Your steak should be dry with a very, very light layer of cooking oil plus dry seasoning (salt, pepper, whatever else you may like). If you want garlic flavor, try smashing a clove and rubbing it on the dry steak before seasoning and oiling.
(2) Learn how to build a two-zone fire. Pile the coals up on only half-the grill, creating a direct and indirect heat zone.
(3) Keep a squirt bottle with water handy.
(4) Get a chimney starter and ditch the lighter fluid.
(5) Using a two-level fire, you can brown the exterior then finish over indirect heat; once you’ve mastered that you can move to the reverse sear.
(6) Unless your grill is too small, try starting your steaks about 10 minutes before your potatoes are done. Between cooking time and resting time, this should work for you.
(7) Flipping frequently, it turns out, is good. Don’t cook by time, though, cook by temperature. Spring for a decent instant-read meat thermometer.
Regarding allowing the steaks to come to room temperature, Cook’s Illustrated has debunked that.
ETA: pancakes3’s idea of par-cooking the potatoes is great. I do that for many applications.
This is exactly it. Or at least one solution. I personally do the “start cool, finish hot” method of grilling, but this works as well. Set up your charcoals so the coals are on one side, sear your steak there, and finish cooking on the non-charcoal side. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
There is also a “constant flip” method in which you just flip the steaks over the coals, but let’s keep it simple. Sear, then finish cooking in the cool area of your grill, or vice versa. D_Odds has a good run-down on everything.
Totally agree on the ribeyes. I was guessing that most sirloins people buy aren’t that great; they may or may not need some marinade to be tender.
OP: also consider a meat thermometer to test the inside temperature of the steak. Why guess how done they are? Note that you need to aim a little low, as the steaks will continue cooking a little once removed from the grill. Also, make sure you get a decent thermometer, some are not even close to accurate, especially in the low-temp range of a medium steak.
These steaks don’t *need *a marinade, but if you do want to use one, three hours is too long IMHO, and instead of rinsing the meat under water, pat it dry with paper towels.
There’s the 3 second rule: Hold your hand a couple of inches above the rack. You should be able to keep it there for 3 seconds just before it becomes too hot.
I agree that you’re not waiting long enough. I think you need to let the coals burn out a little more.
Also, since you said you had a “standard grill” and you’re cooking for the whole family, you might not have enough room to do the sear on on side, cook on the other side method. (I don’t know, I’m just guessing here.)
With the 3 second rule, you can cook the steaks in one spot through out the entire cooking process. (Just arrange the coals evenly through out the grill.)
Ok, tons of good advice in the thread. Listen to it. The only thing that doesn’t really seem to be addressed is the issue with flare ups that you are having. I think, but am not 100% sure, that these are being caused by your rinse of the steaks/your marinade process.
When you put your steaks on the grill you want them to be very dry so that they brown more readily (brown, not blacken). Pat them dry with several paper towels until they are dry. At that point, if you like, you can put a VERY think layer of oil on each side to help promote further browning. I like to do this, but I would suggest skipping this step for you until you get your flare ups under control. I would ditch the marinade altogether (I like just salt and pepper) but do what you like, it’s your food. Give this a shot in conjunction with the other advice and report back.
Oh and a quick note that I disagree that you need a meat thermometer for grilling. Save that for the oven. Use the finger test method to judge doneness. There are lots of ways to do this, but hereis an online tutorial. Thermometers just seem antithetical to the nature of grilling to me, but again, do what works for you. It may take a couple of trial runs, but you can get pretty dang accurate temps just by touching your steaks once you know what you are looking for.
Read point 7 here about the “poke test,” “finger doneness test” and why it may not be particularly a good bet. Once you do enough steaks, you get the hang of judging by feel if you use consistent cuts and thickness of meat. Personally? I tend not to use a meat thermometer (I know my grill and the meat I use), but on an unfamiliar grill with unfamiliar steaks, I wouldn’t bet on getting it right without either using a meat thermometer or using one of the steaks as a “test steak” and cutting into it and sacrificing.
