CHOOSE YOUR MEAT WISELY (what to buy):

My favorite cut of beef for the price is a top sirloin strip steak--these tend to have the perfect combination of marble (for taste) and tenderness. Always get the BEST stuff, usually about $10.99/lb these days in Houston (prices have gone up since Mad Cow). Prime or Angus beef is good stuff. Don't let the butcher sell you Choice or Select for a sale price. I experimented with buying cheaper meat or meat that was on sale--I learned a big lesson: all you get when you carefully cook crappy meat is cooked crappy meat--often tough, fatty, or not very juicy. I firmly believe that 95% OF A GOOD STEAK DEPENDS ON THE MEAT YOU START WITH. Also, avoid buying a display case steak. I always try to get the butcher to cut me one fresh from the center of a large side of beef that he pulls out of a cryovac package from the back refrigerator (Note, if the beef is in a cryovac package, it has been "wet-aged."); that way, the steak is cherry-red when it is handed to you (it hasn’t "bloomed" yet). If possible, get the butcher to cut your steak about 2" thick (to be picky, these days I ask for 1.75")--you certainly don't want it any thinner than 1.5"--if thicker, you'll just have to add to the cooking time. Note: these steaks should have a nice marble to them, no bone. Also note that the sooner you can cook a steak the better. I usually try to cook the steak within a couple of hours of having bought it, so I bring it home, set it on the counter (so it can start coming to near room temperature), eat some chips and salsa for a while, then go fire up the Egg.

THE RUB (what to buy):

Simple is the key here. You want to enhance the natural flavor of the beef, not add a lot to it. So, first buy Kosher sea salt. I think there's a real coarse kind and a less coarse kind--get the less coarse kind. You don't want to be pouring icecream maker salt on your steak. Second, buy spicy brown porter-style mustard (apparently this is not easy to find in other parts of the country, and has lately become harder to find in the Houston area too). Third, buy coarse ground black pepper or use fresh peppercorns in your own pepper mill. Fourth, buy olive oil, if you don’t already have some in your pantry.

THE SMOKE (what to buy):

First of all, never buy wood CHIPS!! Always buy wood CHUNKS. Chips just catch on fire and char whatever you're cooking. I usually buy my wood chunks at Barbeques Galore here in Houston--I can't remember what brand they are, but let me recommend that you buy your wood chunks from a BBQ/grill store that sells the Egg, or just a store that is dedicated to grills--i.e., don't get them from a grocery store. At least my experience is that I once bought a really inexpensive bag of chunks at Kroger but was very disappointed in their performance--not very fragrant, very little smoke, and caught on fire easily.

Now, I use Mesquite when I do steaks because it has a strong biting flavor that goes great with grilled beef. Also, since the smoke is strong, this allows for its flavor to be absorbed during the relatively short time the steaks will be exposed to the smoke.

PREPARING THE CHUNKS:AN OVERRATED "ART":

I think most people would agree that chunks always last longer before catching fire if they have been soaked in water for at least an hour (of course, during the pre-fire time you may get more water vapor than actual "smoke"). When I first had my Egg I would keep a sealed tupperware container outside with wood chunks soaking in water. The only downside to this method is that the chunks begin to smell like death (actually, the smell of rotting wood and bacteria). Of course, 10 seconds on white-hot coals gets rid of the death smell and bacteria, but I later discovered a method that helps me avoid this stomach-turning experience. Well, you can just soak the chunks you want to use an hour before you use them, or overnight if you know you will be using the Egg the next day. But recently I have found that if you are cooking just a steak, or a couple of pieces of chicken, or come burgers, you can line the perimeter of your coals with three or four DRY chunks and put your meat in the center of the grill. That way, if the chunks catch on fire, they won’t char your meat b/c the meat will be in the center and the chunks will be burning on the outside. And what I have found is that fist-sized dry chunks will smoke for 10 - 20 minutes at Egg temperatures between 300 - 375 F before they catch on fire. This of course means that if you are cooking something that will take less than 20 minutes, you really don’t need to soak your chunks. Some may argue that you often don’t want more than 20 - 30 minutes of smoke anyway, so don’t ever bother soaking your chunks. Note: I will discuss later WHEN to put the chunks on the coals - this is important (e.g., if you put the chunks on the coals when the Egg temperature is above 400 F, they probably won’t last 5 minutes before catching on fire).

TAKE YOUR TIME: (as you well know, good cooking comes to those who wait):

If you can be patient enough, it is best to let the meat come to near room temperature before doing any searing/cooking. What I usually do is set the meat out for thirty minutes to an hour (if it's still cold, it's not room temperature, unless you’re in a really cold room - you know what I mean). In my previous writeup, I don’t think I stressed enough the importance of letting your meat come to room temperature. After a handful of experiences with rushed steak cooks (i.e., I went straight from the fridge to the Egg), I’ve concluded that cooking a cold steak will result in a less tender, less juicy steak. Quite simply, you have to expose the outer thickness of the steak to heat longer while you’re waiting for the center to come up to your "done" temperature. This longer exposure will obviously cook you steak more, so you may end up with a medium-rare center but medium or medium-well steak most of the rest of the way through to the outside surfaces. Yes, it requires even more planning and patience, but believe me, it does make a noticeable difference - let your steak "warm up" before you warm up that Egg!

TO BUILD A FIRE - MAKING LAVA FOR THE SEAR:

Jack London died long before the Egg had gained popularity in the New World, but man would he have appreciated this experience. Building a good fire took me a couple of weeks of practice. I only met success once I learned the secret: patience. As you might have perceived by now, cooking with the Egg is an experience, a journey - not a quick 21st century mouse-click. It usually takes me about 10-15 minutes before I have brought the Egg to life. What does this look like? Hot, yellow glowing coals, or, as Cameron says, "glowing lava." You don’t want to see much black. Now, all 15 of these minutes are not spent standing by the Egg (although, with a nice cold Corona, I highly recommend it). The last 5 or so you’re just letting the coals turn into lava.

Okay, so, how do you start? There are competing methods used to make a fire in the Egg - the BGE forum suggests a few, and I’m sure your video suggests a method as well. Feel free to use whatever method you like, but I’ll share with you a couple of methods that have worked well for me.

To start the fire, I used to use those self-striking starters which I found at Kroger. They appear to be wood particles held together by a paraffin binder. You can get them at most grocery stores I believe. You can also use those lighter cubes called Encendedores - they work well, but I would use two. The important thing is not to use a huge starter piece that will take forever to burn away. The self-striking starters (which are like 5"x2"x0.5") work really nicely. Before you light your starter piece, put two small, skinny long pieces of lump on the bottom of your fire box. (The firebox should be clean and your grill grate is off at this point.) You will essentially be making a bridge between these two pieces with your starter piece - hence, they act as shims to let air flow underneath your starter piece to help it burn more efficiently.

Now, make sure your bottom air vent is completely open. Light your starter piece and hold it vertically (I use tongs) so that the fire climbs it and the entire piece catches on fire. Now, make your little bridge across the two small pieces of lump. Next, starting with large pieces of charcoal, make a pyramid on top of the starter pieces - just 5 or 6 pieces. Let these get burning well, then start to add more charcoal, 5 pieces or so at a time (more as the pieces get smaller), taking care not to smother your flame. You can gradually use smaller pieces of charcoal as you fill the firebox. Before each addition of charcoal, make sure the previous pieces have started to catch somewhat and that you have a nice flame to set the new pieces into. Continue this process until you have filled your firebox above the level of the airholes and up to the bottom of your firering.

This sounds like a long process, but it’s not. If you’re as impatient as me, though, you can go buy one of those MAPP gas torches, which is all I use these days. MAPP gas burns hotter than propane, and works really well to light your lump. Just stack your unlit lump as stated above until you have filled your firebox to the bottom of your firering, then light your MAPP torch and hold it in 4 or 5 places for about 30 seconds in each place. Then, just walk away for a bit and your fire should start going.

Whichever method you use, you may want to blow air into the bottom vent to facilitate the combustion (I use a small hand-held fan, I’ve heard of some people using hair dryers, which add the extra bonus of preheating your air prior to combustion). This can often cut your start-up time in half (I once brought my Mini up to almost 900 F in under 5 minutes using a handheld fan). Once you have a filled firebox with a good flame (not a smoldering mound of charcoal), you can leave the bottom vent open, replace your grill grate, (put your skillet on the grill grate if you’re going to sear in a skillet), close the Egg, leave the top vent completely uncovered, and walk away. It usually takes me at least 10 minutes or so to get to this point. Now, you’re trying to get lava temperatures in order to do your sear, so that is why you want maximum air flow. You may want to go prep your meat at this time (see Prepping the Meat) or wait about 5 minutes and then go prep your meat. After about another 5-10 minutes after closing the Egg, you should return to find glowing charcoal inside and probably some flames shooting out of your chimney and a temp gage that is approaching 750F, which is about where you want it (higher is better) to do your sear. You may at this point want to add more charcoal if your level has fallen below the air holes (this is more important when you’re doing a long or high-temperature cook, but less necessary for a short cook like steak). If you smell gasket melting, you are ready to sear your steak (but prep it first!) IMPORTANT NOTE: When running your Egg at these lava temperatures, it is very easy to get flashback when you open the lid. "Burp" your lid several times before opening and STAND BACK. Look at the Naked Whiz’s website for more details on flashback.

PREPPING THE MEAT:

I usually prep the meat about 5 minutes before throwing it on the Egg (if you prep too early, the salt may remove too much juice from the meat). Your Egg should be roaring at adiabatic flame temperatures right about now, so get out your Kosher sea salt, spicy brown mustard, coarse ground pepper, and olive oil. GENEROUSLY shake an evenly-dispersed coating of sea salt on one side of the steak. Okay, what does this look like? Well, cover the surface of the steak but don’t pile salt on salt. Does that make sense? Let’s put it this way, if you go, "Damn, that’s way too much salt," then you’ve probably done just the right amount. Remember, a lot of this falls off during the searing process. Now, work the salt into the meat with your fingers. I do this until I can no longer see any white in the salt. Also, work some into the edge of the steak. Next, grind a generous amount of black pepper onto the surface (not as much as the salt, but a decent amount - I usually do about 20-30 turns of the pepper mill). Work the pepper into the meat just as you did the salt. Flip the steak and repeat the salt and pepper. Now, spread a thin coating of mustard on one side, followed by a light coating of olive oil (I usually just dip my finger in the olive oil and run my finger across the surface of the steak, but a lot of people pour olive oil into a spray bottle and spray a nice mist of oil). Stand the steak on its edge (if you flip it completely, the mustard will end up on the plate, not the steak) and repeat the mustard and olive oil on the other side. Keep the steak on its edge and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Then, you’re ready to sear. (A note here - lately, I’ve been prepping without the mustard, quite simply because I’ve had trouble finding it lately. I do notice a difference - the mustard adds just the slightest tang that I like - but the results are still great. You might also try some garlic butter on top of the hot steak when you are finished, just before serving.)

TOOLS:

Okay, you’re about to start handling a hot steak over an even hotter grill. I learned the hard way that the tools you use to handle the meat are very important. I’ll go ahead and tell you that, if I can, I always handle the meat with my hands, even pulling it off of a hot skillet or grill. But, if you have to use a tool, DON’T USE A TOOL THAT CAN PUNCTURE THE MEAT. While spearing the meat is the easiest way to pick it up, this creates holes in the meat from which priceless juices escape while cooking. If I don’t use my hands, I use tongs or a spatula. I guess I prefer tongs since the spatula tends to scrape the rub off the meat.

SEARING THE MEAT:

Your meat should be about room temperature now. If it’s still cool, that’s okay - you just don’t want it cold and stiff. Now, I've tried searing on the grill grate in its normal position, on the grill grate with the grate sitting basically on the coals, and in a cast iron pan that has come up to lava temps with the Egg. If you're into char crust, the skillet is your best bet. I didn't notice a big difference in how close the grate was to the coals except that it is just plain easier to sear on the grate in its normal position. If you do use a skillet, use a cast iron skillet--don’t use a "nice" skillet. The first time I seared a steak I used our $100 Caphalon skillet and "converted" it into my steak-searing skillet. For searing in a skillet, you can put the skillet on the grill grate as you’re waiting for the Egg to come up to lava temps, and the skillet will follow suit. Open the Egg slowly, and throw the steak onto one side of the skillet. Let it sizzle and smoke for at least a minute - I usually let it go 90 seconds. There will be flames all over the steak, but don’t start to panic thinking that you’re burning the crap out of your meat. It’s gonna sizzle and it’s gonna smoke like hell, and the seared side WILL get black in spots, but this will form the tasty crust of your perfect steak (if you don’t like the black crust, you can always flake it off). After 90 seconds (if you’re brave), flip the meat (DON’T USE A FORK TO FLIP!). If the skillet is big enough, sear the other side of the meat in a different spot on the skillet so that you get a hot spot on the skillet. After searing the second side, take your meat out of the skillet and set it on a plate. When the smoke clears, you will see that you have a beautifully seared steak. For searing directly on the grill grate (which is what I always do these days), do the same thing, except substitute the words "grill grate" for "skillet."

Now, one thing I realized after people read my original write-up is that I hadn’t made it clear that I sear with the dome OPEN. The key here is that, during searing, all I care about is the radiant heat from the flames and glowing coals and the conduction from the grill grate. Closing the dome would only limit the oxygen flow thus giving direct heat to the bottom of my steak. Also, this is a quick process - I’m not using the heat of the dome to cook the top side while searing the bottom side. Now, I’m not saying that it’s wrong to sear with the dome closed, I’m just clarifying how I’ve always done it.

HUNGRY YET? BE PATIENT!:

Now, the second most important step - letting the meat rest. I learned this important tidbit from a friend of mine, David Welch, who has been a chef at several well-known steak houses, including Pappas Bros. here in Houston. Meat is mostly muscle that will contract and tighten during the searing process (think of when you get a "knot" in your shoulder muscle). For a tender, juicy steak, you must let the muscle in the meat relax before you cook your steak at a lower temperature (think of a massage working the knot out of your shoulder). After much experimentation, I have found that the optimum resting time for a steak is 20 minutes. Any longer than this and the juices start to run out of the meat. So leave the steak on a plate in your kitchen and walk away (if you have a dog, you may not want to walk away).

QUELLING THE FIRE - PREPARING FOR THE MAIN COOK:

After having seared your steak and while your meat is resting, you need to start bringing the Egg down to cooking temperatures. Close the bottom vent until it’s open about 1.5". Close the top of the Egg and move your daisy wheel until about 1/8" of the top opening is exposed. Also, fine-tune the shutters on the wheel to about 25% open. Adjust your bottom vent to about ¼" open. Wait a few minutes and the temperature should begin to fall. Your target temperature is going to be 400 F. This is the part that takes practice. Hopefully during the 20 minutes your steak has been resting you have stabilized the Egg at around 400 F. Once there, pick out three fist-sized mesquite wood chunks. Have them handy. When you’ve approached the 20th minute of your resting time, open the Egg, remove the grill grate CAREFULLY using tongs, place your wood chunks on the perimeter of the coals (not in the middle), and put your grate back on. Close the Egg. You will notice now that your temperature has dropped probably below 350 F, but it will recover once the lid is closed. If it struggles to recover, open the bottom vent and blow some air in. You may also need to adjust your daisy wheel at this time (it moves just about every time you open the lid). Let the Egg stabilize at 400 F. Shortly thereafter, you should start getting a nice billow of smoke out of the top vent. YOU’RE READY TO COOK!

Editor's Note: A recurring question is how to get the Egg to cool off in 20 minutes. This should not be a problem. I have personally seared steaks for 6 minutes (3 per side) at 800 degrees and then put the rain cap on and closed the bottom vent. The Egg was at 400 degrees after only 9 minutes, so you shouldn't have any trouble. Once it is at 400 degrees, you can put the daisy wheel back on and open the bottom vent a little.

COOKING - THE PACE QUICKENS:

Now the fun part. Just before doing the main cook on the steak, I usually reseason with the salt (lightly this time) and ground pepper on both sides. After reseasoning, take your steak outside. If your Egg is around 400 F and billowing smoke, you’re ready. Open the lid quickly, throw on your steak, and close the lid quickly. Your temperature should stabilize back around 400 F, but if it goes a bit lower, don’t be too concerned - you’re cooking direct by radiant heat from the coals; dome temp is not as critical, but just acts as a good gauge of how much radiant heat your coals are providing. Before going further, I want to clarify here that some people have referred to this roasting period as "dwell." Well, dwell in the traditional sense means close both bottom and top vents completely. However, I still have bottom and top vents open during this period - just enough to maintain the 400 degree dome temperature. I’ve tried "dwelling" with all vents closed, but in my opinion that makes for a steak that is too smokey.

Now, to determine the right amount of time for the right level of doneness, you have to experiment. I like my steaks medium-rare - that’s pretty red but warm in the center. To accomplish this, I cook a 1.75" ROOM TEMPERATURE steak at 400 F dome temp for about 4 - 5 minutes/side (for medium, try 6 minutes a side). So, wait about 5 minutes, then open the lid quickly and flip your steak, close the lid. Remember, use your hands or tongs to flip the steak if you can - don’t puncture the meat. After 5 more minutes, the steak should be "done." I’ve never used an instant read thermometer to see at what internal temp I’m removing the steak, but 145 F I think is about the cutoff for medium rare (sometimes this is more medium than medium-rare). Of course, you would want to remove the steak at a temperature below 145, because the temperature will rise probably 5 degrees or so from the time you take it off the grill to the time you cut your first slice. But whether you cook by time or temperature, remember it’s always better to go too rare, because you can always throw the steak back on the Egg and cook it longer. So, start at about 4 minutes per side for a 2" steak, then experiment to your liking. (I should insert a comment here - I cook on a Medium Egg, but once I cooked 4 fillets and 4 strips on my dad’s Large Egg, and found that the time is a little bit different for his larger Egg. You may need to experiment here with time - but once you get it right the first time, you should be able to duplicate your efforts, provided you are consistent with your steak thickness and grill temperature. When cooking several steaks for large groups, I would suggest investing in an instant-read thermometer (I wish I had had one this past weekend). When using most of the grill space, you’ll inevitably have some spots that are hotter than others (this is what happened to me), so a quick prick with an instant-read probe is your sure-fire bet to pleasing your guests.)

THE MOMENT YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR:

Remove your steak from the Egg, let it sit for about 2 - 3 minutes to redistribute the juices internally, then slice it thinly and enjoy. You should experience the best home-cooked steak of your life, and probably a steak that is better than what you can get at most nice steak houses. ENJOY!