Eight Tips for the Perfect Grilled Steak

The Best Cuts

Some of the most flavorful steaks, such as flank or chuck (shoulder), are tough and must be thinly sliced for serving. There is nothing wrong with serving sliced steaks, and slicing them at the table adds some welcome ritual to the meal. More tender (and expensive) steaks, such as sirloin strip, tenderloin, small T-bone, or hangar, are just the right size for a single serving, and nowadays most people opt for grilling individual steaks.

But carving a very large, tender steak at the table allows for big, luxurious slices. The best choice is a porterhouse that serves four to six. A variety of T-bone, the porterhouse includes both the tenderloin and the sirloin strip (sometimes called the New York cut), so that when you carve it, you can give everyone a little of both. When you take the steak off the grill, transfer it to a cutting board—with a moat so the juices don’t escape—and cut away the sirloin and tenderloin, always keeping the knife against the bone. Slice these two sections and serve them on warmed plates. A large section of the sirloin strip is also a beautiful steak to serve for up to eight.

Like sparsely populated Caribbean islands, underappreciated cuts of beef are ever harder to find. Flank steak was “discovered” twenty years ago, but is still a good value. Hangar steak has been around for a decade or so and is one of the tastiest cuts. Perhaps least appreciated are top blade steaks, which are taken from the chuck above the shoulder blades. Despite being chuck, they are very tender. Depending on what the butcher has or has not done to them, they may have a strip of gristle running down the middle. Slide a knife along one side of the gristle and pull it out. Sirloin steaks (not sirloin strip) from a good butcher are also a good value.

The Kind of Grill to Use

The best grills for individual steaks are ones that allow you to adjust the distance of the grill rack from the coals. Steaks, especially thin ones, require intense heat to form a good crust on the exterior, before the heat can penetrate and overcook the interior. The rack itself should be made of heavy metal—and flat, not round, bars—to make attractive grill marks. To achieve the classic crosshatch, give the steak a 90-degree turn after a minute or two of grilling. If you are cooking a large, thick steak that yields multiple servings, intense heat is less critical and a covered grill works best. It allows you to move the steak away from the coals, cover the grill, and finish the steak in an ovenlike environment.

Gas grills have the advantage of imparting a grilled flavor without having to build a fire. Indeed, a fire made with ordinary charcoal briquettes delivers no more flavor than a gas grill. To give your meat the flavor of wood, you must create smoke. For tips on generating smoke.

The Need for Steak Knives

More expensive steak cuts, such as tenderloin, sirloin, and porterhouse, are tender enough that the slightly serrated edge of an ordinary table knife will do the trick. Serve tougher cuts, such as flank or round, in slices so the diner only has to slice the slices. If the slices are thin enough, a regular knife should work fine. If you are in doubt and you have them, use your steak knives.

How Much Meat to Buy

Steak lovers are often big eaters and expect generous portions. In general, count on 8 ounces of pure steak per person. So if the steak is on the bone, you need to buy about 20 percent more (about 10 ounces per person), and if there is fat on the steak, another 10 percent more (about 11 ounces per person). If you are serving some kind of rich first course, such as seafood or a substantial soup, or you are serving other grilled foods at the same time, you will need less meat.

How to be Sure the Steak is Evenly Cooked

Three steps will ensure evenly cooked steaks. First, let the steak come to room temperature before grilling. Depending on the thickness of the steak, this may take the whole afternoon.

Second, adjust the distance between the coals and the steak according to the thickness of the steak: 3 inches or less for a steak no more than 1 inch thick, 3 to 6 inches for thicker steaks. The thinner the steak, the hotter the fire should be because you need to create a dark, crispy crust quickly, without overcooking the center. If you are cooking a very large steak—say, a porterhouse big enough to serve six, making it almost a roast—you can cook it over lower heat because the outside will have plenty of time to brown. Or, you can brown it over the coals, move it to a cooler part of the fire, and cover the grill to finish.

Third, let the steaks rest on a warmed platter before serving. Make sure they are in a single layer, loosely cover them with aluminum foil—they steam if you wrap them too tight— and let rest for 5 minutes per inch of thickness. The internal temperature of the steak will rise from 5 to 10 degrees during resting.

How Long to Cook a Steak and How to Know When it is Done

It is hard to give exact cooking times. Everyone’s fire is different, and steaks come in all sizes and shapes. As a loose rule, count about 5 minutes per inch of thickness for black and blue (essentially raw but browned on the outside), 7 to 10 minutes per inch for rare (the thicker the steak, the less time per inch), 12 minutes for medium-rare, and 13 to 15 minutes for medium, not including resting time.

There are four ways to test a steak for doneness. You can cut into it (in an unobtrusive place) with a knife. Or, you can slide an instant-read thermometer through its side into the center, keeping in mind that the temperature will increase from 5 to 10 degrees after resting. The pictures below show the meat after resting, so if you want your meat to look like the slice labeled 110°F, take it off the grill when the thermometer reads 105 °F.

Pressing the steak with your fingertip is another good test. A rare steak will feel fleshy, like an unflexed muscle; a rare to medium-rare steak will just begin to bounce back to the touch; and a medium-rare to medium steak will feel firm to the touch. Finally, you can tell by looking at the steak. A rare steak doesn’t release any juices. As the steak approaches medium-rare, you see red juices beginning to form on the surface (you might also hear them dripping over the coals). As the steak approaches medium, there will be more juices. And as it approaches greater doneness, the juices will turn brown.

How to Avoid Flare-Ups

Flames shooting up under the steaks leave an oily, sooty taste on the meat. To avoid them, trim off the fat that surrounds the meat (the only time this is worth eating is on the best dry-aged beef), then once on the grill, move the steaks around as soon as you see any flames. You can finish a very thick steak in a covered grill over an area with no coals and therefore no flare-ups. If flare-ups persisted despite these precautions, wipe off the steaks with a paper towel—the oily soot will cling to the towel—as soon as they are off the grill.

How to Season a Steak

When you sprinkle salt on a steak, the salt draws out moisture and makes the surface of the meat moist, which in turn makes it hard to brown. This isn’t a problem for a big steak, because there is plenty of time for browning. Otherwise, season the meat a couple of hours before it goes on the grill, and then pat it dry with a paper towel just before you put it over the fire. This allows the salt to seep into the steak and eliminates any beads of water that are drawn out by it.