Beef steak is one of those dishes I knew very little about in my youth. My knowledge of steak was mostly limited to occasional appearance in popular comic books of my time: Comandante Mark , Tex Willer and Zagor. I used to literally “breathe” these comic books, day in day out. This was the time when there were only 2 TV channels and the broadcast was only in the evening. In my town we didn’t have phones and initially very few families had a TV. There was not much to do other than to go to school, socialize, play and read comics…and lots of them.
The steak meal enjoyed by main characters in these comic book stories looked quite appealing to my childhood imagination. However, I never asked my parents why didn’t we make steaks. I thought that this kind of dish belongs to the wild west or lake Ontario area where Comandante Mark story was set.
Well as it happens in life I made my home in province of Ontario after moving to Canada….not far from lake Ontario. And it was true: the steaks are very popular here!
Steakhouses are very common in this part of the world but the meals are generally very expensive and some not that good despite the high cost!
As we liked to go camping over the years, steaks were one of our regular items on the menu. We like them a lot and although they are not the cheapest item on the butcher’s table, compared to restaurants it is only about 1/4 of the cost. So it pays off big to cook it yourself, certainly if you know how to do it.
Over the years I put in the effort and practice to learn how to cook a good steak. I made many errors, I made lots of overcooked steaks but I consider that being a price paid for the acquired knowledge. These days I am pretty confident in my skill level and can consistently cook a steak that is simply delicious! Without a doubt it easily can go shoulder to shoulder with the steak offered in professional steakhouses!
The best part is: steaks are not that difficult to cook at all! I call them “6 minute dinners”, hardly any other dish in this class can be cooked that fast!
When cooking the boneless beef steak these are the key items to focus on:
- Find a good butcher with fresh, locally sourced meat
- Steak thickness: 3/4″ – 1 1/4″
- Use no marinades, only salt and black pepper
- Salt the steaks just minutes before cooking
- Use Maximum heat
- Cook 2.5 to 3 min per side (for a medium rare)
- Resting time: 5 min
When you are learning don’t cook more than 2 steaks at a time! When you feel confident and can consistently produce 2 cooked steaks to your satisfaction, you can try with 3 and later on 4. It does take a little practice, but is quite easy to learn.
For the best experience and flavour the charcoal barbecue is very best and there is no substitute.
Serve with salad of your choice or with popular garlic mashed potatoes.
Good luck!
| Prep Time | 10 min |
| Cook Time | 6 min |
| Passive Time | 5 min |
| Servings |
steaks
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- 4 ribeye steak 1" thick
- 4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- sea salt as required
- olive oil for coating
Ingredients
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- Take steaks out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking.
- Prepare large dish with lid or large plate with aluminum foil to cover the steak for resting.
- Generously load up and light up charcoal barbecue. The barbecue has to be hot, where there are no flames, only hot coals with light layer of grey ash.
- Use paper towel to pat dry both steak sides.
- Coat each steak side with a little olive oil.
- When the coals are ready spread them evenly on the bottom to cover the whole grate cooking surface. Make sure the coals are level without high areas that are close to the grate. Heat the grate for as long as you can even while the coals are burning.
- Salt the each side of the steak from one end to the other by sprinkling thin layer of fine salt. You are salting more then you think you need, but most of this salt will come off during the cooking process.
- Sprinkle coarsely ground black pepper on each steak side.
- Using pair of tongs lay the steaks on hot barbecue grate, close the lid. Set the timer on. You will cook for 3 minutes (1" steak thickness) with slight variations, depending on steak thickness.
- After 3 minutes uncover the barbecue and turn the steaks to the other side, cover and cook for another 3 minutes.
- Transfer the steaks to the prepared container with lid and rest for 3-5 minutes. Serve immediately!
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