Steak Just Right

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replying the story in its archived form does not constitute a re-publiccation of the story.

Here it is...Sunday night and you might be in the mood for let's say some juicy steak.  Problem is, how to cook it to your perfection.  Here are some tips I learned from Chef.

A nice thick steak is important....thinner ones can cook too fast and well, they'll be well-done.

Prepare your steak prior to the grill..maybe it's some salt, pepper and olive oil rubbed into the meat..

Place the steak on your hot grill and press done on the steak with your tongs...after a few minutes, lift the steak up and check for good grill marks on the steak....

Flip the steak and again press down with your tongs to make sure the steak has good contact with the grill.  Let it cook for a few more minutes.   The secret is to cook the steak on one side, flip it and continue cooking on the other side...then take it off of the grill...you shouldn't keep flipping the steak cause the outside on both sides will get too done.

Speaking of done, how do you know when it's done?  Chef says to take your hand and press  the tip of your thumb and first finger together.  Now use a finger on your other hand to press in on the fleshy part of the "thumb/finger hand" just under the thumb...that's rare....the second finger and the thumb make medium rare, the third finger and the thumb make medium well and the pinky finger and the thumb mean the steak is well...

Try it and hopefully you'll be on the road to a great grilled steak.

One more tip...if you're cooking t-bones and you have that nice piece of fat along one edge of the steak....before cooking the steak, place the steak on it's side fat side down and hold that on the grill for abbout 30 seconds.  then you can lay the steak flat and follow the above tips.