What is your secret to beautiful grill marks , grate sear marks etc?


 
Jim C in Denver said:
Lots of YouTube videos of folks doing their SCA steak cooks. They all seem to be fairly similar. Malcolm Reed’s is good.

Charcoal. Front sear not reverse. Diamond grill marks not squares. 90-ish seconds per turn/flip. Target (including carry over) is medium, not MR. And they all use GrillGrates. Like ALL of them.

Personally, I like the edge to edge overall sear though. In which case you want to go minimal metal -- cheap thin metal grates that let the fire do its thing. Or maximum metal -- blazing cast iron skillet, flat top, flat side of the GGs. I go max metal in the belief that hot metal sears better than hot air.

But they are all good. More than one way to make a winning poker hand.

P.S. Steaks imo are always better with the dry salt brine, wire rack, 24 hours (or more) uncovered in the fridge.


howtobbqright.com

SCA Ribeye Steaks - How to cook a Ribeye for a Steak Contest

Recipe for cooking a Ribeye Steak for an SCA Steak Cookoff event. This recipe explains how to grill a winning Ribeye Steak.
howtobbqright.com howtobbqright.com
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Yup. Kinda of funny watching them trying to "improve" their marks over the other team's. Although at 550 degs and 1 1/2" thick, 90 seconds is just about right.... ;)
 
VinceGal said:
Hello Pat , I have cooked steak in a cast iron pan on the stove but I haven't tried it on the grill , I know that many Chefs prefer them to cook steak Do you cook Pacific Salmon or chicken like that as well ?
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I like using the cast iron on the grill so I don't smoke up the kitchen and have the house smell like steak for a day. I haven't tried chicken or fish this way. I did watch Gordon Ramsay cook a steak this way and had to try it. Here they were after adding butter and thyme per Gordon's recipe.

Stk.jpg
 
VinceGal said:
I have cooked steak in a cast iron pan on the stove but I haven't tried it on the grill , I know that many Chefs prefer them to cook steak Do you cook Pacific Salmon or chicken like that as well ?
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I do salmon either on a griddle on the grill or in a pan on the side burner in butter depending on quantity. Heat butter until it turns brown and smokes. Cook about 3-4 minutes a side. Nice and crisp outside and pink inside. Better than most restaurants. Wife does not allow me to do it inside on the stove.
 
I use the rule of two:
2 minutes on hot grate, flip it, 2 minutes, flip it again but perpendicular to the first set of marks, again 2 minutes, flip two minutes adjust to thickness/liking. Total time for an average 3/4 inch generic steak is about 8 minutes, and yes I do use a timer. Hate me if you want, a little tech can make your life easier.
 
The whole point (IMO) of cooking a steak on the grill is for grilled "flavor". Sticking it in a pan negates that. What's the point of the grill in the first place?

A cast iron pan doesn't negate anything. It works well.

There's multiple things going on when cooking a steak -- flame, smoke, high temperature and several different types of heat transfer (radiant, convective, conductive). Each steak cooking method features these elements in different amounts and contributes to the overall flavor. And each can produce very good results.

The cast iron skillet on a charcoal grill amps up the conductive heat transfer (steak in direct contact with very hot metal), but lessens the convection and radiation. Conduction is the fastest and most efficient method to get Mr. Maillard going -- which is grill marks (if using grates) or edge-to-edge Mailliard (if using a skillet, griddle or the flat side of GGs). My go-to is the flat side GGs.

Your method (thick steel rods on a gasser) lessens the conductive heat transfer (less hot metal touching the meat) a bit but has more convection and radiation going on. It works well too. Some folks would criticize the Larry method for lack of charcoal smokiness. Personally, I think that criticism is off. After all, all the top end steakhouses cook with gas, not charcoal or wood. If gas works for Peter Luger, nuf said.

IMO what you really need to cook a great steak (or a great pizza) is high heat. Peter Luger's commercial gas-fired broilers hit 800+F. For a home chef, the easiest way to get those high temps is to use wood or charcoal in the backyard. So (again imo) what the backyard cook gets from charcoal or wood is mostly the high heat. And not so much the smoke (unless cooking low and slow).

Charcoal temps plus a cast iron skillet (max conductive heat transfer) is Mailliard on steroids.
 
Last edited:
Grill marks are easy. All you need is a hot enough fire.
I cheat, and use GrillGrates, as evidenced below, I'm a fan ;) .
Grill marks look pretty, and the Mrs. loves the way that they look, but I prefer completely seared protein. More of the Maillard reaction goodness. For that, I use the flat side of the grates. I pimp these at almost every opportunity.

High heat, very few flare-ups and they're excellent for grilling veggies. I got sick of replacing the OEM grates on the Genny, so I replaced them with the GrillGrates and wish I had done so a long time ago. They're perfectly seasoned now, (pic was taken when I first installed them, and seasoned with a raw onion).

If you insist on grill marks, (hey, they do look pretty), these things make them foolproof.
 

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Dwain Pannell said:
each side of food gets 2 sears on a smoking hot grill over the cool side:

1. put fire on one side of the charcoal grate.
2. install cooking grate.
3. after it’s smoking hot, turn cooking grate 180* so it’s over the cool side of the grill.
4. place food onto smoking hot cooking grate on cool side of grill. install lid.
5. remove lid. turn cooking grate 180*.
6. flip food onto smoking hot cooking grate on cool side of grill. install lid.
7. remove lid. turn cooking grate 180*.
8. turn food to create cross hatch and flip onto smoking hot cooking grate on cool side of grill. install lid.
9. remove lid. turn cooking grate 180*.
10. turn food to create cross hatch and flip onto smoking hot cooking grate on cool side of grill. install lid.
11. remove lid. remove food. install lid. close vents.
12. eat.
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Nice!!
 
Rick Poch said:
Grill marks are easy. All you need is a hot enough fire.
I cheat, and use GrillGrates, as evidenced below, I'm a fan ;) .
Grill marks look pretty, and the Mrs. loves the way that they look, but I prefer completely seared protein. More of the Maillard reaction goodness. For that, I use the flat side of the grates. I pimp these at almost every opportunity.

High heat, very few flare-ups and they're excellent for grilling veggies. I got sick of replacing the OEM grates on the Genny, so I replaced them with the GrillGrates and wish I had done so a long time ago. They're perfectly seasoned now, (pic was taken when I first installed them, and seasoned with a raw onion).

If you insist on grill marks, (hey, they do look pretty), these things make them foolproof.
Click to expand...

I did some chicken breasts last night for a salad on the GrillGrates...felt bad cutting into them they were so pretty. Dusted them with some of Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub...they were tasty.

20210518_102537.jpg
 
Barb and I like to use a CI pan for doing steak espically in the summer when we can't use charcoal. Also in the winter just get my 12" Ci skillet out and fire up the big burner on the stove and Mr. Mailliard is there in minutes while I watch the fireplace burn in the nice warm house.
 
Rich Dahl said:
Barb and I like to use a CI pan for doing steak espically in the summer when we can't use charcoal. Also in the winter just get my 12" Ci skillet out and fire up the big burner on the stove and Mr. Mailliard is there in minutes while I watch the fireplace burn in the nice warm house.
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Do you have to open the kitchen windows? I love searing proteins in the CI skillet, but it sure churns up a smoke storm!
 
Rick Poch said:
Do you have to open the kitchen windows? I love searing proteins in the CI skillet, but it sure churns up a smoke storm!
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Shoot, my smoke alarm goes off if a cook bacon! I have simply started to touch off the exhaust fan and take the smoke alarm down anytime I do something “fun” in the kitchen!
 
I like the results I get from Grillgrates ! Take a close look at the grill marks on the chicken Bhassleback cooked. The main disadvantage to
RCPlanebuyer grates,castiron grates, coated grates is they let too much convective hot air through. This is why I believe as Bob Bass pointed out the SCA is moving toward the use of Grillgrates, the end result is a more tender and juicy product through the use of infrared technology. I believe the future of grilling is in infrared, not convective hot air. Please don't get wrong, our conventional grills turn out a good product, infrared turns out a product even more tender and juicy. I'm currently testing Grillgrates in the WSM.The problem of should I use water, sand or tinfoil is eliminated.
 
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