Look Ma...No Grill Marks!

[j biesinger]

I got this idea from seeing how most steak houses cook their steaks under insanely hot broilers. I did notice Alton Brown has a similar technique that uses a chimney, but I though my idea was better.

The goal was to get an intense sear without flare ups, and potentially catch my drippings for a pan sauce.

our subject: dry aged rib steak

here's the setup

and the finished product

it was awesome to watch it sear under the intense heat, and I achieved a great crust. It doesn't look too impressive in the pic, but it was better than most pan fried and grilled one's I've done. The downside was the falling coals. I knocked the grate each time I flipped the steak, but I still got a few pieces of falling coal in the pan rendering the drippings useless. It's a fun technique, and doesn't require anything other than something to raise the fire grate over the cooking grate.

since I was all in on prime steak, we topped it with some Bayley Hazen blue from Jasper Hill Creamery (IMO the best blue in the world)

steak topped with sherried mushrooms, caramelized onion, and blue cheese

probably too close to medium for my liking, but I didn't have enough time to temper it before cooking and it was still cold in the middle (which makes it tougher to cook uniformly).

and gratuitous salad shot

 

[Gary H. NJ]

Is there anything better than a good dry aged ribeye? I'm loving that blue cheese as well. Ooh.

 

[A Moe]

YO! Amazing J.! Amazing!!!!

 

[Morgan C.]

Wow! Just ate dinner and I'm hungry all over again! Super looking steak! Looks like project accomplished to me!!!

 

[John Solak]

Nice looking steak and salad!!

 

[Mike Coffman]

Excellent steak, salad and photos!

 

[Don Cash]

Awesome project. Beautiful food!

Maybe try taking another charcoal grate and putting it 90 deg to this one (creating a crosshatch) so there's less space for the smaller coals to fall through.

I could see this technique working for nachos too.

 

[j biesinger]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Maybe try taking another charcoal grate and putting it 90 deg to this one (creating a crosshatch) so there's less space for the smaller coals to fall through.

I could see this technique working for nachos too. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's a broiler, I'm sure we can figure out lots of cool applications.

I hadn't thought of the crossed fire grates, however the stuff that was falling through was small enough that it would pass through even that. You got me thinking though and I might try a piece of expanded metal.

 

[Mark Skeet]

Wow, what a steak! The blue cheese puts it over the top. Great experiment, I'll have to try it.

 

[Wolgast]

Love the pics! The food i guess was Superb! Cool way of doing the steak aswell. Great post Jeff.

 

[j biesinger]

thanks everybody!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Great experiment, I'll have to try it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

it's worth it just to see the exterior of the steak blister and pop. It's something you cannot observe any other way.

a couple of more items that came up in another discussion: I used a heat gun to stoke/blow ash off the coals, and I used the bottom of a questionable bag of lump which may explain the little pieces falling through the grate

 

[Shaun R]

I agree with Don, that is just plain beautiful food!

 

[Lawrence M.]

Hi J, Have you tried putting the charcoal in a cast iron skillet or pan? It will heat up enough for you to broil without letting ash through.

 

[R. Hutchins]

Lawrence M beat me to it. I'd say another cast iron fry pan, sitting on a grill above the cooking pan, loaded with hot coals, would do the job without dropping ash on the food pan.

 

[Lawrence M.]

Imagine being able to seat both sides.... at the same time! now that's an idea

 

[j biesinger]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Have you tried putting the charcoal in a cast iron skillet or pan? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

no, this was my first try.

If I do try this again, I'm going to hand select my lump pieces and use a tighter grate.

 

[Brian Zimmerman]

That is a great looking cook. Glad to see that my charcoal grate is not the most warped! Took a 5lb sledge to mine to flatten.

 

[j biesinger]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Glad to see that my charcoal grate is not the most warped! Took a 5lb sledge to mine to flatten. Big Grin </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I treat my fire grate like a baseball mitt, it takes years to develop the perfect pocket!

 

[Jon Des.]

That's fantastic!

I may have the solution to your ash problem, and I believe it's already in your grilling arsenal. A pizza screen underneath your coal grate should take care of the falling ash. Even if it kills it for smoking use, the $5 to pick up another at a restaurant supply store will be more than offset by the $85/serving you are saving over a comparable steakhouse.

 

[j biesinger]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">A pizza screen underneath your coal grate should take care of the falling ash </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

that's a killer idea. It beats looking for a piece of expanded metal. Like you said, I suspect it would be toast at these temps. I burned through one in about a second trying to cook off some crust with my propane stove. The metal evaporated.

maybe put the screen under the fire grate so it catches ash, but doesn't come in direct contact with the coals.