Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[pmillen]

Bentley told me that I'm missing a great way to grill a steak by not using the direct zone on my pit.  I've been sticking to charcoal.  So tonight I put a 1½-inch T-bone on the direct zone.  Per his instructions I set the temperature at 350°F and grilled away.

So this really isn't how I cook beef.  It's an experiment.

     
Eight minutes per side was about right for medium-rare.  The cooked steak was beautiful, about like that which charcoal produces.  (Sorry, no finished photographs.  I forgot.)

It was really good but Marcia and I think charcoal is our favorite.  I suppose reverse sear should be the next test.

[riverrat49]

Love the Reverse Sear it has become a family favorite.

[InThePitBBQ]

I have been experimenting with steaks off the short loin on the PG 500 as well, between direct sear and reverse sear I have come up with a new favorite.

I use one of my bread cooling grates to keep some air space under the bottom of the meat and place it in the warming drawer and smoke those porterhouses for 45 minutes, turn once and go again in the smoke for another 45 minutes and then increase heat to 350* and finish 3 minutes a side on the direct zone gets me right over the 140* mark on the Thermapen where I like to pull them.

The fillet side just melts in the mouth prepared this way, although a zone 4 reverse sear wasn't far behind it I never could have envisioned beef prepared this way before you guys turned me on to that FEG.

I'm gonna need new clothes if this keeps up, "eating well" this summer would be an understatement 

[Bentley]

If ya like charcoal better, ya like charcoal better...

[Kristin Meredith]

Did you get grill marks at 350%?

[InThePitBBQ]

Did you get grill marks at 350%?

Nice ones at that, I have found the 350* range to be about perfect for using the chargrill on the direct side the doors are open enough during the process the temp probe on zone 4 doesn't have time to catch up and shut it down.

It seems to be the perfect setting to just leave it alone and move the steaks over to zone 4 to finish, easier to monitor final pull temp without internal readings moving up to fast.

[Bentley]

Kristin, you have to understand, 350° setting on a PG 500, the temperature at Zone 1 is probably 700°!  It is 350° over to the right in Zone 4...

[Quadman750]

That pit seems to have a great direct grilling area.

[pmillen]

I have been experimenting with steaks off the short loin on the PG 500 as well, between direct sear and reverse sear I have come up with a new favorite.

Got it.  Warm-smoked for an hour and a half and then three minutes per side direct at 350°F. 

How thick are those steaks?

[InThePitBBQ]

I get them cut @ 1 1/2", we have a local source for whole choice short loins that sells them for $3.99 a pound cut to order. I get a nice mix of T's and Porterhouses out of one.

For me getting a Thermapen MK4 has been the end all for plating steaks done the way I want them, I "winged" it for to many years and never could get them quite right no matter how I was cooking them.

[Queball]

I set PG at 400 degrees. Once to temp turn the HHT to 150. Lightly oil steak with canola spray. Place on char broiler leaving the door open. Flip the steak every 30 seconds for 9 to 10 minutes. With door open there is little top down heating of the meat. By flipping the steak every 30 seconds the exterior is browned creating Malliard Carmelization, but the heat is not penetrating intensely enough to create that grey overcooked band of meat.

 [ Invalid Attachment ]
 [ Invalid Attachment ]
 [ Invalid Attachment ]
 [ Invalid Attachment ]
 

[Bentley]

That small 3rd photo cross section is just about perfection if you are a medium rare steak person!

[TLK]

Love the Reverse Sear it has become a family favorite.

+1

[MadFoodScientist]

At what temp do you set when the steak is in the warming draw?

I have been experimenting with steaks off the short loin on the PG 500 as well, between direct sear and reverse sear I have come up with a new favorite.

I use one of my bread cooling grates to keep some air space under the bottom of the meat and place it in the warming drawer and smoke those porterhouses for 45 minutes, turn once and go again in the smoke for another 45 minutes and then increase heat to 350* and finish 3 minutes a side on the direct zone gets me right over the 140* mark on the Thermapen where I like to pull them.

The fillet side just melts in the mouth prepared this way, although a zone 4 reverse sear wasn't far behind it I never could have envisioned beef prepared this way before you guys turned me on to that FEG.

I'm gonna need new clothes if this keeps up, "eating well" this summer would be an understatement 

[InThePitBBQ]

170* is where I set the controller when I use the warming drawer for steaks, lots of smoke at that setting.

I want to try the same technique with a tri tip roast smoked in the warmer drawer then moved up to zone 4 at 300* to cook, it doesn't get hot enough down there to really cook much of anything in the span of two hours or so.