Steaks and Such!

It’s the 4^th of July which means some lump charcoal will meet its demise. I was shopping at my local Central Market and picked up 2 tenderloin steaks and 1 NY Strip. It has been a while since I cooked a strip and the gentle marbling looked too good to pass up. The difference in coloring between the two cuts is notable. The NY Strip is a dry aged and not grass fed, which was also available.
	Lately, I have been using a pair of Kent Rathburn rubs that I picked up when he was doing a demonstration outside the Central Market. He is a hug BGE devotee, actually saying he was some type of an ambassador for the brand in the DFW area. One is a general purpose BBQ rub; salt, pepper, paprika, brown sugar, etc. The rub on the right is salt, pepper, garlic. Pretty standard – enough so that one may wonder why I actually purchased it rather than making my own concoction. Viable question. I could try and justify it on proportions – Kent somehow knowing exactly how much of each is true grilling magic. Hard to say. Kent was there, his grill was cranking, his chatter was engaging – I bought the two rubs. And, for the record, they are great.
Neither is applied liberally as they are hearty in flavor. Especially the second. The salt is prevalent – only a little is required. I over rubbed once before, and it’s not a tasty experience. You end up scraping as much of the rub off the meat as possible.
	While I was applying rubs, food was already on the BGE cooking. Ellen and I love ABTs. Jalapeno poppers to some. And, Central Market has some that are already pre-made, so you are shopping at 4:00 and you want to eat around 7:00, this is the way to go. A couple of skewers of poppers and a tater for good measure. One thing about those CM poppers, they use really thin bacon and I usually end up re-wrapping them so that the cream cheese is well covered. The next time ABTs are on the BGE menu, I am going to make them from start. My own filling, my own bacon, my own creation. Even though those guys are small, they require around 45 – 55 minutes of cooking.
The egg was about 400 dome temperature which means that the grate temp is between 350-375. Just about perfect. The poppers and potato go on the same time with the intention of flipping each after about 15 minutes to get even cooking. Ellen and I got wrapped up tasting and comparing Scotch whiskey with Irish whiskey following her recent trip to Ireland. So these guys go about 20 minutes to start off, which was a little long for the poppers closer to the center of the grate. Regardless, they are still ideal.
	After about 40 minutes, the steaks go on. I put the tenderloins near the center as they are a tad thicker. Close the dome and return in 6 minutes. The timing is working perfectly as the poppers are ready to come off and the steaks are flipped. Everything comes off in another 6 minutes or so. I know some people cook their steaks at 500 or more. I have found that 350-400 allows for a very uniform cook throughout the steak while still creating a nice crust on the steaks. Juicy? Those steaks are glistening.
The steaks were a perfect medium rare, which is ideal. The NY strip pictured here was more of a medium as it is a thinner cut of meat. But, as is so typical of steaks prepared on the BGE, it was so tender and juicy, the slight difference in doneness was inconsequential. As for the poppers, they are remarkable. The package had only 6 compared to 8, so they were a little bit bigger with a little more cream cheese filling. There is some residual cheese sitting on the lump – this will be flavoring for the next cook. Sometimes, it all comes together, as it did tonight.