How to Grill the Perfect Steak on a Gas Grill?

In the world of backyard grilling, nothing tastes better than a grilled steak. There is a lot of controversy over the best way to grill, i.e., using charcoal, wood pellets, or gas. All three will deliver heat, the pellet and gas maintain a constant temperature, and the charcoal and pellet add smoke. You can also add smoke with a gas grill by making a smoking packet and placing it above the burners or by using a smoke tube. But there are some things that you can do with a gas grill that you cannot do with the pellet grill, and you can do it with a charcoal grill with some tools to move the charcoal.

Setting up the Gas Grill:

When using a gas grill it is important to make sure that you preheat it, and clean and season the grill before placing your steak on the grill to cook. Once it is hot, use a grill brush and clean the grates, then use either some beef fat, or a cloth saturated with oil and brush the grill surface before placing your steak on the grill. This helps with getting great grill marks and helps the meat release from the grill.

Ideally you want your grill near 400⁰F when you place the steak on the grill and once you get the steak grill marked and flipped to the other side, you want to shut off the center burners and turn the outside burners to low. This will help to keep your steak moist and tender.

The thicker the steak, the longer it takes to cook. So if you are cooking a standard steak cut, which is between 1 and 1.5 inches thick, cooking time is about 20 minutes total.

While your grill is heating up, take your steak which should be at room temperature, season it on both sides, and take it to the grill. Once the grill is ready, time to start grilling your steak.

Equipment needed:

Gas grill

Tongs

ChefsTemp Final Touch X10

For the Steak:

Steak

Seasoning

Season your steak on both sides, then take to the grill, I use my own seasoning, but you can use any one you choose.

Understanding Gas Grills:

Gas grills are great because you can easily regulate the cooking temperature of the grill. Gas grills have anywhere from 2 to 4 burners, and they either go from front to back, or they follow the lines of the grill in a long tube along the sides and both ends. They function essentially the same and are more like char broiler burners.

It is important you are familiar with your grill to get the maximum results from your gas grill. When cooking any meats on a gas grill it is vital you preheat and season the grill plates. Once it is ready, make sure the grill is hot, and then place the meat on the grill. It will only take a few minutes to get great grill marks on the meat. Once you turn the meat over, you need to shut off some of the burners and turn the remaining burners on low.

How the grill burners are set up determines which burners are turned off or turned down. In the case of a grill with burners from front to back, usually three or four burners, you would shut the center burners off and turn down the two outer burners so the meat you are cooking doesn’t lose moisture during the grilling process. With a grill with tube burners, shut down the center burner and turn down the outer burner. Doing this essentially makes your grill work like an oven.

Grilling the Steak:

Once your grill is hot and ready to be cooked on, it is time to get your steak on the grill. This is the shortest part of your cooking process, 20 minutes or less. Place the steak on the grill and let it cook to create the grill marks. It will only take a few minutes to grill mark your steak and get the desired look.

Once you turn your steak, get a temperature reading using your ChefsTemp Final Touch X10, and from this point you will want to take temps every few minutes until you reach the desired pull temperature. I am cooking this steak to medium rare, so I will pull it at 141⁰F.

Once you get the steak off the grill it is vitally important to let the steak rest for 5 minutes undisturbed, so the juices which are on the edge will return to the middle.

After allowing the steak to rest it is time to put it on a plate. This plate is a Bone-in T-Bone, with sauteed mushrooms, a baked potato with butter, crema, and chives, and oven roasted corn with garlic butter. Here is the recipe:

Recipe:

• 1.5-pound bone-in T-bone steak, seasoned
• 1 large baking potato
• 1 cup corn, either freshly cut off the cobb, or frozen
• 3 tablespoons of garlic butter
• 1 small container sliced mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Two tablespoons whole butter
• 3 tablespoons crema or sour cream
• Chopped chives for potato garnish

First, take the potato and apply a little cooking oil or baking spray to the outer skin of the potato, season with kosher salt, place in a pre-heated 425⁰F oven and bake for 1 hour. Then take the corn and using some aluminum foil, make a packet and place your corn in the foil packet with 1 teaspoon of garlic butter, seal the packet by folding the seams in the middle and then folding the ends, when the potato has been in the oven for 30 minutes, put the corn in the oven. Take the corn out when the potato is done.

While the potato and corn are cooking, heat, season, and prepare your grill. Your steak should already be ready for the grill. Grill your steak, and when you are done grilling the steak, the potato and corn should be ready.

While your steak is resting, make your mushrooms. Place one tablespoon of your garlic butter into the a saute pan and melt on medium heat, add the mushrooms and start stirring, cook them down until they are almost dry.

Plating the plate. Place your sauteed mushrooms on the plate, set the steak on top and place the remaining garlic butter on the steak so it will melt, dress your potato, and place your corn on the plate.

In summary:

Make sure your grill is prepared, follow time and temperature guidelines, make sure you use your ChefsTemp Final Touch X10 to get accurate temperatures.

How Many Times Should You Flip Steak?

How many times you flip a steak is dependant on how you intend to mark it. If you want a cross hatch pattern on your steak, you will need to put it on the grill, and then after a few minutes rotate it 90 degrees to make the cross hatch pattern, once you get the grill pattern on the steak, flip it over, and either turn the grill down if possible or move the steak to a cooler cooking area on the grill and then cook it to the desired doneness that you are seeking by using your ChefsTemp Final Touch X10 to get an accurate reading.