Prepare and Season Grilled Steak Like a Pro

Does it ever feel like grilling is one of those unreachable cooking territories that you've unintentionally blurred out of your mind? Well, I sincerely hope you haven’t gaslit yourself regarding the grill, but I must admit that I did until my thirties. It took moving to the always-sunny Los Angeles, where my pink stucco apartment had a hiccup of a yard and my kitchen was consistently overheating in the summer months from cooking steaks on the stovetop, for me to invest in the smallest of all Weber grills. From there, I trained myself on the very basics of home grilling, and here’s what I learned:

Words by: Kourtney Paranteau

Let it sit!

Take your steak out of the refrigerator for at least ten minutes before placing it on the grill. I think many home cooks get too easily freaked out over raw meat hanging out unrefrigerated, but if you’ve worked at any restaurant, you’ll see how cooks temper their meat long before they start cooking with heat. I make a habit of taking out my steak about 15-20 minutes before grilling as I wait for the grill to heat up. Also, instead of seasoning the steak directly out of the fridge, I thoroughly pat it down with paper towels beforehand and then liberally season it with Jacobsen Co. Steak Seasoning. The excess salt will keep the steak moist, and remember–you’re only seasoning the outer surface, so the interior relies on a salty burst from the exterior crust. 

Check the temp!

A grill is just an old-school stovetop/oven, meaning it can be heated to low, medium-low, medium, medium-high, and high, and the temperatures correlate to a modern-day oven. A $15 grilling thermometer to monitor your grill's heat is a small investment with a big payoff. With it, the guesswork I associated with grilling was gone for good.

Take a rest!

Let your steaks rest for at least ten minutes after removing them from the grill. Suppose you cut into your meat immediately after cooking - if you do, all of its flavorful juices will run out onto your cutting board. If you take a beat and clean up your workspace before returning to your grilled steaks, the juices will rest and reintegrate inside the steaks, making for more dimensionally, savory bites. 

Bonus!
Always finish your steak with a flourish of flake.