Breaking in my new bar-b-que, Texas Style

There is no food in the world that even comes close to a good ole Texas style steak, hot off the barbie. If you don't believe me, you've never had one. There's no way around it. Tri-tips? Crap. Lobster? Bland. Sushi? Feminine. No, really, feminine.
Texas style steak. That's all there is. Ask anyone who's ever had it.
Here's one of my own recipes, off of my own table:

To start with, always start with the freshest ingredients. Fresh, never frozen.

This includes the meat. In fact, this is ESPECIALLY true for the meat. You don't use supermarket meat. Always go to the butcher, and use fresh cut meat. If you want to age the beef, put it in the refrigerator yourself. Don't rely on the supermarket to have properly aged beef. If you don't know what aged beef is, it's best you just use fresh. I am using fresh beef today. Start with ribeye steaks. About one pound to one and a quarter apiece.

Take a VERY SHARP knife and slit one end of the ribeyes all the way in. That is to say, make a pita out of it. Leave three sides uncut. Cut as near to those three sides as you can without breaking through. Do not let the knife come out in the middle of the steak. That's very important. Take your time. And be careful. And did I mention, use a sharp knife.

After you have made a pita out of all of the steaks, place them in a large bowl.

If you want to add spice. Now is the time. Today, I put on some crushed red pepper (fresh, dehydrated, crushed) and some generic "steak seasoning powder".
Normally, you would add garlic powder, but not for this recipe.
Add a whole bottle of red wine. Don't spash it over the meat, because this will wash off the spice. Just pour it down the side. It's OK to take a swig or two if you like red wine. I used a dry Merlot today.

Put it into the refigerator. Hopefully the night before. I left mine in for about five hourse because this was all on short notice. That's the least I have ever left it in. I would have preferred about 12-15 hours.
The alcohol in the wine acts as a meat tenderizer, and makes the steak more tender. It also brings the spice into the meat.
For those of you who don't drink, it's ok. The fire will take out all of the alcohol. As an aside, any alcoholic drink works well, but red wine for red meat, white wine for chicken and fish. Beer for brisket. It works wonders.

Now a word about charcoal. If you use propane, you're missing out. Charcoal is the only way to go. Wood works well, too, if you know how to do it.
Don't use the regular kind of "charcoal briquette" that you see in the stores. Those are absolutely useless. Just a piece of trivia. The original Kingsford charcoal briquettes were made from packing and shipping wood from the Ford Motor Company crates. That's just so you know what you are eating there.
Use "no additives" all the time. The additives that they use to make it burn easier and longer are, to me, like drinking gasoline. Same thing goes for the starter fluid. You want it to be zero residue.

You can tell the difference just by looking at the pieces. See how my pieces look like pieces of wood? That's because they are.

At this time, I put them in the pit and hose them down with the fluid and let them soak. They are typically hard to light, because they have no additives to make them light faster. While they are soaking, I went back into the ingredients.



I cut up one onion and two garlic. Save the peelings and the outer skins.
Sautee them in an iron skillet. I have an eight inch cast iron skillet that is only used for garlic and onion. Then you never have to wash it. If you are familiar with cast iron, this is perfectly normal.

I use real butter. If you are not from Texas, it is ok to use margarine.

While that is cooking, put a whole bunch of mushrooms in another pan with at least a whole stick of butter.
The idea is to boil the mushrooms in butter instead of sautee. I ended up using one and a half sticks of butter for them today.


When that is done, it's time to light the pit. Hose it down one more time with fluid and strike a match. A word to the wise, never squirt more fluid into a lit fire. (Although everybody does it.)

It should make a big fire. Don't cover the pit. Let it burn until it burns itself out. This makes sure that the fluid is all burned off.

Ok, now it's time to talk about beer. There's an age old argument as to whether beer was invented for bbq's or if bbq's were invented for beer.
The type of beer you drink is very important. You have to drink bud light. If you are drinking Micholob or Heineken, you cannot call it bar-b-que. You would have to just call it meat.


By now, your butter is probably melted and starting to boil. You want to wait until the butter tastes more like mushroom and less like butter.

Then you add the garlic and onion mix to it and stir it up.


If the fire is all the way burned down now, you can go ahead and add your "extras".
If you don't have any extras, just put the lid on. Make sure there is enough airflow to keep the coals hot.


And of course, being HNT, here's a picture of my wife.


Ok, while the "extras" are cooking, go back inside and turn off the heat to the skillet. As soon as you turn it off, add a whole pack of shredded cheddar and mix the whole thing up.

And then mix the whole thing up to make a big "slop"


Take the meat out of the refrigerator and drain the wine off. There will probably be a bit of a purple tint to it. That's OK. That's normal.

Take the goop and stuff it into the meat. Fill it up, but not overflowing. Try to get all of the mushrooms, garlic, and onions that you can and if you have to leave some in the skillet, leave mostly cheese. If you happen to have the waxed "butcher string" you can tie them up to stay closed, if you want to.


And now it's time to put the meat onto the pit. Just before you put the meat on, take all of the left over onion and garlic skins, and a couple of extra garlic cloves and throw them right down into the coals. As they burn, the will give the meat an extra "kick"

When you slap them onto the pit, it should be hot enough that there is a "hissing" noise coming from it.
Then cover it and wait. The trick is to leave it alone. Don't even open the lid.
You can regulate the temperature by watching how much smoke comes out of the vent. You should make sure there is a steady stream of smoke coming out.

If the smoke starts coming out the sides of the pit, around the edges of the lid, the vent is not open enough. If you look down the lid and see open flame, it's open too much. Close it some.

Now the question is, how do you want your steak cooked? If you like it medium rare, you can flip it over when the hissing more or less stops. If you like it medium, flip it when you smell the cheese dripping down into the fire and stinking up the whole yard. Yes, burning cheddar stinks a lot. That's normal. That just means that it is time to flip it.

When you flip them over, always use the tongs. Also known as "corncob pullers".
Never use a fork. Just take my word for it. It's very important.

If you have a seasoned grill, the grill marks will be really pronounced when you flip them. And it really adds flavor to the meat. A lot. That's why you never use aluminum foil, and you never wash, scrub, or wire brush the grill.

When you flip them over, it's OK if some of the goop has come out onto the grill. Just leave it. As soon as you flip them, get the cover back on. When you take the lid off, it increases the oxygen to the fire and makes it burn hotter. So the quicker you flip them, the better.

Then you wait just a little while longer, and they are done. The second side always takes less than the first.
Take them off and it's time to eat.


See how I still have some drippings left on the grill? Just leave them on there and leave the lid off of the pit. They will burn off. It just adds seasoning for the next time.

Also, see how the fire has flared up after I took the lid off? Keep that in mind when you are flipping the steaks.

I served this up with potatoe salad, corn on the cob, mixed vegetables with cheese (in honor of our readers from California), red beans & rice, and my wife's famous ranch-bread.


Complexity.............7 out of ten
How did it turn out....8 out of ten (the sausage was a little over-done)
Time it took...........4 beers


Don't be afraid of it. It's worth the risk. If you need a little extra help, find any person who lives near you that is from Texas. They will be more than happy to help you get started.