Steak Made Easy
So, you’ve cleaned out any wet ash, started the outdoor fireplace and the masonry is all warm. Hopefully you haven’t had too many glasses of wine by this point, because by now you should have a good ember base and it’s time to cook.
The first thing to do is shift the wood to one side and leave some embers behind to cook over. You can put some more wood on the side you want to keep the fire alight so that you are still pumping out heat for your guests.
Place a hot plate or grill on the side with just the embers. It doesn’t matter which type of plate you use. Well, actually, any South African reading this will say I am wrong, they will use a grill plate every time. They know what they are talking about because a grill allows the fats and juices of whatever you are cooking to fall through onto the embers which then smokes back up to create flavour.
This is the art of cooking over smoke and flame. Your burn a lot, you make a lot of mistakes, but pretty much everything tastes better cooked over an open wood burning flame.
I always recommend bringing your meat to room temp. It makes the meat quicker to cook and more consistent. Anything to make the process less variable is a bonus.
Salt is fundamental. I know the doctor might disagree, but in reality if your diet is not full of processed foods, which are full of salt, you are not likely to have any issues with a little extra salt on your steak.
There is a bunch of ways to cook steak, this is the simple way. Place it on the grill or plate and cook two minutes aside for medium to medium rare (depending on the thickness of the steak). There is no clear guide for this, you will have to experiment. However, if you don’t like rare steak, cook it for three minutes each side just to be sure.
If it’s under-done, cut into slithers, salt and chuck it back on the plate for a little longer, kids love this and even adults enjoy being able to pick at their food. Or plate them with a nice mushroom sauce or into a salad. Oh yeah!
No matter how many mistakes you make, the flavour is hard to beat, even if it’s a little burnt.
Enjoy!