Grilling the perfect NY Strip Steak
This is my guide to grilling the perfect NY Strip Steak.
This is my guide to grilling the perfect NY Strip Steak.
- Total Time: 24 Hours
- Cooking / Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Steak is by far my favorite food to cook. There’s something awesome about getting a grill pipping hot and hearing the sizzle as a coveted cut of raw meat gets turned into a culinary masterpiece. yum yum.
I’ve made my rounds trying all the different methods of cooking steaks and I think this method is my favorite. Today I’ll share with you my experiences and knowledge in this easy steak recipe.
What you’ll need:
Equipment
For starters we will be using a gas or charcoal grill. While you can achieve better exterior crusts on a pan, grilling is generally less messier and because it’s outdoors, you don’t need to deal with pesky smoke alarms going off. Plus if you are cooking for multiple people, you can grill all the steaks in one go.
Also, we will use a instant read meat thermometer. This is super useful for novices as you can nail the temperature.
Ingredients
I suggest getting a quality NY Strip Steak (preferably 1.5 inches thick). I get my steaks from my local Whole Foods. With thick steaks you get more time to cook which helps develop the crust and makes it more difficult to overcook.
As for the oil/fat we will use, I suggest getting Ghee (Clarified Butter). The reason why I like Ghee is because of its high smoke point. It’s important to use an oil with a high smoke point as we don’t want burning to occur. Ghee can be found in most grocery stores.
Finally, we need course salt and ground pepper.
Prep Work
After getting the steaks, we want to lightly pat them dry with a paper towel. Removing the surface moisture is essential as we want to develop a beautiful crust when cooking.
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| Surface moisture is the enemy of a good sear! |
After drying the outside of the steaks, we want to liberally coat the exterior with salt. Make sure to coat both faces and the sides. Remember that when eating from a thick steak, all of the salt will come from the edges. This is why we coat the edges liberally in salt. If this were a thinner cut (1 inch or less) we’d put on less salt.
Next, find some sort of rack that we can rest these steaks on. We want air to be able to circulate on top and on the bottom of the steak. I used skewers in the image above. Put the steaks uncovered back into the fridge for at least two hours (preferably 24 hours).
While it does seem counterintuitive to salt a steak and leave it in a fridge uncovered for a full day, trust me and just do it. The reason why we presalt the steaks is because salt naturally absorbs moisture. Leaving the steaks salted overnight allows the surface moisture to be absorbed into the center of the steak while also allowing the salt to penetrate deep into the meat.
T minus one hour till cooking
An hour before you plan to cook, take the steaks out of the fridge and let them rest in a room temperature environment. This is a crucial step as it prevents a raw interior while the exterior looks well done during cooking.
T minus 15 minutes till cooking
Start up the grill! Set it to high and wait for the grill to climb above 500°F.
Now, liberally season the exterior of the steaks with ground black pepper. You can also add garlic powder. After seasoning, we want to get some sort of oil on the surface of the steak. Get your Ghee and spread a moderate amount of ghee on both sides of the steak. Avocado oil works as well.
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| The dry exterior of the steak will make for an excellent sear |
Time to cook!
Throw the steaks on the grill at a 45° angle with the grill grates. We will use the “cross hatching” technique which allows us to get the most grill marks.
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| Cross hatching will increase the total amount of steak that comes in contact with the grill grates |
1) Once you put the steak on the grill at a 45° angle, shut the grill and don’t touch it. The less you fiddle with the meat, the better the crust will be!
2) After around 90 seconds, rotate (not flip) the steak 90° to get the cross hatching marks. Shut the grill again.
3) After another 90 seconds, flip the steak and set it at a 45° angle.
- If you are targetting rare, leave the grill open and turn the heat down to from high to medium.
- If you are targetting medium rare, keep closing the grill after turns/flips and keep the heat on high.
4) After another 90 seconds, rotate (not flip) the steak 90° to get our second set of cross hatching marks.
5) After another 90 seconds, remove the steak onto a cutting board (have tin foil on handy to keep it warm). Insert your meat thermometer into the steak.
- If it reads less then 120°F, place the steaks onto the top rack, set the heat to low and give it 2-5 minutes to reach 120°F.
- Else: let it sit under tin foil for 3-5 mintues before serving. Make sure you loosly dangle the tin foil over the steak rather then tightly wrapping it (prevents steam build up which softens your crust).
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| Check out the beautiful cross hatching marks |
Enjoy!