Fast Fridays: Seriously Good (Fast & Easy) Steak

Grilling a steak over charcoal (or whatever your preferred grilling method is) is always satisfying. I’m a firm believer that you don’t need to gild the lily, but still you may want to present it in a nice vase. Therefore, I just want to share a few quick tips for a great steak:

• Pick a good quality piece of meat. Go to a butcher store (or at least a food store with a dedicated butcher) and buy a good piece of meat. Ask for advice if you need it. I’m glad there are a lot of people showing how “lower quality” cuts can be stars when treated right, but for an old-fashioned, grilled steak, I’m sort of a purist. The guy above is a nice ribeye. Thickness matters because you don’t want your meat to cook too quickly over the grill and become overdone.
• Speaking of doneness, serve it medium rare. A good steak will be juicy and tender this way. I realize that there are lots of meat thermometers out there, but my mother always says that meat should be the firmness of the flesh between your thumb and forefinger.
• Let the meat rest before serving. This is an important step that will allow all the juices in the meat to settle back down instead of running away the second the knife cuts it apart.
• The next is an old trick from Peter Luger Steakhouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (one of my brother’s favorite NYC haunts), which is to pour melted butter all over your steak. Let’s be honest, what isn’t better with butter?
• Finally, the above steak is served with a crumbling of blue cheese (gorgonzola) at the behest of my friend Brian for a little contrast.

Have steak tips? Share them in the comments. In the meantime, happy grilling!

Update: Because of the website reformat, I’ve lost some of the photos on the site including the ones that used to be above.