Mom's gift to him was to occupy the Twins while he MADE FIRE! Dad decided to grill boneless beef short ribs*. He has a super secret recipe (shush, don't tell) that he'll share with you. Actually, the ingredients are nothing special, it is the method of preparation that makes this meal great.
He needed:
Boneless short ribs, table salt, sugar, 1/4 stick of butter, spinach or other green vegetable side, blue cheese crumbles, bacon crumbles, two 12 oz. bottles of double IPA, freshly ground cinnamon, and one Turano roll.
Three days before service he purchased the steak. He applied a lite coating of table salt and sugar to the surfaces of the meat. Next, he wrapped it in a towel and placed it in a container in the refrigerator. He changed out the towel daily.
This accomplishes two goals. First it wicks away excess moisture thereby ensuring a good sear. Surface water has to boil off before the meat will brown and by that time it will be overdone. Second, the salt and sugar move into the meat by osmosis seasoning even the very interior. Glazes and marinades are nice, but they generally don't penetrate deeply enough.
The day of service, he prepared his grill. Now, until recently Dad had been a fan of the hot and fast method of grilling steak. There was no fire too large or too hot. A nuclear blast would not have exceeded his pyro-gastronomic desires. He is no longer a fan. These days he likes a small charcoal fire made with his own homemade oak charcoal.
Yes, you can make your own charcoal. And it doesn't have any petroleum in it so there is no petro smell. It is the byproduct of smoking. The low oxygen environment prevents the wood from burning while releasing volatile organics, thus making charcoal sans the coal.
The reason Dad likes a small fire is control. It cooks more evenly and produces less "carry over," i.e. residual heat that continues cooking the meat after it has been removed from the flame. As you can see from the photo above, the inside is consistent in color across the grain. There is very little gray meat. Moreover, the final temperature is more closer to the observed temperature taken while the meat is still on the grill. Dad likes 135 degree internal temp. at the thickest point. A small fire will not result in 10 to 15 degrees of carryover (and an overdone steak) that a large fire can produce.
There was a time too when Dad pulled the meat from the cold box and let it come up to room temperature. Despite the result, he persisted with this technique for many summers. But he finally had to admit that it produced a gray transition from the brown exterior and the red interior. Gray meat tastes like it looks, gross.
The ribs he buys take four minutes per side before he stabs them with the instant read thermometer. After the first two minutes the grill has marked the steak so he will rotate them 90 degrees to get a nice crosshatch pattern. He flips them at four minutes and rotates them at six minutes.
Spinach, blue cheese, and bacon bits |
The spinach was previously cooked and chilled requiring only the addition of cheese and bacon and a minute in the microwave.
After eight minutes he starts taking internal temperatures. Usually the thinner pieces are ready to come off the grill. Thicker pieces need an additional few minutes.
He pulled the steaks and entered the kitchen where he slathered butter over it and let it rest while he toasted his roll. He did pull the butter out of the ice box before he started all of this.
After plating the meat, roll, asparagus, and saying grace, he poured the double IPA into his favorite glass and sprinkled a pinch of fresh ground cinnamon over the foam. Mmm, yum.
The roll was left unattended while he consumed the beef and greens. By that time it had sopped up the butter and moisture on the plate and made a mighty fine rare treat for the carbophobe.
And if this is not enough fat, there is always Oberwies ice cream for desert. Afterall, its Father's Day!
*Hey ribeye fans, at $2 less per pound, beef short ribs are as well marbled and as flavorful as ribeye, but it doesn't hit the wallet as hard.
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