I have not been to all of them, but have been lucky enough to visit Smith and Wollensky, Ruth’s Chris, The Old Homestead, Arthurs, Roots, Harry Carey, The Chop house (Chicago), and of course Peter Luger (OMG love Luger).
For many of these places, the aging process is essential and is what gives each their unique claim to fame. Dry age, wet age, amount of time to age. Second is the preparation and the amount of heat used to get a proper sear. Sear is flavor.
You can purchase aged steaks at prime meat shops or a Kings, Whole Foods, Wegmans, or Fairway, to name a few.
I’m going to make a statement that will get many hot under the collar, hey I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t, but I can do steakhouse quality steaks at home with choice sirloins (or rib eye) from Costco. Yep, I’ll say it again, choice, not prime, not aged, and with that, you can’t beat the price.
What I serve at home for $40, would cost $400 at one of these places. I’m not saying that I’m producing a Luger steak, I’m not. I am saying that after you have a steak at my house, you will still want to go to Luger; you will just have a harder time justifying it because what I do with a Costco steak is just that good.
It starts at Costco, you need to select the correct steaks. I look for sirloins that are marbled uniformly. I do start with a good product and I’m not paying too much for it.
Key factors in turning this raw hunk of meat into something spectacular are:
· A fire so hot that you risk raising orcs (lord of the rings creatures that rose from the fires of Mordor) - I burned out two thermometers from the intense heat. My Big Green Egg gets wicked hot.
· Steaks at room temperature (caressed in olive oil)
· Steaks seasoned properly prior to cooking
· Attention and patience
1) Take the steaks out of the fridge, rub them with olive oil and put them on a plate covered with plastic wrap. Keep them out to get to room temperature
2) Start your fire
a. I use lump charcoal and a big green egg
b. Gas grill will work, just need to get it hot enough – you can delay this step
3) Just before grilling – season the steaks both sides
a. I use kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
b. Sometimes I’ll sprinkle onion and garlic powder
4) Place the steaks onto the grill and leave them for 2 minutes – vents fully open and lid off, cover closed
a. Keep an eye because 2 minutes might be too long or too short depending on the blaze
b. There should be grill marks and or light charring before turning
5) At the proper time flip them and repeat
6) When both sides are seared – remove them from the grill and close the vents to reduce the blaze
a. This will take about 3 – 5 minutes and is critical – sometimes if you open the grill too soon, backdraft can happen. I usually use a towel to help me get some distance from the grill when testing because I have many times singed eye brows.
b. By reducing the blaze you can return the steaks to the grill and cover the grill
c. The next step is to roast them on the grill 5 – 7 minutes per side
d. This step guarantees that the fat won’t burn and create a lot of smoke
e. The smoke could impart an oil burning taste into the meat – you don’t want this
7) When the steaks have spent 5 – 7 minutes per side form this step, they are done
8) Remove the steaks, bring them inside and let them rest for 8 – 10 minutes
I carve mine into ¼ - 1/3 inch slices and serve.
You can serve with your favorite steak sauce or with the drippings from the carving board, I won’t judge.
Ok here is the bonus track
I saw this on a cooking channel, restaurant in Pittsburg, PA , "Meat and Potatoes", once I saw it I was hooked. I actually went there and had it. If you ever go to Meat and Potatoes, everything is great, but whether you are a chicken liver person or not, you must try the fried chicken livers. I hate chicken liver, but here, I ate 3 of them.
3 Idaho potatoes washed and sliced into ½ in wedges
Roast the potatoes with some olive oil with (they used rosemary), thyme and marjoram, salt and pepper
When the potatoes are tender remove them from then oven.
Timing is critical, deep fry the roasted potatoes in canola or peanut oil until golden. Season and serve.
Your brains will just about fall out when you taste these potatoes.
Kiss yourself for making deliciousness.
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