One of the best things about having a freezer full of Muenster Grass Fed beef is the quantity of steaks awaiting you and your family. Everyone has their way of cooking steaks. Some like it with butter in a cast iron skillet, some enjoy it over coals, and others like to cook it on a gas grill. In this article, I would like to share with you a quick and easy way to cook your Muenster Grass Fed steaks on a gas grill using a rub.
With any steak, it is easy to mess up so that it becomes tough and unappealing. Grass finished steaks are typically leaner than grain finished, so it’s even easier to ruin one of these steaks. On the other hand, it’s not that difficult to make even a lean grass-finished steak taste amazing and have remarkable tenderness. Here are some points to remember to help you cook a great steak every time (grain or grass finished)
1. Always bring your steak to room temperature before placing on the grill. Steak is a muscle, and like our muscles, the fibers will contract when put under stress. Imagine being outside when it is really cold and you start running without warming up first. It’s not extremely comfortable because your muscles are stiff and don’t want to work as well as when they are warmed up. A steak is the same way. Placing a cold steak at a refrigerator temperature of 35 degrees onto a searing hot grill at 550 degrees is a sure way to have a tough steak. The muscle fibers immediately tense up when put on the grill, and this tension may not leave the steak when you eat it.
2. Always rest your steak after grilling it. After you finish grilling your steak, it’s a good idea to let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting into it. Even a room temperature steak will seize up when it is first placed on a grill. To mitigate this tension, a resting period will give it a chance to relax. Using the running analogy, it’s painful to go from a long run immediately into a cool shower. A proper cool down is essential to relax your muscles before taking a shower. It’s basically the same for a steak. Imagine the rest period for the steak as a slow jog or walk after a stressful workout. Cover the steaks with foil to trap in the moisture of the steak while it is resting.
3. Avoid cooking your steak beyond medium doneness. Medium rare is a good level of doneness for any steak. If you don’t like the pink look to your beef, you can cook it medium well or even well done, but please keep in mind that this will increase the chewiness of your steak. I like to shoot for 130 degrees when I pull the steaks off for their rest. Usually, the internal temperature of the steaks will increase 5-10 degrees during the rest bringing the steak to a medium rare or medium level of doneness.
4. Use tongs to flip your steak. Using a fork to flip your steak causes a stream of juices to flow out of the steak. It’s best to keep all the juices in the steak: use tongs to flip them.
5. Don’t flip your steak excessively. Most steaks you can get by with one flip. You will notice when you grill that a lot of juices rise to the top of the steak. After you flip it once, it’s best to leave those juices on top of your steak so it doesn’t dry out. Dryness adds to overall toughness, so it is best to have as juicy of a steak as possible.
6. Keep a close eye on the temperature of the steak. Determining the doneness of the steak is extremely important. Even experienced grillers can easily overcook a steak. The difference between medium rare and well done can be as short as 90-120 seconds on the grill depending on the steak thickness. A lot of this comes down to experience. Some steaks like a rib-eye or small t-bone can be done in 5 minutes. Larger steaks like sirloins or extra large porterhouse steaks can take 8 or more minutes. Extra thick tomahawk rib-eye steaks can take even longer. Starting out with a steak 1” thick, I shoot for 2.5 minutes per side, then take the temperature, and cook until completed.
A Little Background
Keeping these points in mind, I want to discuss the origins of these steaks before we start cooking. This evening I’m going to grill a couple rib-eye steaks from an old cow. We raised this particular animal since she was a calf over 12 years ago. This past year, she was unable to carry a calf. Instead of taking her to the sale barn with the rest of the cull cows, we turned her out on pasture to finish on grass just like our younger animals. Weighing in with a carcass over 870 lbs, she had a lot of beef, and some very large steaks. These are bone-in ribeye steaks cut 1” thick. Because this was a very old cow, most people assume that these steaks cannot be tender and will not taste very good at all, especially since we finished the cow on 100% grass. However, after having beef from four of these old cows from our farm, I can confidently say that vaca vieja beef can be delicious when cooked properly. Looking at these steaks, you can see that they have thick ½ inch fat caps, and there is some marbling in the muscle tissues. These would probably grade high select or low choice on a grading chart. I expect them to taste amazing and have a little bit of chew.
Let's Cook!
Now that we have a little background information on these steaks as well as a few basic cooking principles, let’s make dinner.
The first step is to thaw the steaks in the refrigerator a few days before hand. Thawing your beef in the refrigerator is the safest way to do it. Next, I like to take the steaks out of the package and place them in a glass casserole pan while I season them.
Today, I am using a couple different dry rubs. For my wife, I am using Kosher Salt and crushed black pepper. I also added some chopped rosemary from the garden (when in season) to impart a bold, earthy flavor which goes well with beef. On my steak, I will use the same ingredients as well as the Ole Canadian Steak Rub that you can purchase at Fischer’s Meat Market.
Salt and pepper are a must for just about every steak. The salt draws moisture from the steak forming a juice with enzymes which further tenderizes the meat. For really thick steaks 2 inches+, you may need to salt them the night before. For most steaks, 2-5 hours is plenty of time for your dry rub to work its flavor into the steaks (place back in fridge after seasoning). Ensure you season all sides of your steaks!
About 2 hours before grilling the steaks, I set them out on the counter to bring them to room temperature. As discussed above, this step is very important. A few hours after seasoning, notice the juices on top of the steak.
About 15 minutes before I start grilling, I fire up my gas grill and bring it up to about 500 degrees. While that is happening, I get a few more ingredients ready. Butter always goes great with steaks, and these steaks are no exception. I like to get a couple tablespoons melted with a dash of Kosher Salt, a teaspoon of chopped garlic, and a little chopped rosemary. I will use this to baste the steaks when I flip them and when I take them off the grill.
Cooking steaks is fast, so please make sure you have everything ready before you start. Here’s a quick list of things to have ready, so you don’t accidentally overcook your steaks while looking for them:
· Steaks at room temperature
· 2-3 tablespoon butter, divided
· Tongs to flip the steaks
· Butter baste
· Brush for the butter
· Cooking spray for the grill
· Aluminum foil
· Clean plate or casserole dish to rest the steaks in
· Meat thermometer
· Timer
Once you have everything ready, it’s time to cook the steaks. I’m starting these out at 500 degrees. I spray the grill down with some cooking spray to help them not stick when I flip them. Then, I gently place the steaks on the grill with my set of tongs and set 1 TBSP of butter on each steak. Quickly shut the lid and set the timer for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. I usually use this time to clean my casserole dish and tongs.
After the timer goes off, I flip the steaks and baste them with half of the butter baste that I made earlier. In the summer, I will turn the grill down to medium-low at this point, but in the winter, I will leave it on high. After this, I set my timer for 2 minutes.
After 2 minutes is up, I will check the internal temperature of the steaks. The goal is to bring them up to 128-130 degrees. It may take 1-3 minutes longer to get them to this internal temperature. Do NOT flip the steaks again as you wait for them to reach the desired level of doneness.
As soon as they reach this temperature, I remove one steak at a time being careful not to let the juices run off the steak. I baste each steak again using up the rest of my butter mix, and I place one steak on top of the other.
Next, I immediately cover the steaks with foil to lock in the steam and moisture. Expect the internal temperature of the steaks to rise 5-10 degrees as they rest. Medium rare is 135 degrees and medium is 140 degrees.
Now it is time to wait a few minutes as the steaks rest. 10 minutes is a good resting time, try to be patient because this is a very important step.
After that it is time to slice into them to see what we have. These steaks turned out perfect, medium rare. For a group of people enjoying just a few steaks, you may choose to slice the steak thin, so everyone can get a bite. If you are like me though, throw the whole steak down on your plate and get ready for paradise.
As expected, these steaks turned out amazing. The flavor of the vaca vieja is bold but not gamey. The texture is perfect. It is not a melt in your mouth texture like a tenderloin, rather it has a little chew which goes well with the bold flavor. My entire family, to include my three kids really enjoyed these steaks. The rosemary and garlic, butter baste pair perfectly with this beef. Try these techniques the next time you grill any of your Muenster Grass Fed steaks!
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