Porterhouse

[Guest]

I have the WSM outside and smoking for the first time - - drove 90 miles to buy one this morning. Wish me luck..... but I would not have bought it without this website, thanks all.

Wondering if anyone has ever tried a 3.5 inch Porterhouse. There are a few famous "grillers" who have great recipes for such a huge piece of meat. Anyone tried to slow cook/smoke one on a WSM? The challenge on the grill for such a hunk of steak is keeping it from too much heat and turning the outside to leather while the inside is raw! It seems this WSM could be ideal, but at $70 for the steak, I would like to know of someone elses experiences. Anyone?

 

[Jon Liberman]

I would normally cook somehting like that on my kettle. I would sear both sides on direct heat and then put it over indirect heat until it got to medium rare. Since this piece of meat is much thicker than your hand, I would leave the grill cover on.

You could do this in your WSM, but I wouldn't do it low and slow. Low and slow is for lower quality cuts of meat that have connective tissue that breaks down most effectly under low and slow cooking. A nice piece of meat is meant to be seared and served medium at the most.

 

[Guest]

Agreed Jon, I have done this on my Kenmore Elite that has a smoking box built in and still hear my friends say they have yet to taste something better, but I think I want to sear one and then smoke/low cook at about 275 with the WSM to see what happens. Ya, much thicker than your hand. The butcher usually hands me the paper wrapped steak with a chuckle and a "good luck" because they don't think cooking that sucker to medium rare is possible without a leather outside. Boy, are they wrong.

 

[Chris Allingham]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ross lagerblade:
[qb]Wondering if anyone has ever tried a 3.5 inch Porterhouse.[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I've grilled 2 to 2-1/2" porterhouse on the WSM. See Grilling On The WSM for details. But I did it at high temperature, not low & slow.

I would imagine you could do a 3-1/2" porterhouse low & slow just like a rib roast--cook at 250*F until it reaches an internal temperature of about 118*F, then move into a 500*F oven for 5-10 minutes for a good sear, then let rest 10 minutes before carving. Sort of like what I did in the Beef Rib Roast - Dry Aged article.

Regards,
Chris

 

[Guest]

"That ain't no steak; that's a roast!" LOL

I'm from Texas and am no stranger to steaks having had more than my share over the years. (My cholesterol of 295 last year is testament to this.) However, at 3.5" you have a freakin' monster that in my opinion is somewhere between a steak and a roast. I'd cook it with a hybrid roast/steak method, maybe sear at inferno level heat then finish it no higher than 300 to temperature using a thermometer inside unless you trust your finger to press and feel for doneness.

I'm sure you know this, but let that sucker warm up to room temperature before you put it on the fire unless you like "Pitts Style" or "black and blue" steaks. Ideally you'll have a grill to sear it with, or alternately do the grill modification to the WSM.

I had an Angus ribeye this evening ... but at 1" thick I'm feeling rather ghetto compared to your luxury steak!