The Perfect Grilled Steak

Since it’s almost The Fourth of July, we figured we should share an awesome grilling menu we recently made in case you’re still looking for ideas for that family BBQ 😉 We made some amazing grilled steak and paired it with parsnip fries and a kale salad, all of which are perfect for a summer grillout.

The key to this amazing meal is that perfectly grilled steak. You know the one that’s super juicy, slightly crispy on the outside and packed with flavor? We’ve been doing a lot of research on this subject and want to share what we’ve learned because there are so many myths out there and making a great steak is neither complicated nor does it require fancy seasoning or sauce. All it takes is the right preparation and cooking method.

But we’ll start with the sides. We kept it pretty simple so we could focus on that steak and made these super easy parsnip fries.

Parsnip Fries Recipe
Serves 4 as a side

• 5-6 parsnips, scrubbed and sliced into matchsticks
• 1 tbsp avocado oil (we use Primal Kitchen’s)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
Heat oven to 350°. Toss parsnips in a large bowl with salt, pepper, and avocado oil

Spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and roast in the oven at 350° for about 25 minutes, flipping them halfway. Then toss with some chopped parsley and serve with your favorite dipping sauce (we like Majestic Garlic sun dried tomato hummus!)

To go with the fries and steak we also made a kale salad from The First Mess cookbook with kale and thinly sliced apples, red onion, and toasted sunflower seeds. The idea was to keep the sides both simple and fresh, allowing the steak to be the main focus.

Both of these sides are easy to prep ahead if you’re entertaining or if you’re bringing a dish to someone’s BBQ. For the fries, just toss them with the olive oil, salt and pepper and store in a Ziploc until ready to roast. These are best served right out of the oven. For the salad, just combine all dry ingredients and squeeze a little lemon on top to preserve the apples. The  toss with the dressing when ready to serve .

So on to the steak. We learned a few things about grilling steak perfectly with this book. We used a 2″ thick USDA Prime grade ribeye. It was beautiful. Here’s what we know works:

1. Dry brine the meat with salt for 2 hours in the fridge before grilling. No need to set it out to reach room temperature – just take it out when you’re ready to grill.

2. We set up our Weber charcoal kettle grill for indirect heat with a pouch of hickory wood chips placed in the coals for a quick smoky flavor.

3. Once our digital grill thermometer reached about 250 in the indirect zone, we put the steak on and smoked it slowly with the cover on for about 45 minutes until the internal temp reached 110-115° F (medium rare). At this point, the steak had no sear marks due to the indirect heat but was evenly cooked through. This is how you keep it juicy!

4. Only after cooking indirectly was it time to fire things up. With some newly lit coals, the lid came off and the steak was placed on the grate directly over the coals for a nice, even, dark brown sear. After a few minutes on each side, the meat was perfectly juicy on the inside and had a nice thick peppery crust on the outside. This is the “reverse sear” method and it’s worth the effort on thick steaks.

Here’s the full recipe we followed if you’re interested!

We hope you have an amazing fourth of July!