Grill like a restaurant?

[VaporTrail]

I'm with the "pan sear and oven finish" group personally.

If you start with a good cut of meat (I usually use thick Porterhouses), season well (I use McCormick Steak Rub most of the time), and give each steak a good sear before finishing on a rack over a sheet pan in the oven (I tend to slow cook mine at about 375, for a 30 minute medium) you should end up with something your regular steakhouse wouldn't just serve, but would promote as thier signature steak.

Grilling a good steak requires equal parts good meat, good seasoning, and good technique. Doing it with a stove and oven takes a LOT of the technique out of the equation. In other words, t's a lot easier to screw up on the grill.

 

[elaine l]

Ever since I received some very good instructions from my friends at DC, I have been cooking my steaks indoors this winter. Finishing them in the oven. I feel they are as good as any steak house, including Morton's.

 

[allwellbeing]

Secret #1 in making your food taste like restaurant food is to use enough seasoning. Don't be afraid of S+P.

Other than that, just make sure your grill is hot and don't be afraid to finish your steak in the oven if needed.

If you're doing the above, you can't really mess it up unless you're buying poor quality meat.

I agree college cook

 

[jerseyjay14]

Ever since I received some very good instructions from my friends at DC, I have been cooking my steaks indoors this winter. Finishing them in the oven. I feel they are as good as any steak house, including Morton's.

its the only way to go in my opinion... havent grilled a steak in years... in fact, i usually go to a pan sear + oven approach for all meats.

 

[Wart]

Best steak IMNSHO is grilled over a lump charcoal and wood fire.

In the kitchen?

Season the steak. Preheat the oven and iron pan, sear one side, flip and put it in the oven.

Seasonings? I like simple fresh ground pepper and Kosher salt.

Best part is, while the steak is resting I deglaze the pan and reduce then pour over the steak. Best steak sauce ever.

P.S.: IMHO grill pans are a waste of time and money. An every day, generic, flat iron skillet is best.

 

[Maverick2272]

For me it boils down to two things:

If you put a steak down in front of me cooked medium rare the way I like it, and it is juicy and flavorful then I don't care how you cooked it, I am just thrilled you cooked it for me!

If I am doing it myself its the pan and oven in winter and the grill in summer because, as someone else pointed out, its harder to get it perfect on the grill than the pan and I get a thrill from getting it right and seeing the smiles on their faces as they eat it!

 

[ironchef]

Doing it with a stove and oven takes a LOT of the technique out of the equation. In other words, t's a lot easier to screw up on the grill.

I disagree with this. From what I've seen both in the industry and from various homecooks, it takes more technique to get a perfect crust on your steak from proper pan searing. The hardest thing about grilling a steak is knowing and controlling your hot spots so that you don't char the outsides of the meat without it properly cooking through.

 

[BrazenAmateur]

I disagree with this. From what I've seen both in the industry and from various homecooks, it takes more technique to get a perfect crust on your steak from proper pan searing.

I agree.

If it was that easy to put a perfect char on a steak in a pan, all the steakhouses would get it right all the time, but that isn't even close to being the case.

 

[Wart]

Perfect crust?

What is that?

 

[Rob Babcock]

IMOHO it's hard to touch a steak from a top steakhouse when cooking at home. First off, it's not easy to find a steak that good- there's only a very small percentage of the best beef in America that rates as USDA Prime, and the great majority of it goes to restaurants. You can get superb beef at a high end butcher shop, but it's a crap shoot...and you'd better be ready to pay thru the nose! A steakhouse will also age the beef better than you'll be able to do at home.

Unless you use charcoal it's going to be tough to get the level of heat steakhouses sear the meat over. The hottest shelf broilers can reach temps of much higher than you can get at home.

That said, you obviously can get a great steak at home. I agree that pan searing in cast iron & finishing in the hottest oven you can get is a great way to cook a steak.

 

[TATTRAT]

Perfect crust?

What is that?

Basically, the amount of sear. Be it grill, salamander, char-coal, wood....you get the idea.


When cooking a good cut of meat, it should only be flipped once. When you see your meat rendering juices on the top of the cut, flip it and let it ride. This will get a "crust", or "bark". The higher the heat, the better the crust on a cut. Contrary to public belief, it does NOT help sear in juices, it just helps caramelize things and add texture.

Just my opinion. I like my meat MR at the most. The flip once philosophy does not work if you like your cut killed again.

 

[Maverick2272]

I know people that flip it twice on the grill to get that nice criss-cross pattern. Alas, that is not me, I flip only once as well and like it MR. Then again if you pan sear it, grill patterns just don't factor in, LOL.
My thing is I can turn out an equally great steak in the pan or on the grill. I mastered the grill long before I mastered the pan sear, it was easier for me. But it is different for everyone I am sure. I grew up with a dad that grilled anything and everything he could in the summer, then refused to eat anything grillable in the winter as he couldn't go outside in a blizzard and fire up the grill. As a result, I learned great grilling technique right from the beginning, and had to learn the pan searing later.
As for me, in the summer I grill as much as possible. You stay in the hot kitchen while I hang outside under the patio umbrella sipping a nice cool drink and enjoying the breeze. My poor window air conditioners just can't keep up with the stove. And in the winter no way I am going out in the 'windy city' at 5 below to grill something up. So I guess you could say a big factor for me is environment and personal comfort.

 

[auntdot]

Twenty eight years ago we purchased a very cheap house, all we could afford, and were rehabbing it. Go to work, rehab for eight hours or so, and grab a bit of sleep. Took Christmas and Thanksgiving off.

Would take some fruit wood, don't know what kind it was, found it in a pile, put it is the fireplace, a few bricks to rest a grate on, and we made some fantastic steaks. Also loved the mickies we put into the fire.

Can also cook good steaks in a pan or in the broiler.

To me you need the best quality steak you can find. We often buy ungraded 'Angus'. But we look at it carefully for the marbeling.

And IMHO no one can cook a thin steak properly, unless one likes partially cremated beef. The wafer thin stuff they try to sell in the supermarkets as steaks, well, they should be ashamed.

Season, a hot grill, griddle, pan and maybe a turn in the oven can all lead to great steaks.

A fairly thick good cut of beef and you can turn out a great product using almost any source of heat.

 

[Wart]

IMOHO it's hard to touch a steak from a top steakhouse when cooking at home. First off, it's not easy to find a steak that good- ... You can get superb beef at a high end butcher shop, but it's a crap shoot... and you'd better be ready to pay thru the nose!

The local butcher sells dry aged beef. $20/pound on sale and then you have to buy more than one pound. Makes me want to give dry aging in the fridge a shot.

Funny how what use to be the standard way of doing things (hanging meat in the cooler) has become an expensive specialty.

Unless you use charcoal it's going to be tough to get the level of heat steakhouses sear the meat over.

Yep, when shopping for a range I found home owner units don't make enough heat.

Charcoal requires the skill of fire tending. Fire tending seems to be a diminishing skill. Not that people can't learn to tend fire, for the most part I think they don't want to be bothered.

 

[nezza]

I'm fairly proficient at using a skillet for steak, never finished them off in the oven. What advantage does that give you? Is it more tender than a pure skillet method?

Out of interest, what would the timings/temps be to sear then oven finish?

How long to sear, then how long in the oven for a Medium Rare and a Medium?

Thanks

 

[Wart]

I'm fairly proficient at using a skillet for steak, never finished them off in the oven. What advantage does that give you? Is it more tender than a pure skillet method?

Keeping heat on both sides of the meat for a more even cooking.

Out of interest, what would the timings/temps be to sear then oven finish?

Till it's done.

That's the best answer available because of the variables, skillet temp, oven temp, meat thickness, water content, meat type, ..... oven.

Ok, I'll admit it, I never timed it.

 

[nezza]

I understand what you're saying wart - it varies, but as somebody who's never done it before, what's a start point? Based on steak thickness, aging etc.

What are your variables so I can compare mine.

 

[TATTRAT]

I know people that flip it twice on the grill to get that nice criss-cross pattern.

That isn't a flip, but a turn to achieve grill marks.

 

[Maverick2272]

That isn't a flip, but a turn to achieve grill marks.

I know, I tried telling em that, they didn't get it. They still flip twice even thought when they came to my house I grilled for them, did it my way, and they agreed they liked my steaks better.
They blamed it on me having a better cut.

 

[knight76]

I love this forum I am learning so much already.

I tried cooking with this method today. Bought some nice scotch fillet, seared it in a very hot frying pan for 1 minute each side and whacked it in a 500 degree oven. I left it in the oven till it was medium which was my error, by the time it hit the table it was well done cooking in its own heat.

But, even though it was a bit over cooked I have to say this definately tasted better than my usual steak cooking. There were bites of it that really reminded me of my local steak restaurant and if I had cooked it medium correctly, it would have been awesome.

Can't wait to try it again.