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.

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.