A couple of months ago one of our local grocery stores had choice grade rib-eye primals on sale for $4.99 per pound and I couldn't resist.

a short bourbon and soy soak and on to a hot BGE!

Those look really good, but please tell me you're using good soy sauce. Stuff like La Choy needs to be on a hazardous chemical list.

Just don't overcook it.

And here I sit at work with cold pizza.

I don't even use SS anymore. Much rather use Tamari!! Lot better flavor.

If I'm going to quick marinate to flavor a steak I like old school Lea & Perrins. The smell of it when it drips on the coals brings back favorite memories of Dad grilling when I was a kid.

I agree!! That's the anchovies and tamari extract......nothing better!!

It's torture when someone in the neighborhood is grilling with it while I'm working outside and can't light my own grill right then.

Hey Mike has won competions with his marinade

I just happen to have a comp coming up next Saturday. You can bet your a$$ one of the steaks above will be used for my first round turn in. I have been cooking some SCA (Steak Cook off Association) events and they supply all of the steaks which are 16oz. ribeyes. The only problem I have with SCA is that they require the steaks to be cooked to medium.

Mike

Uhhh yeah cos he's friends with me and I gave him all my Southern secrets!!

Actually, Coop is one heck of a friend and cook!! They come no better!! Only equal.

Blasphamy!!!

Waaaaaat!?

No $hit Greg, that's their rules. Even the founder of the SCA likes a rare/med rare ribeye, but they had to set it up to please a wide selection of judges. I told him that if you don't like rare/med rare you shouldn't be qualified to be a judge. He told me to play by the rules or don't cook the comps. So I'll just continue to destroy those beautiful steaks they give me. And........they consider medium 140*......burnt to $hit in my book!

Mike

Mike, I can't even fathom that! And 140 to boot. Did you tell him it's still cooking after that when you take it off the fire?

You're absolutely right, though. If any of those "judges" (cough, cough) want their steaks cooked to medium, they shouldn't be judges.

This is all about the event coordinators and sponsors covering their ass in case someone gets sick.

Be damned if I'd serve them one of those dry aged beauties you work so hard to craft.

i agree

Amen to that. Nothing past medium well for sure.



Spent every other week last year working in central Mexico. A few blocks from our hotel was an Argentinian steakhouse. As you walked in was a floor to ceiling glass fronted aging cooler about 15 feet long, full of primals. They served at 30 days. Ate there at least once a week. Great stuff. (And I ordered it at medium because of the shame I have felt on here)

No way would that ever happen! SCA provides the steaks, so even if I could I would never bring one of those dry aged steaks to an SCA event. The one I'm cooking this weekend is not SCA and you can bring any steak you want for the first round as long as it's a ribeye. The top five go to the second round and they provide the steaks which are 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 thick ribeyes cooked medium rare.

It's a crap shoot at that point, but I'm pretty lucky! Did I tell you about the $1600.00 Blaz'in pellet grill I won two weeks ago on a $10.00 raffle ticket?

Mike

No, I didn't hear about it and now I remember why I don't come to this forum often;

That and those pictures of the tasty steaks.......

I don't like getting jealous, it messes with my "composure".

So, if it's break a leg for actors, do we tell you "burn a steak"?

Nice job on the meat, enjoy them to the very last drop of rare/med rare juice!

Geno

PS, does that grill work with charcoal too? If so, I'm REALLY jealous!

Thanks Geno. Well you don't need to be too jealous since the smoker only operates on pellets. I ended up selling it to my brother in law as I am fully stocked in the smoker/grill department.

Mike

That's awesome Mike. Pretty nice cooker as well.

Congrats!! Cooperfied!!

Let's talk this weekend. Need to get caught up!!

Cash to buy more on sale meat?

Sounds like a good use for the winnings.

Geno

Just got some of this in the mail off Amazon. Gonna give it a try.

Look on the ingredients for hydrolyzed soy protein. If it's there then it's chemistry set soy sauce like the La Choy crap.

Not planning to cure cancer with it, just trying it as a marinade and basting ingredient.

I actually won the contest yesterday! 1st in both rounds. Will post photos tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure I took a couple years off my life last night!!!

Mike

Congrats Mike !!!!!!

Mike, that's awesome, buddy!

Without giving away too many secrets, what do you think were some good winning strategies?

Just from the standpoint of cooking a better steak.

AWESOME! Congratulations Mike.

I'll tell you exactly how I did it. I use a simple marinade of 50% soy sauce and 50% cheap Canadian Whiskey. Have the steaks at room temp and marinade for 15 minutes per side. I season with a light layer of Dizzy Pigs "Cow Lick Steak Rub" and then a little heavier layer of "Raising The Steaks" also by Dizzy Pig.

I then sear the steaks for approx. a minute and a half per side on a 700-750* cast iron plate. I don't really go by time, but rather watch for the color I want. Then they go on to my small egg which is at 400* direct heat. I add a hand full of pecan chips and let them go turning only once till you reach the desired temp.

The cast iron sear prevents the steak from getting the pretty grill marks but the judges don't seem to mind. I've finished 1st, 2nd, 5th and 1st the last four years. I'll take a .500 batting average any day. This year I won the first round by a mere 1/10th of a point and topped the same guy in the second round by just over 1 1/2 points. Dan is a good cook and a regular on the SCA circuit so beating him made me feel pretty good.





Spare "taster steak" from the second round. Keep in mind SCA rules require the steaks to be cooked to medium which I would never do at home! This one was just a tad under.



Dan and myself.



Final round scores.

It's very good.

Congrats and thanks for sharing! On the BGE, do you close the lid or does direct mean lid open?

Dang. Now I'm hungry. Congrats on the win!

I finish them directly over the coals on a raised grate (gasket level) with the lid closed.

Mike

Looks like you and Dan cancelled each other out with taste and appearance. What does Dan season/marinade with?

Did you ever say which soy sauce you used?

No doubts at anytime!! Congrats!

I honestly don't know. I'm about 95% sure that he only uses dry rub. He is not a member here or I wouldn't be spilling the beans like I did!

Mike

No, I didn't. It will not win any votes from the cheap seats, but it is just Kikkoman from the grocery store. It's what I've always used and until I have a couple comps that I get murdered I have no intention of changing.

Mike

Sounds like time for some reconisense.

Congratulations again, Mike.

Nice! I grilled up a beeeg prime grade rib eye last night. 2#'r I'd guess.

Made a quick rub that was roughly equal parts Johnnys Salt, Peet's Coffee, and fresh ground pepper.

Piled up half the Weber kettle with coals and gave it a couple minutes on each side right over the fire and finished on the indirect side for a bit with the lid on.

Came out killer.

I reckon if you start with a great piece of meat and don't do anything silly, it's pretty hard to fugg it up.

Congrats on your win!

Thank-you Sean. I know from the pictures you have posted in the past that you are a damn good cook and that means a lot to me!

Thanks MadMooner for the congrats! Just a tid bit of info on the coffee rub. Not taking anything away from you and your personal taste, but I have seen it win big and lose miserably at comps. I know a lot of people like it, and I have tried it, but I'm not even a coffee drinker so it's just not my thing. Bottom line......just make your steaks how you personally like them and all will be good with the world!

First time I had tried it. Liked it about as well as any other rub I've used. Probably better than most. I really don't get too caught up in rubs and marinades though. Good old salt and pepper on steak is more than fine by me.

Amen on the least part!

Mike, I picked up 3 Dizzy Pigs off Amazon. Free shipping when I added the third to my cart. Think it was $37 total.

Cow Lick
Rasing the Steaks
Dizzy Dust All Purpose Regular Grind

Thanks again for the tips!

Kikkoman is naturally brewed. I use it all the time. It beats the tar out of the La Choy et al hydrolyzed soy protein, chemistry set crap I rail against.

No wonder you're winning a bunch.

I use a little bit of coffee in my dry rub mix. But it's mostly for smoking on the rotisserie. Blake, if you look at my FB profile pic it is most of the ingredients used.
Brown and raw sugar
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Paprika
California or Mew Mexico chile powder
Cayenne
Ginger
Turmeric
Dry mustard
Coffee, Foldgers ( only about two cups in that 16qt pail )
Garlic and onion, ground
Portions are roughly what you see in the container they purchased in.

Sean, that looks like a heckuva good mix.

Had a really good cook friend of mine give me some SERIOUS Asian chili powder recently out of her stash. I had given her some really good turmeric and brown rice flour.

Woo-hoo! That stuff is the real deal.

They say imitation is the most serious form of flattery.

Really enjoyed Mike's story about winning the competition, so..

Found a nicely marbled standing rib roast at Publix for $5.99/lb on an Easter sale and had the butcher cut it up into 5 nice steaks. Chose one of the end cuts.







Yeah. It didn't suck.



Served up on one of my "yuppie" square plates, as my buddy Keith (eh76) likes to call them.

PS- I know how much you guys are really enjoying the 9mm cases, so I used them for a prop again.

Looks good to me!!

Mike

Agree with Mike. Looks good to me too.

Gonna make another batch of that rub this week or Saturday. That quantity usually last us a whole year at the club. Oddly, my favorite dish to use it on is cabbage! Three pounds of bacon ends, a pound of butter, and two to three cups of rub over six cored and wedged cabbage heads. Put into aluminum trays, covered, and slow baked (300-325) for a couple of hours. I don't make it often, but always get grilled on what in the hell was in that!

Sorry for any hijacking, Mike.
But you know how these "conversations" go after five pages!

Carved the bone out from the top for my little buddy.

I'm on the quest for the perfect steak. I have all the cooking toys except an Egg. I guess that will change this weekend. I may as well buy two!

I bought some bone in prime last week and didn't ruin it, but I wasn't happy. Steak is my goal now and I'm not stopping until I get it right. I've been cooking for a long time, but I've never been satisfied with the consistency of my steak.

Lots to learn on here. Expect some stupid questions in the weeks to come!

shortaction, you're gonna enjoy the back and forth and ribbing here, too. You'll also find that there isn't any backbiting here. So, it's a welcome change from the up top forum.

It's not just all about the food. It's also about busting each other's balls, too.

Just kiddding. Welcome!

LD

Sean, that sounds pretty damn good. I'd try it, for sure. Haven't found any way I don't like cabbage yet..

and I've tried it a buncha different ways in Europe, especially eastern Europe.

There's a little El Salvadoran restaurant right around the block from my house that serves a nice lunch menu for $5.99. If you ask for it, they will also bring you out a relish/condiment tray that includes 2 varieties of cabbage. One is cut like slaw and pickled, the other similar to a Mexican version with carrots and jalapenos. Also pickled, but with some heat. Both good stuff. I never leave there hungry.

That's it!!

I'm going to Wegman's or Balducci's Friday and picking out 2 of the largest PH's or TB's I can find.

Crank the BGE up to about 800 and throw those bad boys in the Griz number 12 with Amish butter!!

Might need some help with sides. Thinking creamed spinach and hash browns Morton's style!

BTW has anyone tried the Whole Foods dry aged beef?

yum! Don't have a Whole Foods here but the Wegamans dry aged beef is good

Would Black Velvet do for the cheap Canadian whiskey component of the marinade? 50/50 with Kikkoman, right?

Have you ever tried Paul Prudhomme's Meat Magic? I'm thinking about that for the rub component.

Use Kentucky Bourbon not Canadian Whiskey...Drink the BV and get ya a bottle of Evan Williams for cooking

Had to settle for dry aged ribeye's. Wanted bone in but I think all the REDSKINS players got in there before me and bought the whole cow!!

The guy before me was definitely a player and he darn near bought a whole hog!! I axed him if the team looked as good as the pig he bought.

He just laughed and said Happy Easter brother!!

Got some Wegmans sushi for Good Friday!! And some ummm..... corned beef.

axed him lol

He was one HUGE dude!!! Thinking all the chops they cut up were for him!!

They were about 4 inches thick!!

That was my inclination, but Mike wrote that he's been winning with the cheap Canadian.

My liquor salesman buddy has a partial bottle of BV hanging around and neither of us is drinking it.

The brand I use is "Northern Lights". It's just a cheap Canadian Club style blended whisky. Works fine for marinade which is all I use it for. I'm sure BV or any other brand would work without changing the flavor much.

Mike

Tried this with Jim beam and liquid aminos, tasted like soy sauce...back to salt and pepper..

Btw that 45 day dry aged rib roast looks stellar!!!

You left it in marinade too long then

Ya I did 15-20 minutes. 5-10 minutes?

Ditto.

Mike,

Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. I had some nice thick 1.5 lb dry aged prime ribeyes in the freezer from earlier this year and was waiting for a good new recipe to try. I soaked them in 50/50 kikkoman and Crown royal apple, lol (didn't have any cheap Canadian on hand) - for 30 minutes. I used the dizzy pig spices you recommended and seared them in my cast iron skillet for about 2 minutes each side (I think I can only get my skillet to 550 or so on my current gas stovetop) They looked good and seared and I transferred them to my 400 degree Traeger burning hickory pellets because that's just what was in there - cooked it to 132 internal temp and let it rest 5 mins. Without a doubt the best ribeye I've ever had - I'd pay $80 or more for that steak at a local steakhouse and there is no doubt mine (yours) would be better. I'm going to do this over and over and over. I feel like I owe you, lol - maybe I can send you some of the world's best salmon sometime!

Joe

You don't owe me anything Joe. I'm glad you liked it!

Mike

Mike, BTW been meaning to shoot you a PM about this.

I used the Dizzy Pig rubs on a burger I put on sourdough bread toast and some fresh tomatoes I got from the Farmer's Market outside the entrance to the Glades at one spot where we go to fish.

Doesn't look like much of nothing here, but it was really tasty.. enough that I did the same thing a couple days later.

Looks like much to me!