Mark Bittman’s Secrets: How to Make the Perfect Steak
Here are two foolproof options for grilling
Sunday is Father’s Day, and while I hate to be a cliché — especially when it comes to fueling the gendered expectation that dads are or should be grillers and carnivores — the occasion seems as good as any to talk about the perfect steak.
My idea of what constitutes a perfect steak hasn’t changed much over the years: really crusty, really juicy — and I don’t think that puts me in the minority. The technique for making that happen is also pretty enduring: a thick steak, a hot fire, a watchful eye, and the patience to let the meat rest.
To achieve perfection, I’d recommend one of two routes: The first is about as simple as it gets. The other is a bit more adventurous, but so damn fun — and entails cooking the steaks directly on blazing hot hardwood charcoal embers. But before we get to the recipes, here’s a bit more on grilling steaks.
The cut, how much you like it done, and the best way to cook it are all related. The supermarket meat counter — I mean a good one with an in-store butcher — offers many different steaks. Understanding where they come from on the cow goes a long way toward choosing the right one for different occasions. Those cut from…
