How To Cook The Perfect Steak

The Easy Step-By-Step Guide To Cooking Your Steak To Perfection

Also, I cannot stress enough that if you are serious about cooking good BBQ, you need to get yourself an instant-read thermometer probe for checking the internal temperature of meat. It is by far the best way of determining the degree of doneness.

The process below uses beef, however, it also applies for lamb, mutton, kangaroo or venison.

The Meat - Before You Cook

• Buy the best meat that you're happy to pay for. If you can get it, dry-aged beef will have a more concentrated flavour than the stuff you'll get in the supermarket.



• Leave the steak out of the fridge for 2-3 hours to come to room temperature. It will sear better and form a better surface crust.



• Pat the steak with paper towel to make sure there is no excess moisture. This will minimise steaming which is less than ideal for the meat.



• Just before grilling, brush or rub oil onto the meat surface. This also allows for better searing and crusting.

The Grill - Before You Cook

• Make sure make sure the grill plate or grate is clean and free of rust.



• For the perfect steak, you will need to areas on your grill; one high heat area and one low heat area. This can be the same area (by turning down the heat) or separate ones



• Rub or brush oil onto the grill in the area you are intending to cook on.



• Pre-heat your grill areas making sure the high heat area has time to get up to temperature

As You Cook

• If your steaks have bone in, increase the times slightly to those recommended in the following steps.



• Put the steaks on the high heat area of the grill and cook until darkly crusted, around 3-5 minutes per side.



• To create a cross-hatching pattern on the meat, lay the steaks at 45 angle to the grill bars. Press the steaks onto the bars with your tongs or lifter. After 1-2 minutes, rotate the steak 45, press down and then flip over and repeat.



• Now set the heat to low or move the steak to the low heat area and let it sit for another 10 minutes. This should result in a steak that is cooked to medium. Check the internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer probe and compare against the doneness chart below.



• Remove the steak from all heat and cover with aluminium foil and let it rest for 5 minutes before eating or slicing. This allows the proteins to relax and results in more tender meat.

Now That It's Cooked

• While the steak is resting, give your grill a quick clean as it's always easier while things are still warm and not congealed.



• Brush oil into any spots on the grill that have dried out as this will prevent it rusting before you use it next.



• Congratulations - you've now mastered a skill that many never do. Enjoy your perfect steak !