girls that grill

Simple S&P for my steaks....I love the grill....marination only for the tough boys like Flank Steak which happens to be one of my all time favourites.

Whaaaaa Tenderloin has no flavour ....that is a completly new one to me girl....

Grilling is one of the best things I do ....the people I hate to say it 'the guys" always seem to sweat their a$$ 's off on that fire station ...but I always loved it...no sweat....I love the heat...no sweat

Good topic Joey

Gypsy

I let my steaks come close to room temp, or just chilled a bit. I season with Montreal steak seasoning, granulated garlic, Cajun seasoning. I get the grill hot as hell, I've been there, and it is hot. I'm looking for a  seasoned crust on the outside,  and rare on the inside. Red wine, Greek salad, oven roasted baby red garlic potatoes........Have to go, time to start the fire..............ChefBillyB

Well I think I'm highly qualified to answer this, because I genuinely crave a steak maybe once every 3 years... love meat, just don't crave steak much. And since it's only one steak for me every few years, it better be a darn great steak!!

My favorite flavor on steak - Sea Salt, coarse ground black pepper, and FIRE!

For all I care, when I crave that steak, it can be totally plain. Except for the FIRE!

Fire adds the best flavor!

Well Joey I do agree Steak is very personal....and we all have our preferance. I love fillet and all the great things I can do with it......from a grilling perspective...lol 

Live ,laugh .learn

Gypsy

S&P, wood fire. Girls also do traditional BBQ like ribs, pulled pork...

This girl likes the meat to start at room temp. - out of the fridge for at least an hour, nice thick cut like rib eye.  Fillet is a waste of time except for tartare IMHO. Just before cooking, loads of S&P.  Sear the heck out of it and eat,.  Nice and blue.  Only way for me.

Lots of stuff can go on the grill/bbq.  Skewers of chicken/pork/lamb, mix if you like with veg.  Or haloumi cheese cubes with onions, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes etc etc etc.  Oh plus cheese kranskys - cut a row of shallow diagonal slashes either side and wait for the cheese to start dripping out.  Crispy, juicy, cheesy.  So nice.

Lamb chops - marinate if wanted with oil, pepper and lemon.  Cook till the fat is crispy. Yum!

Dont have a bbq at the moment, am really missing the fire.  I won't let my better half touch the food I put up on it - he cremates it.

It really deplends on the cut.

First off, Joey, I don't know why you backed down. Tenderloin and top loin are, as the name implies, very tender. But because they are lacking in fat they're also lacking in flavor. So you have to jazz them up a bit. That's why things like bernaise were invented.

Frankly, I have never understood the idea that filet is the epitomy of great steak. Sure, you can cut it with a fork. But so what? I'd rather have to use a knife on a piece of meat that has it's own natural flavor.

Rib-eye, which in my opinion is the only top-cut steak worth eating, needs nothing but salt & pepper. And that's applied just before grilling, to meat that's been allowed to come up to room temperature or close to it.

Flank steak, which is also one of my favorites, benefits from a marinade to flavor and tenderize it. But since I started using a Jacard, the tenderizing part is less important.

Down here it is the standard contention that the flavour's in the fat. Tenderloin (eye fillet) is a lean cut enjoyed for its tenderness and being low-fat not so much for its flavour.

Most restaurants round here use rib-eye (scotch fillet) first because the price of tenderloin is not practical for our market but more importantly we prefer it flavour-wise....its known as the 'butcher's cut'.

I have a white pepper/salt pre-mix on the station for generic seasoning of everything as opposed to flavouring that usually happens later as the station is really busy so I need to keep it simple and 'clean'.

That said...I season heavily and like to see the 'crust' ChefBilly mentioned....seasoning is what makes a steak imho.

Do you guys trim & 'roll' your steak prior to portioning? We do & leave the wrap on for the sear so it holds its shape. Probably wouldn't work on a char-grill.

What's your minimum thickness? I don't like going under 11/2" as below that the internal cook becomes less even.

Do you use timers/temp gauges or instinct/feel?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChefBillyB 

I let my steaks come close to room temp, or just chilled a bit. I season with Montreal steak seasoning, granulated garlic, Cajun seasoning. I get the grill hot as hell, I've been there, and it is hot. I'm looking for a  seasoned crust on the outside,  and rare on the inside. Red wine, Greek salad, oven roasted baby red garlic potatoes........Have to go, time to start the fire..............ChefBillyB

A man who's steak cooking method makes my heart warm and fuzzy.  ChefBillyB's methods are the same as mine, same type of seasoning (I use Emeril's make it from the recipe) just a dash a little gran. garlic, and Montreal.  BTW I use Montreal on a lot of stuff, big flavors, great on chicken, pork, hamburgers, etc. The key is to know how much to use.  Due to price the cut that we do most often is New York strip, and for special occasions Rib-Eye.  Due to cost the meat we grill the most is Tri-Tip, started with a hot sear, then slower cooking, but still use the same seasoning.

Do not be afraid of the filet...... anyone who knocks it cannot cook that particular cut of meat properly

Too bad it really is Delicious

I'm sorry I just edited this because I realize some people just like a more marbled fatty steak and that always is in favour of flavour.

I do love the Rib Eye it's always a big seller on special Saturday nights....it's a no brainer...not much work for us ...it comes prepared with tons of flavour ....I'm old school girl here ....I guess I love to do the extra work in loving the tenderloin for what it is....Chateaubriand....

Gypsy is out for a few days

gone fishin

I just saw last week on Good Eats, where Alton shows how to properly cut a beef tenderloin to get filets.  Costco occasionally sells the beef tenderloin, I have to give it a try.  I would love to cook a piece of buttery tender meat that almost melts in your mouth.  I have been blown away a few times by some French restaurants using methods that age the filet and you literally can cut the meat with a fork, but it not mushy and loaded with beef meat flavor beyond the sauce it came with.

Tenderloin lean?  On what planet?  Good tenderloin is well marbled with flecks of very palatable fat in the meat -- rather than being surrounded by a solid wrapper, or having big mofo chunks inside.  Tenderloin is very, very, tres, beaucoup rich.  That's why you can get away with smallish portions.

The tenderloin is a separate group of muscles (including the chain) that runs through the short loin and the sirloin -- sort of between the top block and the top sirloin itself.  The point of the fillet is in the short loin -- the chateau end in the sirloin.

A lot of people love tenderloin whether as filet mignon or some other way.  A lot of them women.  Maybe in part because a small piece can be oh so very satisfying.  Whatever.  While we may have our preferences I think we can live with the idea that others have theirs.

I don't have a single favorite.  Pretty simple, if it's steak I like it.  Top sirloin and tri-tip cooked California style; bone in rib, Porterhouse, either cooked more or less the same way or cut a little thinner and grilled hotter; carne asada; you can't make me choose.  

For California beef barbecue and generic grilling I usually allow the meat to temp for awhile in a glass baking pan with a few splashes each of red wine and Worcestershire sauce.  Splashes mind you -- no drowning of the meat.  After about fifteen minutes, they'll mix with the meat juices to form a thick syrup.

Then I season my beef with a basic competition style beef rub.  That's kosher salt, fresh coarsely ground black pepper, paprika or smoked paprika, ground chipotle or a little chile de arbol, granulated garlic, granulated onion, and a pinch each of dry mustard, sage and thyme.  It's fair to partly California and what "Montreal steak seasoning" was before Schilling decided it needed a name.  

If it's a thick steak, and I'm cooking indoors I'll sear it off in a pan and put it in the oven.  I don't care how wonderful or flavorful the cut, no fond goes unused.  Can you say "pan reduction?"

Outdoors, I like to get some good cross-hatched tattooing, adjust the rack and/or cover, and finish indirect or a long way over hot coals.  That "long way over hot coal" is California (what people who don't actually know better call 'Santa Maria') style by the way. It's a lot like what Southerners call "open pit."  I love the trad California Central Valleys style accompanients too.

If the steak's cut thinner, indoors or out, I cook hot and fast -- usually. Still with the cross hatching on the outdoor grate.

But shishkabob -- much slowness. 

You want a bacon wrapped fillet?  Steak Diane?  Philly cheese steak?  Pizzaiola?  Steak (romsteck at that) avec frites?  Somethin else?  

Yowzer,

BDL

BDL steps up to the plate...I knew you would.

Cheers buddy BDL...we know what it's all about

Gypsy is back from fishing and it was totally buggy ...The deer flys got a good chunk outta me...and I didn't catch anything worth keeping or in season....ahhhh there always next time...BTW the BIG ONE got away

Gypsy

Titomike - I always go by feel.  Much quicker than any other way.  There's only one way at my house - BLUE!  No ok j/k they get it as they like it.....I just can't stand to see a good steak ruined by actually cooking it through.

BDL - you're 100% on fillet mignon with women - used to be my favorite before I discovered scotch fillet.  But the mignon was wrapped in bacon and drowned in a mushroom sauce - not a chance of actually tasting the meat.