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Grilled Steaks
Burn cherry, apple or hickory logs in a big fireplace, either outdoors or indoors, until you have a bed of glowing coals, without any smoke. Put grill about 2 inches above, until thoroughly heated. Lay on the grill "short loin" steaks of juicy beef 11/2-2 inches thick, and turn as soon as seared. Turn again in a few minutes. Experience only can guide you for broiling to individual taste. Garnish with parsley or water cress and serve right from the grill.
Some outdoor chefs build their bed of coals out of corn cobs which give a good smell, and others paint a steak with olive oil before searing the juices in.
A fireplace steak with almost no measurements, which is the point: the whole method rests on the fire being right before the meat goes on. Here is what the instructions assume you already know.
- Wait for the smoke to stopThe single instruction that governs the result is a bed of glowing coals, without any smoke. Wood still throwing visible smoke deposits sooty, acrid compounds on the meat; you want the logs burned down to grey-ashed embers, which takes roughly 45 minutes to an hour for a decent fireplace load.
- "Short loin" steaksThe short loin is the primal behind the rib and ahead of the sirloin. Cut across the bone it gives T-bone and porterhouse; boned out, it is the strip steak (New York strip) and the filet. Any of these suits the method.
- Thickness matters more than gradeThe 1.5 to 2 inch specification is not decorative. Over coals this hot, a thinner steak is grey through before it takes a crust. Buy a thick steak and share it rather than one thin steak per person.
- Two inches above the coalsThat is a searing distance, not a cooking distance. The nearest modern equivalent is a full chimney of coals raked into one zone, with a cooler area to move the steaks to once seared.
- "Experience only can guide you" -- or a thermometerPull at 125F internal for rare, 130-135F for medium rare, 140-145F for medium. Temperature climbs another 5 degrees off the fire. Rest the steaks five to ten minutes before cutting.
- SeasoningNo salt is mentioned anywhere. Salt generously on both sides, either just before the steak hits the grill or a full 40 minutes ahead; the awkward interval in between draws moisture to the surface and hampers browning.
- The olive oilA thin film of oil on the meat, not on the grate, promotes an even crust and reduces sticking. Use it sparingly -- oil dripping onto coals means flare-ups, which is smoke, which is what the first sentence told you to avoid.
- Corn cobsDried cobs burn fast and hot, and on a farm they were an abundant by-product; the recipe itself credits them with giving 'a good smell'. They make a short-lived fire; expect to cook immediately and not to hold heat for a second round.
- YieldA 2-inch porterhouse is a large steak, commonly 2 lb or more, and is meant to be carved off the bone and shared.