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.

pork tenderloin, simple

This worked out well today for a simple pork tenderloin:

set big green egg for indirect cooking at 350.
Salt and pepper tenderloin. Rub with oil.
Cook at 350 for 35 minutes.

Remove place setter and let grill rise in temperature. (At this point I grilled some squash and zucchini while the pork sat)

Baste tenderloin with some kind of sauce. I used a cherry-balsamic grilling sauce. Return tenderloin to grill and cook each side 2-3 minutes.

hanger steak, naked

Well, just about naked. Thin layer of garlic salt, kosher salt, then a thin coat of olive oil. On the grill:

550 grill
1.5 minutes per side sear
4 minutes per side cook at 400, temp fell to 350 by end with dampers near closed.

Result was medium rare, but on the happy rare side. Good crust. When dressing the steak after the fact, this is an easy way to throw a steak on.

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.

Salmon on the Grill

Simplicity ought to be a virtue in grilling, at least when you want the flavor of the meat and the quality of its preparation to shine. As such, I am experimenting with a very simple method of grilling atlantic salmon fillets. The fillets are huge (two weighing nearly one pound each). They are also, unfortunately, unequally thawed. One is fine; the second is thawed enough to allow me to move forward, I believe.

I am putting them on tinfoil on the grill, and basting them with a lemon-butter-parsley-sea salt sauce. Roughly 1-2 tablespoons butter, quarter wedge of lemon, few sprigs of parsley.

I set up the Big Green Egg for indirect cooking, laid down a sheet of tinfoil, and stuck the salmon fillets on with the grill still heating up. It took approximately 5 minutes to hit 300-350 degrees. I'm having difficulty with heat on my grill right now. It's time for a serious cleaning.

Start cooking time at 6:00. By 6:05, hit 380. Shortly after, 400. Holding steady there. Pulled it off shortly after 6:20. The total cooking time was likely 25 minutes. Big Green Egg recipes said 18 minutes at 450, so we'll see how this stacks up.

UPDATE: the salmon was delicious. Not overcooked, but definitely on the medium side. Could have been a little less done. A nice presentation, too.

chicken drums on the grill

Ode to the grilling season. My quest ought to be for perfect drums and wings, as a cheap and easy way to feed a dozen if necessary. I'm starting with a basic recipe today--the lemon/garlic/butter sauce.

First, brine chicken. 8 drums, covered with an eyeballed proportion of salt (1 cup per 1 gallon). and some red peppercorns. Brined for about 3 hours.

Basting sauce: 2 tbs butter; 2 garlic cloves; 1/2 meyer lemon. Good.

Pat chicken dry--right onto grill. Kind of seared at high heat, 4 minutes. The grill was not very hot tonight. 30 minutes total at about 350 degrees.

End product was good. Or good enough. They are, after all, drumsticks.