Tips for Cooking the Best Steak from Chief Culinary Officer Dana Schiefer

The perfect steak starts with purchasing the right cut of meat. For barbequing, the premier cuts would be ribeye, striploin, porterhouse and tenderloin. There are many other cuts like flat iron, top sirloin and flank steak. These cuts will require marinating and will be a little tougher than the premier cuts.

Buying the cut is as important as cooking. Look for a steak with lots of marbling and some fat around the outside and if you can, buy the premier cuts of meat when they are on sale and get the butcher to cut to your specifications. A steak cut between 1”-1.5”, closer to 1.5”, will deliver the best results. This may seem like a large cut, but try to get a steak between 16-24 ounces, you will find it is better to cook one steak for 3-4 people than to cook 3-4 smaller steaks.

Prepping you steak:
Always leave the fat on the outside of the steak. You can cut it off after cooking, but the fat is where the flavour comes from. Remove the steak from the fridge 30-45 minutes before cooking to allow it to come up to room temperature. Just before cooking, I add salt and pepper to the steak. You can add spices or steak seasoning, but I am a purist, so salt and pepper only.

Prepping the grill:
Start the grill 15-20 minutes before cooking. You want to get the heat to at least 500°F to seal in all the juices and achieve a nice crust on the outside of the steak.

Cooking the steak:
Add the steak to the hot grill and close the lid. Wait 2 minutes, lift the lid and turn the steak a quarter turn only. Do not flip the steak. This will give you nice grill marks for the presentation. Close the lid and wait two more minutes; lift the lid and flip the steak. Repeat these steps, 2-minute cook, quarter turn and another two minutes cooking. This should give you a rare to med-rare steak. If you need it cooked to medium add a minute to both turns. Never cut or use a probe to check doneness. This will let all the juices out and result in a dry steak.

Once cooked, remove the steak from the grill and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting. The heat from the BBQ drives all the juice to the center and you want to allow time for them to move through the entire steak. After 10 minutes, you can remove any unwanted fat and cut the steak to share.

There’s nothing like cooking a juicy steak on a warm summer evening. Learn more about the Parkland Dining Experience, and try one of our chef’s featured recipes.