steaks and a simple rub

Alright, my camera does not take closeups well

It's been a while.

We pulled two ribeyes for grilling. Some aspects of the grilling went quite well, others not so much. I will indicate here in bold what steps I did not do that I ought to have done, but otherwise will try to treat this as the definitive big green egg backdoor steak grilling guide.

One point: I'm finding that rubs ought not to be too complicated. One maybe two herbs. My new french thyme ought to go well with this.

1. start the fire. It will likely take more than half an hour, and the coals should be evenly lit and white all over. I am now consistently getting the egg to temperatures of above 800 degrees (I'm pegging the needle past 750, so I don't really know how hot it is), and the result is excellent. Make sure the grill gets white hot before you add the steaks.
2. try to get steaks that are at least 1 1/2 inches thick. This round was 1 inch at best. Actually, everyone around me seems to prefer the 1 inch. I prefer my steaks thicker, as I like the difference in texture from crust to slightly cool center. In any case, the directions here are for 1 inch steaks.
3. prepare a rub with ample olive oil, cracked pepper, chopped rosemary (or equivalent chopped herb), and kosher salt. Now give the steaks a shiatsu. Top with garlic salt, but only a thin layer.
4. slash the edges of the steak. They will curl if you neglect to do this.
5. Prepare the timer and get to the grill.
6. hit them hard, over direct heat, for 1:45 each side. 
7. On the second flip, turn the steaks (crosshatching the grill marks), and close up the vents. The egg will belch smoke out of any hole it can find.
8. After 3 more minutes, carefully open vents, burp grill, then open. Flip the steaks over, then close up the vents again.
9. After 3 more minutes, the steaks are ready. Let them sit for five minutes (at least) before serving.

sizzazzle

This is probably quite close to the last set of directions I posted. I have tried different manners of "closing the vents." This time I put the green lid on the top (completely closing it) and left the bottom open. The second time around I closed both. I can't say I'm completely happy with the results, but only because the grill markings were uneven (probably the result of not using enough charcoal to create an even fire) and one of the steaks curled a bit. I do believe that a thicker steak, properly slashed and with a good coal bed underneath it would end up with a happier result.

pork chops with an oregano-sage rub

I tried the following for a rub: coarsely chopped oregano and sage, cracked black/white/green/red pepper, olive oil. I pressed the herbs into the meat and let refrigerate for two hours. Then kosher salt, generously applied before grilling.

The grill was a problem. It took nearly an hour to get it up to temperature and even then the fire was uneven. Ended up doing a double sear with one flip, five minutes total. Heat was then cut down and chops cooked for another two minutes a side. Tented with aluminum foil while the zuchini/squash hybrid (squachini? zuquash?) grilled. Another ten to fifteen minutes.

The meat was pretty much perfect, although a hotter fire at the beginning would have given it a better crust. But sometimes you have to roll with the punches.

Pork Chops with a sage rub

Early herb garden mix:

sage leaves (about eight, many large)
oregano leaves (only a small number)
finely chop fresh herbs, add sea salt and fresh ground pepper and mix in olive oil

dress up the pork chops, about 1 inch thick

grill was weak--550 to start.
Sear for 1.5 minutes each side
put up dampers, cut to 400 degrees
roughly 5 minutes a side.

a third pork chop joined with only salt.

The result: juicy, but medium rather than medium rare. The rub could have been better singed, but was tasty.

Still, I have to say that fresh herbs on a chops rub is not really all that great. Dried herbs seem to do better, sadly--more potency. Perhaps mixing fresh and dried sage would do better?

UPDATE: fresh herb rubs work well if the heat is high enough to start, and if the dampers don't get completely shut down. I clearly need to do a thorough cleaning of the grill.

Ribeye, perfect timing

These ribeyes were about 1 inch thick, although freezing and thawing shrunk them a bit. Once again, the fear is I overcooked, at 9 minutes.

Grill: 600
1 minute 30 second sear, each side.
after second turn, baste with kickass garlic-parsley oil.
close dampers most of way.
Grill at 400
3 minutes then flip
baste that side with kickass garlic-parsley oil.
Grill at 350
3 more minutes
remove from grill. tent for 10 minutes.

Ribeyes turned out perfect. Medium rare, warm in the middle. 9 minutes is looking good, with maybe a couple more minutes in the event that they are thicker.

Kickass Steak Recipe

Michael Lomonaco offers the following recipe for steaks:

1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1/4 cup Italian parsley leaves, chopped
3 to 4 sprigs each fresh thyme and rosemary
4 20 oz, bone-in, NY strip steaks, 1 3/4-2 inches thick.
Kosher salt
1/2 lemon

1) combine oil and garlic in small saucepan and warm over low heat for 2 minutes. Cool thoroughly, then add the parsley, thyme and rosemary. Divide the seasoned oil equally between 2 small bowls.

2) brush the steaks with half of the seasoned oil. Let the steaks sit at room temperature for 10 to 20 minutes before grilling.

3) make fire

4) season steaks lightly with pepper and liberally with salt (1/2 teaspoon per steak)

5) sear. don't burn.

6) after turning, brush (don't slather) steaks with marinade in second bowl using a clean brush.

7) remove steaks to platter and tent with foil. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the steaks.

Monster Ribeye

I should have taken a picture. 1.2 pounds boneless, 1 1/2 inches thick. Glorious. The rub I used was quite simple: light coat of garlic salt; cracked pepper mixed with sea salt; olive oil brush. Egg heated up to 700, and I let the grill heat for ten minutes or so. Cooking time:

1 3/8 minutes sear, each side.
Close dampers. Temperature dropped rapidly down under 400.
2 3/4 minutes each side.

Pulled it, cut it down the middle. Rare. Very rare. Cool in the center. Back on the grill for four minutes, dampers open to bring the temp up past 300. Still rare, but fabulous.

This was disappointing from the cooking angle. Last time I cooked ribeyes, I cooked under ten minutes and got medium. Granted, a gasket problem kept my temperature a little higher, but that cannot account for the MASSIVE difference in the end product. I needed probably 400 degrees, four minutes a side.

Next time, play with the dampers. get the temperature up to a respectable number, while keeping the fire down.

By the way, the end product was fantastic. The ribeye was fall apart tender, full of juice. Still on the rare to medium rare side, and the crust was much better than the freshly herbed mess I cooked up last time. I'm becoming a big fan of cracked pepper, and am wondering if that with some sprinkled rosemary and sea salt wouldn't make the best rub.

Steaks, with a (sage) rub

This rub does not excite, but it is workable:

dried thyme (whole)
dried rosemary (whole)
dried sage (powdered)
cracked pepper
coarse sea salt

I'm beginning to think that rubs add texture more than anything else, although the sage came through (bright and sweet) to counteract the thyme and pepper.

BIG GREEN EGG NOTES:

I'm having a gasket issue which I will fix up next weekend, and I think it led to the following problem. I let the grill get very hot. It ran for ten-fifteen minutes at 650 degrees. It allowed me to clean the grill (which really worked), and also put a nice sear on it. But when the grill surface is that hot, and the internal temperature of the egg is sitting at 650, 1.5 minutes on the sear blackens the meat. That wasn't the real rub, however. It was the cooking afterwards (5.5 minutes or so) at a slightly higher heat than normal, thanks to my gasket issues, that cooked the meat too much.

The meat also was allowed to sit for nearly ten minutes, which helped the juices to settle, and I'm sure it cooked during that time as well. I should cut the cooking time down to 4.5 to 5 minutes if the temperature stays up around 500 degrees.

Steaks

First steaks of the year. Turned out brilliantly.

2 ribeyes; 1 new york strip, both about 1 inch thick.

Rub (more of a paste):

fresh chopped thyme
fresh chopped rosemary
fresh ground pepper (black, white, green peppercorns)
kosher salt
olive oil

Grilling:

heat grill, rub with olive oil.

650 degrees, sear 1 1/2 minutes per side
close dampers most of the way, cook 3 minutes per side; 350 to 400 degrees
total on clock was 10 minutes.

The result was what I might term medium, or on the medium side of medium rare. Still pink and juicy and warm throughout. The steaks did not curl, but uneven heat meant I had to move the steaks during searing. This slightly marred the grill marks. And I would like a slightly better crust, but I don't want to curl the steak or dry it out by over-searing.

Big green egg notes:
too much charcoal can dampen the fire, especially when it packs on down in small pieces. It took a long time to get the fire heated up.

UPDATE: Tried again one week later. One minute less on grill. Better, actually. Fire hotter, thanks to cleaning of grill.