# Searing Steaks



## Old Dave (Apr 15, 2014)

I sear my steaks to add that wonderful slightly crusty grilled, caramelized, and nutty additional flavor to my meat that is so hard to get even in some fine restaurants. To me, I do not need any additional spices, marinades, or sauces for my steaks. Sea salt and a great sear is all that is required for a fine steak. 

I like to start with either a boneless ribeye or strip steak and I like to cut my own to get them at least 1/1/4” to 1-3/4”thick for the best results. I prefer choice or above graded piece of meat if I can find it. 







To prep the meat, I take it out of the fridge and wipe it dry with paper towels and place it on a cooling rack to dry and warm up for about 40 minutes. The rack lets air under the meat so any moisture doesn’t puddle under the meat. I usually turn the meat over and wipe it off a couple of times during this 40 minute warm up period as I want the surface dry as moisture is your enemy for a proper sear. 






I will be searing these steaks in my Green Mountain Davy Crockett pellet grill and this is how I have it setup for this treat. 

I take the two cooking grids out, then both of the “Open Flame Technology Plates” out of the grill. I do leave the diffuser plate in the grill as it is a good base for my black iron griddle. I then place my 10” round Lodge griddle on top of the diffuser plate.






The best temp for searing is about 350 to 500 degrees and to get this on this little cooker and my setup, I find that setting the cooker temp to 375 degrees will produce a griddle surface temp of about 425-450 degrees which is perfect for my steaks. 

Since there is such a thin line between searing and charring a steak and charring is not very safe, I finish my prep by sprinkling on a pretty heavy coat of sea salt just before the meat goes on to the griddle. Any other seasonings can burn or give an off taste to my meat. 






I place the steak on one side of my griddle and sear it for about 2-3 minutes until it naturally releases from the griddle surface and I turn it over on an unused part of the griddle to finish to cook. 

Before starting my second steak, I wipe the griddle off of any remaining moisture from the first steak and then sear the second steak. 






I cook my steaks to rare or medium rare and do not need this additional step but if the steak is not done to your liking during the 4-6 minute total searing time, you can add the grid back over the top of the setup to finish your steak. 






After a 10 minute rest, these are my seared, browned, and caramelized steaks cooked to slightly over rare and ready for the plate. 

Anyway, that is the way I like to roll with steaks on  my little Davy Crockett tailgate pellet cooker.


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## bigwheel (Apr 15, 2014)

Looking mighty good.


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## Vermin999 (Apr 15, 2014)

Same as you I like salt and pepper only, I want my steak to taste like steak.

Have you ever tried salting your steak? I like to cover my steak in salt for about 30-45 minutes. After that I rinse the steak of salt and dry it really good. The salt draws out moisture and the outside will almost have a leathery feel to it and be a b righter red too. After a good sear the steak will have a very nice crust to it. The longer you let the salt sit the saltier it will be.


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## Max1 (Apr 15, 2014)

I do the same thing John, but I use a mixture of kosher salt, and cornstarch use a 2:1 ratio of salt to cornstarch.


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## Vermin999 (Apr 15, 2014)

Max said:


> I do the same thing John, but I use a mixture of kosher salt, and cornstarch use a 2:1 ratio of salt to cornstarch.



What does the cornstarch do?


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## bbquzz (Apr 15, 2014)

Great lesson Dave, I'll save this post and give it a try next time I have a couple nice thick strip steaks.


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## Old Dave (Apr 15, 2014)

*Salting Staks*

I have not tried the salting steak method but it does sound interesting. Many years ago, I had a neighbor that cooked his steaks on a layer of salt in a cast iron skillet. He did produce a fine steak.

Dave


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## Max1 (Apr 16, 2014)

As we all know the salt pulls all the excess moister out of the steak, the cornstarch will help seal the steak and keep it from drying out. It does also help with the searing stage too, will produce very nice sear marks.


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## bigwheel (Apr 16, 2014)

Thanks for the salt refresher course. Have tried it a time or two with good results..just forgot about it for some reason. Who likes to dry age? That also kicks it up a notch. Hey I smell a combo plan coming together for the ultimate steak thing,. hmmm


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## Bob In Fla. (Apr 16, 2014)

bigwheel said:


> Thanks for the salt refresher course. Have tried it a time or two with good results..just forgot about it for some reason. Who likes to dry age? That also kicks it up a notch. Hey I smell a combo plan coming together for the ultimate steak thing,. hmmm


60-Second Video Tips: How to Dry-Age Steak at Home - YouTube


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## bbquzz (Apr 16, 2014)

Thanks Bob, interesting.


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## boozer (Apr 19, 2014)

Awesome thread, and awesome lookin steaks!  I learned something today!


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