1. food and drink
2. barbecues and grilling

HOW TO COOK THE PERFECT STEAK
Table Of Contents
ntroduction ................................................................................................... 3
Selecting Your Meat.................................................................................... 4
Choice Cuts Chart ........................................................................................ 5
Marbling......................................................................................................... 7
Beef Grading Systems................................................................................. 8
Buying The Perfect Steak ........................................................................11
Our Signature Steak ..................................................................................12
The 3 BIG “T’s”: Time, Temperature & Thickness ..........................13
The 3 Flip Method™.................................................................................15
Steak Preparation Terminology .............................................................17
Aged Steak ...................................................................................................18
Selecting Your Oil .....................................................................................18
Smoke Point Table.....................................................................................21
Salt .................................................................................................................23
Grilling .........................................................................................................25
Putting It All Together............................................................................37
Final Words.................................................................................................38
Appendix 1: The Perfect Steak Preparation Checklist......................39
Appendix 2: Grill Guides…………………………………………40
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HOW TO COOK THE PERFECT STEAK
Introduction
Cooking The Perfect Steak is something most people will never achieve. In
fact, it’s the Holy Grail of grilling and if you can do it you are going to be
elevated to God-like status in the eyes of your friends and family. This manual
is your blueprint to achieving what 99% of BBQers never do, cooking steak
perfectly.
We define The Perfect Steak as;
A choice cut of prime beef which has been prepared and cooked in a very specific way so
as to achieve a dark, diamond-pattern crust on the outside whilst leaving the centre
pink and melting. The perfect steak is a celebration of your senses. It should look
ravishing, smell wondrous and taste downright remarkable.
We acknowledge that different people like their meat cooked differently. We
have our lovers of rare steak right through to well-done and once you
understand the preparation and cooking principles you will be able to prepare
each steak exactly to your guests liking.
As a general rule, our experience is that when working with really good cuts of
beef, which we recommend, less cooking is better and overcooking is a sin!
You can use this guide to cook the steak exactly to your specific preference
whether it be Medium-Rare or Well-Done. 1.
As steak purists we believe that the steak should be the hero of the dish. Our
MO is to minimize the use of additional flavours such as rubs and marinates.
These can be added ‘to taste’ later. What we aim to achieve is to bring out the
natural flavour of the beef in all its fullness.
This book covers quite a bit of the theory of cooking steak culminating in the
final section: Putting It All together. It is supported by videos and additional
information at our website, www.howtocooktheperfectsteak.net
We sincerely hope you enjoy reading it and take away some practical tips and
techniques which will help to make you the master of the BBQ or kitchen when
it comes to cooking steak.
So, to cook The Perfect Steak we need to start at the beginning:
1
Our Signature Steak is one inch thick and cooked to a perfect Medium-Rare
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Selecting Your Meat
Right from the get-go we need to choose the best
possible steak. You’ve got no chance at all of
cooking The Perfect Steak if you start with the
wrong type of beef or the wrong cut of meat. Lets
take a moment to review our cuts of beef so we know
what to select.
It’s interesting to note that the names and
descriptions of cuts of beef differ between countries.
The UK for instance classifies cuts of beef differently
from the US and Australia. Here we’re not going to get too technical and a
simple chart will suffice as to the approximate regions that the different cuts
are taken from.
Figure 1 - Cuts on beast
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A carcass of beef is divided into what is called ‘Primal Cuts’. These are the
basic sections from which the cuts are taken. For example the overall rump
section can be divided into the primal cuts of Rump, Round and Topside.
To cook The Perfect Steak we need to be very selective in the cuts of beef we
buy from our butcher. It helps to remember that the muscles of the animal
which do the most work, that is the legs and neck are the ones which typically
will be the toughest.
If we’re going to cook a great steak we need to start by selecting from the best
cuts of the beast. Here are the best cuts for grilling:
Choice Cuts Chart
The Choice Cuts
Cut Names2
Brief Description
Eye Fillet
The most tender and expensive cut of meat on the
animal. It is the strip of muscle which runs along the
sides of the spine. Fillet steak is typically very lean
(when trimmed correctly) with some marbling
throughout the body of the meat. Although small in
size it is considered to be the premium cut of beef and
the most tender although not necessarily the most
flavoursome.
Fillet Steak
Filet Mignon
Tender Loin
Rib-Eye
Rib Eye steaks are cut from the small end of the rib
roast. These cuts are well marbled, tender and full of
flavour. When grilling on high heat, the marbling
melts into the beef enhancing the overall flavour.
For BBQing on the grill, it doesn’t get any better.
Rib Eye steak has the bone removed, however, some
people prefer steak with a bone. In the United States,
Rib Eye with a bone is commonly called a “Cowboy
Steak” or “Cowboy Rib”.
Scotch Fillet
2
In Australia Rib-Eye is also known as the Scotch Fillet.
A very tasty, moist and tender cut of beef. Look for
marbling throughout the middle of the cut for fuller
flavour.
Often the same cut is known by different names
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Rump Steak
Rump steak has a mixed reputation. Certainly it is one
of the more flavoursome cuts but at times it can be
tough. It is recommended to check (where possible) the
age of the animal when buying rump steak. Steers
younger than 30 months are usually fine but anything
over this age is risky.
Porterhouse
A Porterhouse is a bone-in steak similar to a T-bone
steak but has a significantly larger fillet portion.
T-Bone
The ever popular T-Bone steak is a classic although it
can be a little tricker to grill than some other cuts.3.
The central T shaped bone brings into a single cut meat
from the strip loin (large side) on one side and the
tender loin (small side) on the other.
New York Cut
Think of a New York Cut as the strip loin portion of a
T-bone or Porterhouse. They are boneless and usually
cut quite thick (two inches or so).
According to legend, King Henry VIII of England loved beef loin steak so
much that he declared it be called “Sir Loin.”
3
Refer to: Cooking Steaks with a Bone
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Marbling
When selecting steak it’s important to understand the
characteristic of marbling. Marbled meat, or Marbling, is the
intramuscular fat contained throughout the meat. This is not to
be confused with the fat often found around the perimeter of a cut
of meat. Marbling usually appears as series of white streaks or
flecks within the cut of meat. It’s called marbling because the
streaks of fat tend to resemble the marble pattern of stone. The
reason marbling is important to us here is because it adds
tremendous flavour and tenderness to the meat. Cuts of meat
which have little or no marbling tend to be tough and lack
flavour.
Figure 2 Marbled Meat
The amount of marbling is influenced by several factors including the breed of
cattle and the feed on which it has been finished. Certain breeds of cattle such
as Angus and Murray Grey have a greater tendency for marbled meat than
some other breeds. The Wagyu breed is famous for intensely marbled meat.
The other main factor which influences marbling is the type of feed the
animals are finished on. Much of the top quality beef we eat today is finished
in a feedlot. The animal spends most of its life on normal grassland pasture
and then the last 90-130 days in a feedlot. Here (mostly) steers are fed a
specialised diet largely made up of grains specifically designed to increase the
intramuscular fat or marbling in the meat.
REMEMBER: Always trim away excess fat around the outside of the steak
before cooking, especially on rump steak. This is not marbling, it’s just fat.
This also helps minimize flare-ups as the fat drips.
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Beef Grading Systems
There are a lot of very smart people who have done a ton of work on how to
choose the best beef. Let us summarise two of the worlds best beef-selection
systems here for you.
1. The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) System
It’s useful to understand the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) system for
grading beef. Essentially the system sorts beef into
different grades.
The grading designations are
largely determined by the amount of visible fat that is
streaked throughout the muscle tissue (marbling).
The system rewards this marbling with the higher or
best grades containing the highest amount of marbling. Age of the animal is
also used in the grading system with younger animals, 18-30 months, being
given a higher weighting than animals which are older. The three top grades
are Prime, Choice and Select.
P rime Beef is the highest grade in the system. It has the most marbling and
is the most expensive to buy.
Choice Beef has less marbling than Prime but is still of high quality. This is
the most popular grade of beef because it contains sufficient marbling for taste
and tenderness, while costing less than Prime. It makes up the largest grade
of meat by volume.
Select Beef has minimal amounts of marbling making it leaner but usually less
tender than the Prime or Choice.
If the meat has a coarse grain it is less suitable for grilling. Cuts of meat
with a course grain such as Silverside are more suited to stewing and slow
cooking.
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2. The MSA (Meat Standards Australia) System.4
Meat Standards Australia has developed a world leading grading system to
assist customers in selecting choice quality beef. The system is called The
Eating Quality Assured (EQA) Program and since it was launched it has
conducted more than half a million consumer tests. The key to the MSA
grading system is the meat quality score (MQ4), which is a numeric measure of
the consumer’s acceptability of a piece of beef. The formula is based on the four
major characteristics consumers use to rate a satisfying beef-eating experience:
1. Tenderness
2. Juiciness
3. Flavour
4. Overall Liking
Figure 3 - MSA Chart
Each of the four characteristics is weighted and the overall score is tallied and
awarded an overall Meat Quality Score (MQ4). During the taste testing,
consumers (half a million of them!!) are given a Score Sheet and asked to rank
the four characteristics on a sliding scale chart.
4
Meat and Livestock Australia Limited
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Then they are instructed to tick a box stating whether in their opinion the
piece of meat just tasted was:
Unsatisfactory
Good everyday quality
Better than everyday quality
Premium Quality
These tests have been used to develop the Eating Quality Assured Standard
for Australian Beef. It’s interesting to note that tenderness has the highest
weighting, double that of flavour. Basically, you can flavour a tender piece of
meat but it’s harder to tenderise a flavoursome piece of meat.
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Buying The Perfect Steak
Let’s just imagine that we’re out
shopping for The Perfect Steak.
What would it look like? First off
we’d be looking for a piece of beef
from a steer no older than 30
months.
It would most likely be from a breed
of cattle such as a Black Angus, Murray
Grey or Wagyu5. It would be freerange pasture fed for most of its life and then finished on a grain diet in a
feedlot. In Australia for carcasses to be eligible for the description of ‘Grain
Fed’ the beast must have been on high energy feed for a minimum of 80 days
or for ‘Grain Fed Young Beef’ (max two adult teeth) for a minimum of 50 days.
Ideally the meat would have been dry-aged before being cut-down. The cut
you choose is entirely up to you but for grilling on the BBQ it is very hard to
go past a Rib Eye. The steak would show a generous smattering of flecks and
ribbons of marbling throughout without being too fatty around the perimeter.
Ideally it would be at least one inch or 25mm thick.
Figure 4: Rib Eye Steak ready to cook
We recommend going for steak which is an inch thick for several reasons.
Firstly, it’s the perfect thickness to manage. It takes a considerable degree
more skill to cook thicker cuts such as New York Strip which are sometimes
up to three inches thick. In contrast to cooking really thick steak, it can also
be tricky to cook really thin steak. Thin steak tends to be more random and
inconsistent on the grill and it is very easy to overcook.
Secondly, having the steak cut an inch thick allows two magical things to
happen when grilling;
1. You can achieve a perfect caramelised crust on the outside whilst,
2. Keeping the centre of the steak pink, melting and beautifully juicy.
Dark red meat that is lean and sinewy indicates that it comes from an older
beast. Chances are, it’s going to be tough.
5
A word about Wagyu Beef: Wagyu beef is off the ‘Richter Scale’ when it comes to
marbling and flavour. It is an incredibly tender and rich meat and generally considered the
best steak money can buy. We would certainly recommend you try it although it needs to
be handled differently from a normal cut of beef. A couple of points; it is often hard to
source and when you do find it, it is expensive.
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Our Signature Steak
25mm or one inch thick
Beautifully marbled
Not fatty
Steer no older than 30 Months
A cut selected from our Choice Cut Chart*
Grilled on high heat to a perfect Medium Rare
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The 3 BIG “T’s”: Time, Temperature & Thickness
These are our three mission-critical factors we need to understand and control
when cooking The Perfect Steak.
1. The Time we cook the steak for
2. The Temperature of our grill surface
3. The Thickness of our cut of meat
Naturally it’s totally personal preference as to how a piece of meat is cooked
and whatever your preference you can use our Grill Guide to prepare your
steak exactly to your liking. The Free Grill Guide6 we’ve prepared is in the
form of a simple to use Ready-Reckoner which allows you to take charge of the
three T’s and control each of these critical aspects. Let’s cover each of them in
a little more detail.
Time: You are going to need some sort of timer to cook your steak perfectly.
This is because we’re cooking our steak literally ‘to the second’ and there isn’t
any room for guessing. Because we will be turning our steak three times
during the process we need to accurately monitor the timing. You can use
your watch or the kitchen clock. If you’re considering buying a timer there are
a couple of different kinds including timers which count-up and timers which
count-down. We’ve found that the count-down timers are a bit harder to use
than the ones which count up as you have to work backwards which requires
some calculation. The benefit, however, is that most count-down timers have
an alarm which sounds when you reach the specified end time so you can’t get
distracted and forget to take the steak off in time!
6
Your Free G rill Guide is available to download any time. Just go to our website and get
your copy today: www.howtocooktheperfectsteak.net
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Temperature: This is another biggie and it’s one where
most people are basically left to guess if and when their grill
is hot enough. There is a much better and simpler way to
manage the temperature of your grill and that is with a
Grill Surface Thermometer. These are a fantastic little
device which you simply sit down on the actual grill or pan
surface and when the temperate needle comes around to
where you want it, (that’d be 400°F or 204°C) you’re ready
to go.
Figure 5 - Grill
Surface
Thermometer
One of the most misleading aspects of grilling on a BBQ is using the
temperature gauge in the hood to measure the temperature of grill surface. If
your BBQ has a gauge in the hood what that is reading is the ambient air
temperature under the hood – not the actual temperature of the grill surface!
These are two totally different measurements and apart from the fact that we
are cooking with the lid opened7, if you use this method but rely on the
temperature gauge in the hood you will end up with the wrong result.
Thickness: Naturally enough, the thicker the cut of meat, the longer it’s
going to take to cook. That’s why we need to know exactly how thick our
steak is so that we can cross-reference thickness with temperature and time.
7
Our method requires no lid on the pan or hood on the BBQ be used. The reason for this is
we want all the heat to come up from the grill beneath. That way we have complete
control.
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The 3 Flip Method™
™
Anyone who knows anything at all about cooking steak will have heard that
the less you turn the steak whilst cooking it the better. The reason of course
for this is that the more you turn the meat, the more juices are lost and the
tougher it becomes. If however, cooking The Perfect Steak was as simple as
slapping it onto the grill and not touching it until it was cooked then we
wouldn’t have much more to talk about but the fact is there is a little more to it
than that. Not only do we want the steak to taste amazing, which of course is
our No 1 priority, we also want it to look ravishing and resplendent when we
serve it.
The perfect balance we’ve found is what we call the 3 Flip MethodTM8 of
cooking steak and it works like this.
Flip 1
Flip 2
Flip 3
Place the steak on the
grill at this angle.
Flip the steak, same side
down, to this angle on
the grill.
Turn the steak over. The
presentation side is now
up.
Important Note: The 3 Flip Method has been developed so as to achieve two
main objectives:
1. Perfect diamond bar marks on the presentation side
2. Minimal turning of the meat during cooking
If you’re grilling on a flat plate or in a pan, The Standard 2 Turn Method is
perfectly ok. The only downside is the meat won’t be branded with the crosshatch bar-mark pattern. Timings for this method are included in Appendix 2.
8
The 3 Flip Method really only applies when we are cooking on bar-grills. Its aim is to
essentially brand or sear the presentation side of the steak with diamond-shaped bar marks
to enhance the look of the steak when served. If you’re cooking on a flat plate or in a pan
without bars there is no benefit in the second flip as you can not achieve the same visual
effect.
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The 3 Flip method is built around The 3 Big “T’s” and designed to achieve our
key objectives namely;
1. Present a steak which looks amazing on the plate
2. Minimal turning or touching of the steak during the cooking process
3. Turn out a perfectly cooked steak9
4. A way to baste the meat so as not to burn the butter or insulate the meat
with the salt
The step-by-step details of the process are covered in the section Putting It All
Together and demonstrated on the website video but, in summary, here is how
it runs;
Bring the BBQ grill up to the required temperature of 400°F
Lay the steak(s) on the grill plate at a 45 degree angle (or as if the top of
the steak is pointing to 2 o’clock). This counts as Flip 1.
At the specified time, flip the steak 90 degrees back the other way (or as
if the top of the steak is now pointing to 10 o’clock). This is Flip 2.
At the specified time, turn the steak over. This is Flip 3.
What you’ve done now is prepare a beautiful presentation side of steak.
By flipping it two ways before turning you’ve basically seared a crosshatch or diamond pattern onto the meat.
Whilst the steak is finishing cooking, baste the presentation side with
the prepared butter and salt mix.
When times up, remove the steak and rest in a warm place until serving.
H ot Tip: When you place your steak on the grill do so carefully so as not
to stretch it. Becasuse the steak is at room temp and the muscle is relaxed,
if you slap rather than place your steak on the grill surface you can stretch
it turning a one inch thick steak into a ¾ inch steak. This will significantly
alter the cooking time. Take care to gently place each steak onto the grill
surface. You’ll note that once the steak starts to cook, the muscle tenses up
and it isn’t as important to take such care with the second and third turns.
9
As ordered by each person – e.g. Medium-Rare, Medium etc.
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Steak Preparation Terminology
Preparation
Brief Description
Carpaccio
This is uncooked steak, usually
sliced very thinly and served with
a dressing.
Blue
Also called “Seared” or “Very
Rare”, Blue steak is cooked very
quickly so the outside is just seared
whilst the inside remains uncooked
and cool.
Rare
The outside of the meat has been
seared and a dark crust has formed
but almost all the centre of the
meat remains red.
The outside of the steak has been
seared and a crust has formed.
The meat has started to cook
through but fully 50% of the
centre is pink and melting.
Medium-Rare
Medium
A thin strip of pink is still evident
in the centre of the steak but the
rest of the meat has been browned.
Medium-Well
The meat is cooked through with
just a slight pink hue remaining.
Well-Done
The meat is fully cooked through
with no sign of pink. Typically the
outside is charred and firm to the
touch as all juices have been
cooked out.
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A Word About Well Done
Although it’s a rather broad generalisation, it seems that today we are a
generation who tend to cook our meat less. The most popular steaks on the
menu at our top restaurants are today mostly cooked to Medium Rare or at
most, Medium. In generations past the trend was for Medium to Well cooked
meat.
H ot Tip: If you prefer your steaks well-done, select meat which is well
marbled. The fat melts through the meat as it’s cooking helping keep it moist
and preventing your steak becoming tough.
Aged Steak
Aged meat is generally considered superior to non-aged meat. The author has
personally experienced killing a steer and cooking the meat within just a few
hours and his experience can be recounted as; “sharpen up your teeth; it’s
tough”!10 What ageing does is to allow enzymes to go to work on the muscle
tissue, essentially breaking down the hard connective tissue and tenderizing
the meat. Ageing also tends to strengthen the flavour of the beef. There are
two main methods of ageing meat, dry ageing and wet ageing.
Dry Ageing is done by hanging the meat in a carefully controlled refrigerated
environment typically for anywhere from one to three weeks. Because of the
additional work involved, dry aged beef is usually more expensive than unaged beef which is why it is mostly only done for the premium cuts.
Wet Ageing is another method where the meat is aged in vacuum sealed bags
to help with the tenderisation process.
Dry aged beef is does not benefit from cooking beyond Medium-Rare.
Selecting Your Oil
Using the right type of vegetable oil to grill your steak is one of the secrets to
cooking The Perfect Steak. It’s is also where a lot of people come unstuck.
The four most common mistakes people make are;
1. Choosing the wrong type of oil
2. Using too much oil
3. Oiling the plate and not the steak
10
A common industry term for this is “Over Fresh”
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4. Using oil which is out-of-date
1. Choosing the Right Type of Oil.
First off, we need to understand “Smoke Point.” Smoke Point is the
temperature at which oil starts to burn and give off smoke. At this point the
oil goes through a chemical change and the natural flavour of the oil changes.
If you want to get technical…11
All vegetable oils have different smoke points and that’s why we need to
choose the right oil for the job. The most popular and well known oil is of
course Olive Oil. It’s widely used and highly regarded as one of the most
versatile and flavoursome of all vegetable oils. When we’re grilling steak
however, there is a problem with olive oil and that is, its smoke point.
Grilling The Perfect Steak necessitates that we cook at a high heat. To sear
the outside of the steak and achieve a beautiful crust on our meat we need to
have our grill or pan at 400°F or 204°C. Extra Virgin Olive Oil has a smoke
point of around 385°F.
What that means is that it is going to burn and change from its beautiful
natural flavour to one which has an unpleasant taste and we certainly don’t
want that. This means we need to look further for another kind of oil to do the
job12.
You’d be surprised just how many types of oil there are available. Many of
them though are quite hard to find and also they are often expensive. After
much experimenting and lots of taste tests, our oil of choice is Grapeseed Oil.
There are a few good reasons why we recommend using Grapeseed Oil.
1. It has a high smoke point
2. It’s readily available
3. It’s not overly expensive
11
The smoke point generally refers to the temperature at which a cooking fat or oil begins
to break down to glycerol and free fatty acids, and produce bluish smoke. The glycerol is
then further broken down to acrogenic which is a component of the smoke. It is the
presence of the acrogenic that causes the smoke to be irritating to the eyes and throat. The
smoke point also marks the beginning of both flavour and nutritional degradation.
Therefore, it is a key consideration when selecting a fat for frying, with the smoke point of
the specific oil dictating its maximum usable temperature and therefore its possible
applications. – Source: Wikipedia.org
12
If you really prefer to stick with Olive Oil, select a Refined Extra Light variety which has
the highest smoke point.
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4. It has a beautiful mild flavour which we feel marries well with the meat
and doesn’t impart an overly strong flavour13
5. It refrigerates well
The Smoke Point of an oil also varies depending on whether the oil is refined
or unrefined. Essentially what this means is that if an oil is refined, it has been
put through a fine filter to remove most of the vegetable matter. An unrefined
oil still has some fine particles of the raw plant present.
Therefore, unrefined oil will have a lower smoke point than a refined oil
because the vegetable matter will start to smoke and burn at a lower
temperature.
This is the same with normal butter verses clarified butter. Clarified butter is
the butter which has been melted allowing the different components to
separate. The solids are left behind whilst the melted fat floats to the surface
and is skimmed off. Clarified butter has a higher smoke point than regular
butter in which their remains some 20% milk.
The table on the next page shows the approximate smoke points of some
popular cooking oils.
13
We are steak purists and everything we do is about enhancing the natural flavour of the
meat itself
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Smoke Point Table
Smoke Point Table14
Product
Smoke Point
Fahrenheit
Smoke Point
Celsius
Butter
300°F
150°C
Butter Clarified
350°F
177°C
320-385°F
160-191°C
Extra Light Olive Oil (refined)
468°F
242°C
Peanut Oil (unrefined)
320°F
160°C
Peanut Oil (refined)
450°F
232°C
Canola Oil (refined)
400°F
204°C
Safflower Oil (refined)
510°F
266°C
Grapeseed Oil
420°F
216°C
Avocado Oil
520°F
271°C
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
When cooking at high temperatures always check the smoke point of the
oil. Choose refined oils over unrefined oils to increase the useable
temperature range.
2. Using too much oil
The reason we use oil when cooking is to lubricate the meat and stop it
sticking to the pan or grill. Too many people tend to drown the steak in oil
before putting it on the grill. This does a couple of undesirable things.
Firstly, it imparts an overly strong flavour to the meat and the last thing we
want is for our steak to taste “oily.”
14
We’ve used various sources to create this table including the labels on the bottles,
Wikipedia and CookingforEngineers.com. Smoke points are not a fixed measurement and
should be considered an approximate guide only due to a range of variables such as the oils
age and purity and its age at the time of measurement.
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Secondly, too much oil makes it harder for the grill to rapidly heat the meat to
the required temperature thus increasing the risk of the meat stewing rather
than grilling. A light brush on both sides and around the edges of the steak is
all that’s required – don’t overdo it with the oil!
3. Oil the steak and not the plate
There are two good reasons for this. Firstly, the plate or grill is going to be
really hot and pouring the oil directly onto it can be dangerous and could
result in a flare-up. Secondly, you have more control applying the oil onto the
meat than the plate.
4. Don’t use an ‘out of date’ oil
This is problem which is more common than you’d think. Lots of people go
out and buy really good quality oils – extra virgin olive oils, special gourmet
oils like avocado or sesame, use them once then put them back in the cupboard
and save them for the next special occasion. What happens though is that the
oil has been exposed to the air and in a surprisingly short period of time, the
oil oxidises and becomes rancid. Because most oils have been highly refined
and deodorised, you can’t even smell that they’ve gone off. The result is an
unpleasant (and potentially unhealthy) taste to the dish.
There are two simple fixes for this problem;
1. When you open your oil, use it up in a relatively short period of time,
don’t store it away.
2. Keep it in the fridge sealed tightly in its jar.
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Salt
We’re going to use salt to season our steak and there is quite a bit to be said
about salt. First off, choosing the right salt is important and we recommend
using a natural sea salt. Table salts have iodine in them as well as some anticaking agents and these additives change both the texture and flavour of the
salt. Natural salt is rich in flavour and minerals and is a superb flavour
enhancer to steak.
Our preference is to choose salt-flakes rather than ground or rock salt. It can
easily be stored in a dish and delicately applied by pinching between the thumb
and fore-finger. Salt flakes give the best control as to the amount of salt you
apply.
The popular way to season steak is to apply a generous sprinkle of salt to both
sides of the steak prior to cooking. Our experience is that this causes a
problem and there is actually a better way to season the steak for maximum
flavour.
The problem we’ve found is this; salt is an insulating material and when it is
applied to the steak prior to cooking, it creates a kind of shell on the surface of
the steak. This does a couple of (undesirable) things. Firstly, it lengthens the
required cooking time of the steak because it holds the meat slightly off the
grill surface.
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Secondly, one of the key principles we’re teaching when cooking The Perfect
Steak is that people eat with their eyes and we need to make the steak look
amazing. When the steak has been salted prior to cooking it makes it much
harder to get the beautiful diamond bar marks evenly across the surface of the
meat. The salt tends to insulate in some places and not it others resulting in a
more blotchy, uneven finish.
Furthermore, as the steak cooks and the salts dissolves, it brings moisture to
the surface of the steak but that insulating coat tends not to let the moisture
escape thus steaming or stewing rather than grilling the steak.
A lot of people will argue that the salt helps create the crust on the steak. Our
experience has been that this isn’t true – you get an equally good crust without
the salt and the crust is more a product of the correct heat, not the salt.
If you’ve watched the video on our website you’ll know that our secret to
seasoning the steak is to salt it only after we’ve turned it. This is covered
again in the section – Putting It All Together but essentially what we do is once
we’ve flipped the steak for the final time, we take our melted butter and salt
mix and apply it to the presentation side of the steak with a basting brush.
This allows the mix to melt into the cooked meat enhancing the flavour with
out causing any of the problems we’ve just mentioned.
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Grilling
Grilling is the process of searing the meat at high heat and consistent
temperature to create a flavoursome caramelised crust on the outside. This is
the method we recommend to cook The Perfect Steak. The method works
equally well with a pan (preferably cast-iron) on the stove or on a BBQ plate or
grill. This manual is geared toward grilling on a BBQ grill with one of the
aims being to achieve perfect diamond bar marks15 on our steak but if you
don’t have a BBQ grill, a plate or a pan will work just fine.
Preparing the BBQ
Ok, at the risk of offending someone here, we’re going to say that in our
travels, we have seen some BBQ’s that are, how shall we put it, not the most
hygienic surfaces in the world! Your BBQ needs to be cleaned regularly. It’s not
that hard. A BBQ that doesn’t get scrubbed down after each cookout builds up
a layer of burnt food on the grill surface. Apart from the obvious health issues,
this build-up forms an insulating layer across the plate which doesn’t allow
maximum heat to reach the meat. A dirty grill also smokes easily which adds a
bad flavour to whatever we’re cooking. We want our surface as hot as we can
get it and maintaining a clean, hygienic cooking surface will benefit us greatly
in our quest to cook The Perfect Steak.
Getting the Grill Hot Enough To Cook
The grill surface, whether it’s a pan, plate or grill needs to be hot. You should
have the cooking surface pre-heated to 204°C or 400°F. At this temperature
we can sear the outside of the meat and this is the best way to seal in the juices.
The easiest way to check this is with a Grill Surface Thermometer. These are
a great little tool which give an accurate reading right where the steak is
cooking which is on the plate itself.
15
The cross hatch cooking marks created by the bars of the grill
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We’ve found the thermometers on the hoods of BBQ’s to be an inaccurate
reading of the actual grill surface. If you don’t yet have a Grill Surface
Thermometer then there are a couple of general guides you might like to use;
1. We’ve found that if when the grill thermometer on our BBQ hood
reaches approx 515°F, the grill surface is around 400°F.
2. It’s a pretty general guide but we’ve
found that if you bring the palm of
your hand down toward the the plate
you should be able to hold it steady
no closer than about 6 inches or 15
cm. You should be able to feel the
heat radiating up from the grill
surface and if your hand gets any
closer than this it’s hard to hold there for more than a second or two.
Know Your Grill
Some BBQs and/or cooktops are very powerful and can hot very quickly. For
some larger BBQ’s with bigger burners it’s no touble for them to rocket up to
550°F or more in just a matter of minutes. Some other types of cookers will
struggle to even reach the “sear” tempearature range of 400°F. If your cooker
doesn’t get super-hot, you’ll need to lengthen the cooking times a little. If
yours is one of those super hot industrial machines then you will need to
ensure when it gets to 400°F that you turn the temp down or move the meat
further away from the heat source so as not to overcook the steaks.
A Word on Temperature Probes
These are great for cooking lamb roasts, they are not a tool we recommend for
cooking steak! Probing our perfect piece of meat just allows juices which are
under pressure to leak out. We’ve also found it a difficult job to manage,
trying to accurately probe each piece of meat when we’re cooking at high heat.
Again, if you wish to use them there are some good ones available and the
manufacturers have given temperatures for when to know what stage the meat
is cooked to (i.e. Rare, Medium etc). We abandoned them early on in our trials
and haven’t done detailed testing with them and so we can’t comment further.
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Assembling The Right Tools & Ingredients
Pretty much all the tools that you’re going to need you’ve probably already
got. There are, however, a few special tools that we’ve found to be very useful
which you may want to acquire over time. Again if you don’t have a BBQ or
simply prefer to cook on the stove this method works perfectly well.
Item
Its Use
BBQ or Cast Iron Basically you can cook The Perfect Steak anywhere
Fry-pan, skillet or and on anything, the only prerequisite is that you can
grill plate
get it to the required heat. Cast iron is our preferred
surface.
Quality Steak
Choose your favourite cut from our recommended
chart.
Metal Spatula
To lift and turn the steak – preferably one with a
relatively sharp leading edge.
Grill Surface
Thermometer
To monitor the temperature of the grill surface.
Good quality Paper Each steak needs to be patted down before cooking to
Towel
remove any moisture on the outside of the meat.
Waste paper bin
To throw waste paper and any other rubbish.
Basting Brush
To apply the oil onto the meat and also to apply the
salt/butter baste mix.
Knife
To trim any excess fat off the outside of the steaks
prior to cooking.
Small Saucepan
To melt the Salt & Butter basting mix.
Teaspoon
To mix the Salt & Butter basting mix when it is
heating up so that the salt dissolves into the mix.
Timer
To monitor the time the steak cooks.
Large Plate
To hold the steaks.
Steak Warmer
This can be anything, even a warmed up plate or
metal tray. The point is the steak needs to rest in a
warm place before being served.
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Butter
For flavour – not margarine.
Salt
We recommend natural salt flakes. They are easy to
work with and dissolve best in the heated butter mix.
Grapeseed Oil
Or any other quality vegetable oil with a high smoke
point.
Grill Guide
Have your How To Cook The Perfect Steak Grill
Guide handy so that you manage your timings.
Ruler
To measure and confirm the thickness of the steaks.
Organising the Troops
Organising the troops is almost as important as doing a great job at the grill.
In fact, they go hand in hand. Cooking The Perfect Steak involves precision
timing but what happens when we bring in our magnificently cooked steaks to
serve and the salad hasn’t even been made and the guests are all still standing
around on the patio. It’s going to take 20 minutes or more to get everyone
organized and in that time the steak is going to go cold and your mastery of
the moment will be lost.
Right about when you’re ready to light the BBQ and get things underway,
your first job is to check-in with everyone else and make sure that they are all
ready. Check that accompaniments are almost cooked, that the guests/family
are moving in the general direction of the table and that everyone is ready to
eat. Once you’ve got that all organised you’re freed up to concentrate on the
main job of the day and that is being 4 Star General of the grill. Like any good
General, your first job is to organise your troops.
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Getting the Perfect Bar Marks
Not only do we want our steak to taste
amazing, we also want it to look
sensational and branding the steak with
dark diamond-shaped bar marks or grillmarks is the final-word in presentation.
Dry heat such as a grill causes the outside
of the meat to caramelise. This imparts a
rich brown and complex flavour to the
overall meat. The technical term for is the Figure 6 - Presentation side of the
steaks
“Maillard Reaction” which basically means
that the sugars on the meat surface have
changed in chemical composition to form a brown crust. To get your steak
looking like it’s come out of the kitchen of a 3 Michelin Star restaurant there
are some important techniques to follow.
1. Only aim to brand the bar-mark pattern on one side of the steak and that
is the presentation side. We don’t need to go to the trouble of branding
the underside of the meat, this just involves more turning which is
something we are trying to minimize.
2. The BBQ needs to be hot – really hot. Unless you get your grill surface
to Sear Temp which is 400°F or 204°C you can give up on getting
perfect barmarks.
3. At each flip we need to use the spatula
to press the steak firmly in contact
with the grill. Just the weight alone
of the piece of meat is not enough to
make the necessary contact to sear the
steak in this way. Essentially what
we’re doing here is branding the Figure 7 - Press down & brand
the meat
steak, pressing it firmly against a hot
metal iron in order to make our mark.
Our tests have found that these extra sear-marks on the steak not only
add to the WOW factor, they add genuine flavour to the meat as well.
4. The other BIG secret to diamond bar
marks is using a metal spatula to turn
the steak, not tongs! The reason is
simple when you think about it.
Because we are cooking at very high
heat the meat when it comes into
contact with the grill fuses slightly.
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Figure 8 - Lift & Turn
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What this means is that if you lift the steak with tongs the meat fused in
contact with the grill will stick and stay there. You’ll essentially be
tearing the meat off the surface and the bits that stay there are the bits in
the closest contact i.e. The Bar Marks. To avoid this you’ll need a good
quality metal spatula which has a sharpish edge. Push the spatula under
the meat, carefully lifting, not tearing it away from the grill surface and
then turn it over.
One way to think of the technique is to image that instead of a steak that
you’re turning over a really flaky piece of fish. In order to turn it all in
one piece you need to get right in under it and flip it all in a single
smooth motion.
5. A word here about oiling. The overuse of oil is to be avoided. Sure, it
may help preventing the steak from sticking but, over oiling the steak is
counterproductive in that the oil may;
a. not get hot enough during the cooking time preventing searing
and
b. impart an oily flavour into the meat.
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Preparing to Cook
Take the beef out of the fridge at least one hour ahead of time to bring it to
room temp16. You may want to cover it with a tea-towel. If you take a cold
steak out of the fridge and put it straight onto a hot grill you will be
guaranteed a tough piece of beef.
Again, check what ‘the Troops’ are doing and that they have remained on
schedule. If salads or other side dishes are being prepared in the kitchen, it’s
really important that you know what the timing is with the rest of the team. It
can be a little frustrating (to say the least) to cook your steak absolutely
perfectly only to discover, for example, that the chips haven’t even been put on.
Only once you’ve checked what everyone else is up-to and made sure of their
timing should you begin your work of preparing the steak. You want to be
last in the sequence of serving.
Seasoning
As steak purists we prefer not to season the steak before cooking (other than
with our Salt and Butter Baste added during cooking) but rather to rely on
selecting the best possible cuts of beef and let the steak do the talking.
We totally understand that many people love to marinate their steaks in their
favourite red wine or herb & garlic marinade and that’s totally fine. The
principles we’ve covered here still apply.
Our tests showed that on a mild sunny day (65°F / 18°C outside) it took our steaks 70
minutes to come to come fully to the ambient room temperature. It would obviously be less
on hotter days.
16
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Cooking Steak which has a Bone
Steaks with a bone such as T-bones are harder to cook through evenly than
steaks without a bone. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that the
bone tends to sit on the grill holding the meat close to it off the surface. This
is one of the reasons why meat near the bone will be cooked less than the rest
of the steak. Another is that the bone conducts heat and a lot of the heat from
the grill is taken up or absorbed by the bone, not the meat.
Anecdotal evidence from the many people who prefer their steak with a bone is
that the meat tastes “sweeter” and more flavoursome if it has a bone.
Salt & Butter Baste Mix
The Salt & Butter Baste is a simple recipe to prepare and we prefer to make it
fresh whilst we’re cooking our steaks.
Ingredients:
Butter
Natural salt flakes
You will need a small saucepan and a stirring spoon.
Method:
In a small saucepan simply add one tablespoon of butter and one teaspoon
of salt for each steak. Whilst the steaks are cooking on the first side heat the
mix. The butter should melt right down but not boil or burn. Mix it well so
that as much of the salt as possible dissolves into the hot butter.
When that’s done, remove it from the heat source and set it aside.
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When the 3rd and final flip has been done, use a basting brush to apply the
baste to the presentation side of the steak. Brush the mix into the crevices
where the fat has melted in the meat. This mix of melted butter and dissolved
salt enhances the natural depth of flavour of the meat.
Resting
Resting meat is one of the secrets to serving tender steak. Resting simply
means allowing the steak to relax again so that it isn’t tough. Steak is a
muscle and when you cook it, two things happen;
1. it becomes tense and
2. pressure builds up inside.
As steak cooks the muscle tightens and if we cut it too early before allowing
the muscle to relax, the juices, which are under pressure will flow out making
the meat tough. Before serving the meat, always allow a short period of time
for everything to come back into equilibrium.
It is important to remember that when a steak comes off the heat source it will
continue to cook through for a period of time. This is known in the restaurant
trade as “carry-over cooking”. As a rule, the thicker the steak, the greater the
residual or carry-over cooking which will take place.
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The tricks to resting steak are;
Wherever possible rest the steak on its edge17. What this does is
minimises juice loss. As the muscle relaxes the juice filters back through
the steak and up to the surface. If the steak is laying flat on a plate, that
is a larger surface area for the juice to leak out. If the steak is resting on
its edge we are limiting the surface area and thus minimising juice
leakage.
Again, wherever possible, rest the steak in a warm spot. We want to be
serving our meat whilst it is still lovely and warm.
Take the steak off the grill moments before it is cooked to the required
doneness and then use the resting process to bring it home.18
Never ever rest your steak sealed under a sheet of foil. What this does is
creates a kind of steam-bath for your steak which dissolves your
beautiful caramelised crust and causes the meat to start stewing. This
tends to make it go a duller grey colour and toughens it.
The thinner the steak, the less resting time it needs.
17
That’s why we developed the Side Steak Warmer. This rack does a few things;
1. It has been heated on the bbq whilst cooking so it is hot and says warm for at least 5
minutes allowing the meat to gently relax without getting cold.
2. It holds the steak on its side putting a small surface down so as gravity is minimized,
i.e. we don’t have the large flat side of the steak to the ground, just its edge and this
greatly minimises juice loss.
3. It elevates the steak and allows it to sit above its juices thus minimizing any basting
and loss of crusting at this crucial point.
18 Our Grill Guide Chart has factored this in already.
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Biggest Mistakes People Make when Cooking Steak
Resting under foil
We’ve covered this one already. Resting a steak under foil dissolves the crust
and stews the meat.
Cooking with the pan-lid on or BBQ-lid closed
Grilling means having the heat source come from underneath. When the lid is
closed we build up ambient temperature and this changes all our cooking times
and techniques. Because steak cooking at high heat generates quite a bit of
smoke, if the lid is closed, we tend to get a build up of super-heated moisture
which stews not grills.
Turning too often
Once when we were at a DIY Steak Restaurant we watched in horror and
amusement, a young couple, evidently who weren’t experienced in cooking
steak on a char-grill each purchase the biggest, baddest, thickest New York
Strip steak in the whole restaurant. They proceeded to take it to the char-grill
where they laid it down and almost immediately, began turning it, and turning
it, and turning it. After about twenty flips they determined that it was cooked
and took it off the grill and sat down to their feast. Evidently though, it still
wasn’t cooked to their liking so they bought it back to the grill and proceeded
to give it another dozen or so flips and turns. Eventually they sat down to eat
it again and I recall noticing later-on that half of each steak was left on the
plate.
Steak benefits from less handling. The less you man-handle the meat, the
better the chance you’re going to have of serving a tender, juicy steak.
Over oiling
No-one wants to eat oily meat so don’t over-oil the steak. Over-oiling can
result in the meat not heating up quickly enough and the oil still staying on
the outside of meat.
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Over seasoning
If you must season the steak before you cook it, check with your guests to
make sure they like the seasoning. One of the most common seasonings people
use is cracked pepper and particularly with children, this has ruined many a
perfectly good steak.
Not bringing the meat to room temperature before cooking
Putting a cold piece of meat on a hot grill-surface immediately causes the
muscle (steak) to contract and tighten. The meat never fully relaxes back
again resulting in a tough steak.
Grill Skill
Mastering the grill is indeed a great skill, part science, part art. It is acquired
over time by practice. For that short period of time that you’re master of the
grill and its all happening, it should almost be as if the rest of the world has
ceased to exist and all you are focused on is managing & mastering your skill
at the grill.
Not Drying The Steak
You must, must pat the steak down with a clean cloth or good quality paper
towel immediately before oiling it and putting it on to cook. If you don’t, the
juices will stew the meat and you’ll lose that clean dark crust which adds so
much flavour and festival to the meat.
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Putting It All Together
Pre-heat the cook-top.
Check that everyone else is almost ready-to-go with the side dishes etc.
Check with each person exactly how they’d like their steak cooked and
calculate timing with the well-done steaks going on first and the rarer
steaks going on last, all timed to finish together.
Check your Grill Guide so that you know in advance how long each
steak is going to take to cook.
Dry each steak off with a paper towel or clean cloth.
Apply a measured amount of grapeseed oil to each steak with a basting
brush.
Check that the grill surface is up to the required temperature.
Start the timer and put the steaks on to cook.
Put the Salt & Butter Baste on to melt.
Turn the steak(s) at the first flip time.
o At each turn use the spatula to press the steak into firm contact
with the grill.
o At each turn use the spatula to get in under the meat and lift it off
the grill and over.
Turn the steak(s) at the second flip time.
Turn the steak(s) over at the final flip time.
Remove the salt and butter baste from the heat and apply it to the steak.
When times up, remove each steak and place it in a warm spot to rest.
Deliver your masterpiece(s) ready for serving …..and eating!
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Final Words
At the end of the day, cooking The Perfect Steak is as much an art as it is a
science. Steak is never exactly 1 inch thick nor does the grill temperature
remain at precisely 400°F. You need to take into account all sorts of factors
and make adjustments accordingly. Knowing what you know now and with
practice you are bound to perfect your own system.
We’d love to hear your experiences with cooking your own Perfect Steak. If
you’ve got a story or some photos, share them with us and The Perfect Steak
Community.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this guide and we sincerely wish you every success.
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Appendix 1: The Perfect Steak
Preparation Checklist
Getting organised is one of the keys to cooking T he Perfect
Steak. We’ve made a list of everything you‘ll need.
We recommend you use this Checklist in conjunction with
watching the set of instructional videos we’ve made and if you
really, really want to get good at it, pick up a copy of our
bestselling eBook, How to Cook The Perfect Steak.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Butter
Natural Salt flakes
Timer
Paper towel
Tea spoon
Wastepaper bin
BBQ, cast iron pan or grilling
Quality steak
surface
Knife
Warm place to rest the cooked meat
Metal Spatula
Basting brush
Grapeseed oil
Small saucepan
Your Grill Guide
Large plate
Quick Preparation Tip 1: Check what everyone else is doing before putting the steaks on to cook.
You don’t want to be waiting around for other dishes to cook when its time to serve up your steak.
Quick Preparation Tip 2: Take the steaks out of the fridge well in advance. The meat needs to be
at room temp to cook through evenly.
Quick Preparation Tip 3: Ask everyone in advance exactly how they’d like their steaks cooked.
Once you know you can cook each steak to taste. We’ve found it works well to start with the welldone steaks going on first and the rarer steaks going on last, all timed to finish together. If you’re
cooking multiple steaks, it helps to write the timings on a piece of paper.
Cooking steak perfectly means understanding The 3 BIG T’s
of cooking Steak:
Timing Temperature and Thickness.
Understanding how each of these affects the overall cooking time is
critical to achieving the perfect outcome.
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THE PERFECT STEAK GRILL GUIDE
3 FLIP
MP
ETHOD
™ STEAK
HOW TTOHE
COOK
THE
ERFECT
This guide is has been prepared especially to help You cook T he Perfect
Steak. We’ve cooked hundreds of steaks to create it. If you work to the
three BIG T’s, Temperature, Timing and Thickness, you’ll be well on the
way to cooking The Perfect Steak.
We recommend you use this Guide in conjunction with watching the set
of instructional videos we’ve made and if you really, really want to get
good at it, pick up a copy of our bestselling eBook, How to Cook The
Perfect Steak.
Quick Grill Tip 1: Always preheat your cooking surface before putting the steak on to cook.
Quick Grill Tip 2: Use grapeseed oil – not olive oil for your high heat grilling.
Your Perfect Steak Cooking Ready Reckoner ©
GUIDE 1: The 3 Flip Method™
Thickness
½” 15mm
1”
1½”
Doneness
Flip 1
Flip 2
Flip 3
Rare
Medium Rare
Medium
Well Done
Rare
Medium Rare
Medium
Well Done
Rare
Medium Rare
Medium
Well Done
1
1½
1½
2
2
2
3
3
2½
3
4
6
1
1½
1½
2
2
2
3
3
2½
3
4
6
1
1½
2½
3½
2
3
4
7
4
5
7
8
Total
Time
3
4½
5½
7½
6
7
10
13
9
11
15
20
Grill
Temp
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
Resting
Time
2 min
2 min
2 min
3min
3-4 min
3-4 min
3-4 min
3-4 min
3-4 min
4 min
4 min
5 min
Note: All Flip Times are in minutes. All Grill Temps are in Fahrenheit: 400°F = 204°C. Many
factors
influence cooking times. Cooking The Perfect Steak requires finesse, practice and judgement. Use
these timings as guide only and as you get to know your grill, make adjustments accordingly.
Flip 1
Lay the steak on the grill at
the angle shown
Flip 2
Flip the steak, same side
down in this direction
Flip 3
Turn the steak over
Bell’s Tip: Put these two pages back-to-back and laminate them. Then keep this guide
close to your BBQ.
© Bell Parc 2011
Page
40
www.howtocooktheperfectsteak.net - askforangus@howtocooktheperfectsteak.net
THE PERFECT STEAK GRILL GUIDE
HOW TO COOK THE PERFECT STEAK
THE STANDARD 2 TURN METHOD
Use this guide if you aren’t so concerned about getting the perfect
diamond bar-marks on your meat or if you’re cooking in a pan or flat
plate.
We recommend you use this Guide in conjunction with watching the
set of instructional videos we’ve made and if you really, really want to
get good at it, pick up a copy of our bestselling eBook, H ow to Cook
The Perfect Steak.
Quick Grill Tip 1: Make sure you’re meat’s at room temperature before you begin grilling.
Quick Grill Tip 2: Don’t forget to rest the cooked steaks in a warm place before serving.
Your Perfect Steak Cooking Ready Reckoner ©
GUIDE 2: The Standard 2 Turn Method
Thickness
Doneness
Flip 1
Flip 2
½” 15mm
Rare
Medium Rare
1½
2 min
15 sec
2 min
45 sec
3 min
45 sec
3
3½
5
6½
4½
5½
7½
10
1½
2 min
15 sec
2 min
45sec
3 min
45 sec
3
3½
5
6½
4½
5½
7½
10
Medium
Well Done
1”
1½”
Rare
Medium Rare
Medium
Well Done
Rare
Medium Rare
Medium
Well Done
Total
Time
3
4½
Grill
Temp
400°F
400°F
Resting Time
5½
400°F
2 min
7½
400°F
3min
6
7
10
13
9
11
15
20
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
400°F
3-4 min
3-4 min
3-4 min
3-4 min
3-4 min
4 min
4 min
5 min
2 min
2 min
Note: All Flip Times are in minutes. All Grill Temps are in Fahrenheit: 400°F = 204°C. Many
factors influence cooking times. Cooking The Perfect Steak requires finesse, practice and judgement.
Use these timings as guide only and as you get to know your grill, make adjustments accordingly.
Flip 1
Lay the steak on the grill .
Flip 2
Half way through turn it over.
© Bell Parc 2011
Page
41
www.howtocooktheperfectsteak.net - askforangus@howtocooktheperfectsteak.net