Grilling steaks is an American summer tradition

Steak grillers disagree on how best to do it!

Grilling top end steaks: (New York Strip, T-Bone, Rib Eye, and Sirloin): There are two opposite schools of thought on how these cuts should be grilled. We call them the “quick sear” and the “slow cook” schools.

Quick-sear:

The quick-sear school maintains that by quickly searing on med-high heat, it seals the juices in, and depending on the thickness of the meat, it should cook no longer than 3 – 6 minutes per side. Please note that quick-searing can toughen the grass fed beef. Allowing the grill to flame can toughen and dry out the meat as well, so make sure the drip pan is empty and clean.

Slow Cook:

Grass fed beef is best grilled at a lower temperature for a longer time for optimum tenderness. However some in our family love the taste of charred fat that occurs with the quick-sear method, (some of us even like to let it flame a little bit) and so we often cook our T-Bones hot and give up some tenderness. Both methods are good but cooking at higher temperature makes grass fed tougher.

Oven Broiling:

You can also oven-broil under a top broiler. Because it gets so hot, you can expect grass fed beef to come out a little bit tougher than if you grill it on medium low heat. One way around that is to broil on the second highest rack setting so that the meat is further from the broiler element. The other way is to place them on the highest rack for just a minute or two on each side, then finish cooking in a 250 degree oven.

Pan Broiling / Frying:

You can get wonderful results from pan frying or pan broiling. To pan broil, we use a frying pan, and simply preheat it to medium low, then place the meat in the pan, dry, when it is preheated. The steak will cook until it no longer sticks to the pan, and is ready to turn. Once the other side no longer sticks, it is ready to take out at a perfect medium rare.

To pan fry, simply place a little bit of olive oil or your favorite cooking oil in the pan, preheat and then fry the meat on both sides until desired doneness.

Marinate the less tender cuts

Less tender steaks, such as round steak and sirloin tip, are best marinated, and then grilled, broiled or pan fried. Marinades can range in simplicity from using your favorite bottled Italian salad dressing, to elaborate concoctions. See our steak marinade recipes for different ways to marinate.

Important!

Please!!! Do not defrost steaks in the microwave! It severely diminishes their quality, even at the lowest settings. Thawing in the refrigerator is best. It’s also best to not handle or manipulate high end cuts that are partially frozen, because the ice crystals can puncture the meat, causing the juices to run out during cooking, thus making the meat dryer.