What is a charcoal steak

Charcoal steaks are most frequently cooked on a charcoal grill, though you can also cook them over a fire or use a gas grill, a broiler or an oven.

Before placing them on a grill though, these kinds of steaks must be seared first, so they get a delicious golden-brown crust which adds to the flavor and texture of the meat.

In this article, you will learn charcoal steak recipe. From the materials and ingredients, you would need to how you would have to prepare and finally grill your choice cut of meat. Knowing these things would guide you in making the most tender and scrumptious charcoal steak which would impress anyone!

The Materials To Prepare

In order to be able to pull off cooking a delicious and traditional charcoal steak, you’d have to prepare a few materials and have them on hand so you don’t have to run in and out of the house while you are cooking. These are simple items which you probably already have in your home, so you just need to have them ready

A Charcoal Grill

The ideal kind of charcoal grill to use is the kind with a bottom grating that will lift up the charcoal from the bottom of the grill. A bottom valve would also be a helpful feature to make it easier for you to start the fire going. We use this for easy portability.

Charcoal

Go for the top quality kind of charcoal instead of the cheap ones when you would be using it for grilling. Cheaper charcoal may take a longer time to light and the better ones don’t cause that much anyway. You can check out charcoal tablets that light up quickly and saves time. Alternatively, check out our best lump charcoal buying guide 

Lighter Fluid

You’d need lighter fluid to speed up the lighting process and allow your charcoal to catch fire quickly. You would just need a certain amount to be able to light the charcoal and not the whole supply.

You’d also need a lighter, obviously, to light your charcoal.

A Pair Of Tongs Or A Spatula

You would need these to either move the charcoal around or move the meat from the plate to the grill and back again and for turning the steak over.

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The Essential Ingredients

Aside from the materials, you’d need a few key ingredients – and I do mean just a few. To make charcoal steaks, you’d only have to prepare three basic ingredients:

The Steak

The steak you would use would depend entirely on you! Whatever cut of meat you prefer is alright, as long as you try and go with a cut that has enough marbling to keep it juicy even after being grilled.

When using a steak that has been frozen, make sure to thaw it out completely, so you don’t end up with a steak that looks good on the outside but is frozen on the inside.

The Dry Rub

Traditionally, a dry rub made up of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper is best for charcoal steaks. However, you can add a few herbs, spices and even some garlic to your dry rub if you want a more complex flavor for your steak.

The Marinade

A good marinade for charcoal steak would be a blend of some type of oil, herbs and an acidic element.

You can either make your own marinade at home by mixing ingredients or buy a marinade from the store. Of course, you would have more freedom to choose what flavors go into your marinade if you do it yourself.

Grilling Your Charcoal Steak

Now that you have all your materials and ingredients ready, it’s time to grill your perfect cut of meat. Before grilling your steak, you’d have to prepare it first to ensure that it comes out tender, delicious and perfect!

A Few Guides In Preparing And Grilling Your Charcoal Steak

1. Take out your steak, let it thaw completely and start seasoning it to your preference. You can marinate your steak beforehand with the marinade of your choice then apply a dry rub on it right before you grill for a deeper, fuller flavor. Then you can start preparing your grill.
2. Open up your grill and place some charcoal in it, right on top of the bottom grate. It would be a great idea to create a sort of mountain of charcoal wherein the base is roughly 8-10 inches.
3. Spray some lighter fluid on your charcoal mountain before actually trying to light it to hasten the process. Just remember to use an adequate amount of lighter fluid so you won’t use up all of it in just one time.
4. Light your charcoal and observe the color. As soon as the edges of your charcoal have turned white, use your tongs or spatula to scatter the charcoal evenly around your grill.
5. Position the top grating to heat it up and as soon as you see that all the charcoal has turned white and the flames have started receding, you can start grilling your steak.
6. Take your steak and sear the outer part of it on all sides. To do this, place it on the top grating without covering the grill for about two minutes on all the sides.
7. After you’ve seared the sides of the steak, turn it over again and this time places the top on – do this for about five minutes for each side of the steak.
8. When you’re done with that step, season your steak again, using the same seasoning you rubbed on your steak when it was still uncooked. Cover your grill again and wait another five minutes.
9. If your steak is a bit on the thicker side, turn it over, season it again then covers it and waits yet another five minutes.
10. Keep on checking your steak to see if it has been cooked through and evenly so that you won’t end up with a steak that is either overcooked or so undercooked that it might be dangerous to consume.
11. Once you’ve seen that your steak is sufficiently cooked to your liking, put off the fire in your grill. You can do this either by closing all the valves of your grill or dousing the charcoal with water (which will give off a lot of smoke).

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Some Useful Tips For Grilling Your Charcoal Steak

Is your mouth watering yet? Well, it should! Charcoal steaks are a delicious way to present a choice cut of meat which is easy to do but gives an awesome result. But we’re not done yet – let’s discuss some tips when grilling charcoal steak which you may find useful

• When your steaks come from the freezer, thaw them out completely first. If they have just come from the refrigerator but are not frozen, still take them out and let them sit for about 20-25 minutes before you grill them on an electric griddle. This would allow your seasoning to hold on to the meat better.
• Rub on your seasonings for about 15 minutes so that all the dry seasonings will dissolve into the meat completely, which would give it a richer flavor. Either do a dry rub or season your steak with a sauce, that all depends on you.
• In cooking your steak, use both direct and indirect heating techniques.
• Direct heating would mean that you’d place your steak in a hot zone for about 2 minutes. Turn the steaks a bit (about a quarter turn) then wait another 2 minutes before flipping them over. When you flip your steak over, make sure to place them in a different hot zone and repeat the process.
• After that, it’s time to use indirect heating, which would mean placing your steak in a part of the grill which isn’t right on top of the hot coals. Doing this would give your steak the desired sear marks along with a crispy outer texture.
• Continue to grill your steaks using indirect heating until they are rare, medium-rare, medium, medium-well or well done, depending on your preference.

Conclusion – Serve Up Some Fine Charcoal Steaks

There you go – everything you need to know to be able to grill a delicious charcoal steak successfully. It isn’t that hard to make, all you need to have is the right know-how as well as all the essential materials and ingredients.

Now that you know all this, you can start whipping up some fine charcoal steaks for your meals at home or guests at an old fashioned barbecue. Enjoy your steaks!

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