BBQ90/17 – Steak Sandwich:
My wife was taking our eldest daughter out for the day so it was going to be lunch for one. I could have had something out the freezer or something on toast but I saw a post by Artust Wimthag on Twitter where he cooked a steak on the Afterburner which seemed a better idea for my meal for one!
I ordered a pair of small rib eye steaks from Turner and George as part of a larger order and planned to cook one for myself. I was planning on using the afterburner but then I remembered the Hellfire Halo I had sitting in the kettle:
It was time to test that sear grate!
The Prep:
As always, the steak was a nice quality from Turner and George. These were much smaller than I would usually buy but I am trying to calm things down a bit!
I got the steak out the fridge about an hour before I was going to light the grill to let it warm up a bit before cooking.
Recently, I saw a video by Tony Smith and DJ BBQ where they smashed the steak with a frying pan to flatten it, break the meat up a bit and improve the sear/crust of the steak. I have seen another video with DJ BBQ where he slashes the meat before salting it to improve the sear/crust so I did that too!
There is differing advice on the internet about peppering a steak. Some say don’t pepper it before you cook it as the pepper can burn. I have tried both methods and prefer a good sprinkling of black pepper on before I cook it. I sprinkled loads of Maldon sea salt on as well.
I picked up a ciabatta loaf from M&S in the morning. My kids were both apparently really hungry as it had been a whole hour since they eat last so I had to sacrifice some of it for a quiet car journey back home! I buttered the insides planning to toast it on the grill once the steak was off.
I had enough Oxford Charcoal hardwood blend in the end of a bag for this cook so I fired up a full chimney and poured it into the charcoal baskets directly underneath the sear grate area of the Hellfire Halo.
I left it about 10 minutes before checking the temperature of the grill with the IR gun I use with the Uuni pizza oven. It was about 400c at that point so I gave it another 5 minutes at which point it was above 500c. It might have gone higher but I wanted to watch the football and was running out of time so I got cracking!
The Cook:
I put the steak on the grill and it instantly started smoking and sizzling.
I gave it about 30 seconds a side and tried to turn it 90 degrees to get the sear marks but I lost track in the end due to the amount of smoke coming off!
I kept probing the meat with a Thermapen and was aiming for about 55c internal for medium rare. It took about 5 minutes total to get to this point so I took it off to rest for a short while. The steak looked and smelt fantastic!
With the steak off I put the ciabatta on to toast.
With the steak rested I sliced it fairly thinly. Just the colour I was after and so juicy!
I smeared some Dijon mustard on the base of the bread then topped it with some wild rocket before placing the steak on top. What a treat for lunch!
Time to Eat:
The next 2 photos show the difference the light makes when you take a picture inside and one outside. I will need to come up with a solution to improve the light when we get back to winter!
This was an absolute treat for a Saturday lunchtime. Very, very easy to cook but so tasty. The steak was one of the best I have cooked so far. Combination of good meat, smashing it, slashing it, heavily seasoning it and the Hellfire Halo sear grate. I am loving the Hellfire Halo, a good purchase well worth £75.
It was so good I am cooking it again for my wife this weekend!
| Cook Equipment: | Weber Grill |
| Cook Method: | Hellfire Halo – Direct Sear |
| Charcoal: | Oxford Charcoal Hardwood Blend |
| Smoking Wood: | None |
| Cook temperature: | 500c |
| Cook time: | 5 minutes |
| Internal temperature: | 55c |
| Notes: | No changes really. |