Grilled Steak
Taming the Flame

Taming the Flame: 20 Meals from the Grill by Elizabeth Karmel

In this weekly column, grilling expert Elizabeth Karmel shares menus for full meals cooked on the grill (with occasional allowances for a no-cook or make-ahead dish that's not grilled). In this column, she shares her recipes for Grilled Romaine with Blue Cheese Dressing, Steak Jack and Diane with Whiskey Butter and Dirty Bananas with Bittersweet Chocolate.

About Elizabeth Karmel's Steakhouse at Home Menu

Steak is hands-down America's favorite food to grill. And, I love grilling steaks on the weekend because it feels like a celebration -- grilling steaks is as close as you can get to a vacation without leaving your own backyard!

I gather all my friends, pop open a bottle of bubbly and make cooking a group activity -- even if all they have to do is keep me company. This menu is my favorite Saturday or Sunday summer night meal. It includes all the greats from your favorite steakhouse made simply yet exploding with flavor. Even better, most of the work can be done ahead of time. The compound butter that gives my Steak Jack and Diane that finishing touch and the homemade blue cheese dressing for the Grilled Romaine Salad can both be made days in advance. And even though they take a little effort to make from scratch, both the butter and the dressing really make the meal special. The Dirty Bananas with Bittersweet Chocolate can be made and frozen up to a week in advance and baked a few hours before your dinner.

I created my Steak Jack and Diane for a cooking contest; it was a play on the French Steak Diane, but as a Southern gal, I chose whiskey instead of cognac and a compound butter instead of a French sauce. At first, I had a difficult time mixing the "Jack" (Jack Daniel's) with the butter as we all know that oil and water don't mix. Then, I realized if I soaked the shallots in the Jack, I could mix the shallots into the butter and as it melted on the grilled steak, I would get a nice burst of whiskey flavor. The technique worked so well that I created a whole range of butters that include wine and alcohol when I wrote Soaked, Slathered and Seasoned.

4 Tips for the Perfect Grilled Steak

Your backyard steak can be made perfect by employing a few tips.

1. Buy a steak that is at least 1.5 inches thick. You can share the steak if you think it is too big but this thickness will ensure that it is medium rare and juicy inside and beautifully seared on the outside.

2. Always remove the surface moisture from the steak before you grill it -- I do this by wrapping the raw steak in paper towels.

3. Brush a thin layer of olive oil over the entire steak; this will promote caramelization -- those great grill marks! -- and also keep your steak juicy and help prevent sticking.

4. Finally, I sprinkle my steak with coarse kosher salt just before grilling.

Grill Timing and Temperature

You can grill over a direct medium heat, about five minutes per side or you can sear the steaks over direct heat and finish cooking over a gentler indirect heat. You'll get great results either way. Most new grillers find confidence in cooking their steaks over direct heat for five minutes each side and most experienced grillers (including me) like to grill by the combo method which requires a little more finesse.

When the steak is done, remove it from the grill, place a slice of the whiskey butter on top and let the steak rest for at least five minutes so that all the juices can be re-absorbed and the butter can melt into a pool of yumminess!

While the steak is resting, place the romaine lettuce on clean cooking grates and grill just a few minutes on each side. You want the lettuce to be slightly charred on the outside but still crunchy and cool on the inside. Serve the salad with a generous dollop of the homemade blue cheese dressing and crumbled bacon. When it's time for dessert, just pull the assembled Dirty Bananas out of the fridge or freezer, pop them in the oven, bake and serve. Soooooo Goood! Is it Saturday yet?!

More from KitchenDaily:
See Elizabeth Karmel's grilled potatoes and lamb menu
Browse a gallery of our favorite grilled steak recipes