When you are shopping for your meats, we recommend that you select a thicker cut of meat. This will allow for a delicious charred crust on the outside and a juicy pink center. We also suggest that you look for marbling. The ribbons of fat will melt as you grill, and create fabulous flavor and juiciness. We love rib eye, top loin, t-bone and porterhouse.
A key thing to note is that the less fat and/or marbling a cut of meat has, the less you will need to cook it. Like Filet Mignon, for instance. If you are cooking a steak with the bone still in, the meat along the bone will take longest to cook.
If you select a thinner cut you can risk overcooking, and thereby creating a very dry steak.
If you chose to grill a flank or skirt steak, keep in mind that they can become very tough if they are overcooked. A marinade is great for these cuts because it breaks down the tough fibers ensuring a juicy, tasty and chewy steak. Remember to slice against the grain with these cuts!
Other cuts that will benefit from a marinade are: chuck-eye, tri-tip, top sirloin, flatiron and round tip.
There is a marinading portion that will be sent out in one of the next installments of “Grilling Basics” emails.
Here we go!
Take your meat out of the refrigerator about one hour before grilling. Salt it on both sides and let it sit. Salt draws the moisture out of the meat (which would be a very bad thing to do immediately before grilling) and as the meat comes to room temperature allows the moisture to be drawn back in, creating a super juicy steak.
Letting your meat come to room temperature before cooking helps the meat cook evenly. If you were to throw a steak on the grill right out of the fridge, the outside will char and get crusty while the inside will still be cold. You will have a steak burned on the outside and raw on the inside.
Right before grilling, brush your steaks with a little canola oil and season with a fabulous rub or blend from Milford Spice. How you season your meat really matters! The key is how you apply it. Use liberally, and always just a little more than you think you will need and massage it into your meat. In this example we used Up North Grilling spice mix.
Always start with a preheated grill to medium high heat.
Suggested Cooking Times:
Rib-Eye, New York Strip & Filet Mignon
About 12 oz each -
Rare - 4-5 min per side, 135º
Med - 7-8 min per side, 140º
Well - 9-10 min per side, 150º
Skirt & Flank Steak
Rare - 4-5 min per side, 135º
Med - 6-7 min per side, 140º
Your meat will get tougher the longer you leave it on the grill. Learning how to test the meat without poking it with a meat thermometer will leave you with a juicier finished product. Eventually you will learn by feel, how the steak is progressing.
The MOST IMPORTANT thing to remember when grilling, is to let the meat REST for 5-10 minutes under a foil tent before you cut into it. This allows the juices to settle back into the meat instead of letting the juice run out onto the cutting board. Patience will pay off!
Now you can add a compound butter if you wish! Adds a little something decadent… A section on Compound butters to follow another day!
Suggested Milford Spice Company Grilling Rubs & Spices for Meats:
Mark’s Espresso Rub 1 & 2
Bourbon Barrel Smoked Pepper
Ravensview Rib Rub
Louisiana Creole
Kenny’s East Texas Cajun
Up North Grilling Spice
Bourbon Steak
Shallot Pepper
Adobo Lime
