 |
Cooking tips for your barbecue steak recipe
Rare, medium-rare, |
Whatever the barbecue steak recipe and regardless of how you like it cooked – rare, medium or well-done - barbecued steak should be a little charred and crunchy on the outside and tender, juicy and warm inside.
To achieve this you must seal the meat on all sides as quickly as possible over really hot embers (not flames!). This allows the sugar in the meat to caramelise and give that appetising result. Then, depending on the thickness of the meat and your preference, if you need to continue cooking it, you simply raise it further from the embers.
Do NOT salt the steaks before cooking because that will release the juices from the meat and ruin the caramelisation process, leaving the steaks tough and dry. However, you can roll them in crushed peppercorns, herbs or mixed spices according to your barbecue steak recipe.
Never prick the steak while it is cooking to see if it’s done! Again this will release the juices. Learn to judge how well it is cooked by pressing down on it with your fingers. If it is soft and wobbly, it is blue or rare; a little give and it is medium; firm it’s well-done. Hard and it’s ruined!
A great steak can turn any barbecue into a special occasion. In the UK these are the cuts available to choose from, depending on your budget and preference:
Fillet steak is extremely tender and the most luxurious of steaks. Sirloin is a juicy steak with lots of marbling of fat. T-Bone is a cross-section of unfilleted sirloin. One side of the bone is a piece of fillet and on the other a piece of sirloin. A real man-sized steak! Then we have rump steak which is one of the most richly flavoured steaks. Minute steak is taken from the top rump. These steaks cook very quickly and are good for steak sandwiches.
If you have fillet steak for your barbecue steak recipe, I would not suggest doing much to it other than being careful when cooking. It’s expensive meat to ruin!
Just brush the steaks with oil and grill. If you’d like to serve with a flavoured butter, then spread this on the top of the steak just before you remove it from the grill.
Flavoured butter is easy to make. Soften it and add flavouring such as some crushed garlic, finely chopped fresh herbs, or some soft blue cheese. Cover in cling film and let it harden again in the fridge before transporting to your picnic.
Cheaper cuts of steak can be marinated for about an hour first so you could throw them in a food container in this easy mix, just before you set out for your picnic:
This is enough for 500 g of rump steak for example:
1 fat garlic clove, crushed
2 finely chopped onions
1 teaspoon of mustard
6 tablespoons of oil
3 tablespoons of wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon of Worcester sauce
5-6 drops of Tabasco
Baste the steaks with the marinade as you barbecue them or heat the marinade separately, add a few tablespoons of cream and pour over the steaks as a sauce. Keep it simple.
I guess what I’m saying is that with good meat and red hot embers, you don’t really need any barbecue steak recipe! Just enjoy the steak.
Go to barbecue recipes
Go to barbecue
Go from barbecue steak recipe to Home Page
