So there are few things as intensely gratifying for a man as when making the perfect steak. I guess rebuilding the engine for a ’69 Mustang or climbing Mount Everest are up there too, but since I can’t do either, I thought I’d start with the steak. Because the price of steak will go sky high soon (drought = no corn = no corn to feed cows = expensive steak = the saddest math equation ever), I wanted to get some prime steak to grill last weekend.
But where to start? Walmart has this crazy ad blitz where they secretly replace fancy restaurants’ steak with theirs and ask the patrons if they could tell (reminiscent to Chris Farley and Columbian Coffee Crystals sans the violent outburst). Of course I thought the joke must be on anyone buying that steak. But I do shop at Walmart, and curiosity got the best of me. I looked at those steaks, and they actually looked good. A little pricey at $10.98/lb, but they looked at least decent. It took a few weeks, but I eventually bought a few to grill. To my utter amazement, they turned out so well I thought it would be wasteful to buy expensive steak at a restaurant again. I know it is hard to believe, but I would rank the Walmart steak I had above the steaks at Jewel and Dominick’s.
Want to try our family grilled steak recipe? It follows a time honored manly tradition of simple steak cooking. All you need are ribeye steaks (I went with 1″ and 1 1/2″ thick), kosher salt, pepper, butter and corn oil. For the grill, use lump charcoal. Trust me on this, you will never go back to briquettes again.
1. Pour a liberal amount of salt and pepper on both sides of the steak. You cannot have too much salt or pepper; this will make a crust when grilled.
2. Mix equal parts softened butter and corn oil. Dip steaks in this mixture. I learned this from the chefs at Michael Jordan’s restaurant.
3. Make the hottest fire you can on the grill.
4. Place steaks on grill directly over the fire for about 4-5 minutes. It is okay if fire engulfs them. It makes for a nice crust and looks manly to have giant balls of fire spewing from the grill. Just make sure they don’t get burned.
5. Flip steaks and repeat step 4. Cook to medium rare. Yes, well done is over done. You can flip again to make a nice cross-hatch grill mark on the steak, but c’mon, who cares what pattern is on your steak?
6. Let set for about 5 – 10 minutes and eat. Use utensils if you must.
Enjoy and let me know what you think!
Corn oil, huh? Never heard of it, will have to keep my eyes out for it!
Me, either! It must be a Midwest thing.
Sounds delicious!
They were yummy! i’m not sure if this is the exact brand he used, but here’s a link:
http://www.mazola.com/products/corn-oil.aspx
🙂
I was wondering how this might compare to a steak at a fine steakhouse, served by an excellent server named Gene, in the company of a hilarious, charming, handsome couple. So we tried the steaks from Walmart prepared just like you instructed…they were excellent!
🙂 You make me laugh, friend! Thanks so much for commenting and I’m glad you enjoyed the steaks!
Honestly, I probably would never have tried Walmart steak. Now you have me interested! We seem to always have bad luck at Dominick’s and Jewel, actually. We may have to try it!
Nice!! I am slowly taking over the grill, much to my husband’s dismay. I was very proud I made ‘hashtags’ onthem last week, until iI realized I need to spend less time online because they are actually pronounced “grill marks”.