Scruffed not Charred

I am a fan of Adam Perry Lang's Charred and Scruffed, especially as it pertains to the secrets of cooking over open flame. His recipes never fail to disappoint, and even those that seem counterintuitive (clinching, for example, which means cooking directly on the coals; or microplaning charcoal into sea salt) beckon with force.

But I do have a few issues with Adam. One is that his technique threatens to overpower good beef with two flavors too many. Let's face it. Presalting a ribeye with a mix of garlic powder, garlic salt, sea salt, black pepper and cayenne, and then hitting it with a baste of butter, oil, twenty different herbs, lemon juice or vinegar might be a bit much, especially when you hit the cutting board with a dressing and then top it with a finishing salt. It's a lot of work, and the result may or may not be any better than a fine steak grilled and treated in the french style--that is to say, seasoned and then served with a pat of butter.

I also have a few observations about cooking that are worth listing here. All of this presumes that you are cooking a 2 1/2 inch thick ribeye, cowboy cut.

1. Go ahead and score the meat. Scoring the meat increases surface area for the seasoning and for the crust when it forms.

2. Heat the meat. I put it on as the fire is warming and let it warm up with the grill. This starts the cooking process and, more importantly, smokes the meat a little.

3. If you are a salt nut, then season the steak both before and after the heating process. I personally think it is unwise to do so. Season generously in advance, build up your meat paste, and then warm it and then let it sit.

4. Make sure that the coals are white. The grill hits 700 well before its time, so to speak.

5. 6 minutes of direct grilling at high heat (1 minute a side) seems to do well for creating a crust. Then close the grill and close the dampers, keep the temp around 350-415 degrees. Flip once.

6. 17 minutes total cooking time produces medium rare. SO, 5 1/2 minutes per side.

Instead of the Perry basting sauce. I made some sage and salt butter and used that during the grilling process. It sizzled wonderfully and I avoided the flareups that produce the acrid flavors in the crust. Also--much easier.

Timing and heat are vital, but if points 4 and 5 are considered together, you have a pretty good idea of how to time these steaks. I didn't put a whole lot of charcoal in the pit, and so when they burned white, it didn't throw up as much fire and heat as it otherwise would have. Nonetheless, the heat is somewhat irrelevant because once you close up the vents the heat will sit down at 400 pretty easily.

The steak could be rarer without being raw. Maybe cut it to 4 minutes per side.