Bone-In New York Steaks with Shallot Butter

I learned everything I know about cooking steaks from my father in law, Ray.   He is truly a grill master and actually gave us our grill 12 years ago as a house warming present.  I do my steaks Ray's way and it's just about flawless.

First, take your steaks out of the frig and place on a sheet pan.  Cover liberally with lemon pepper...yes, lemon pepper.  I like the brand the large container from Costco called Tones with no MSG.  Read the label closely  and note the primary ingredient is salt, followed by black pepper, lemon, onion, garlic etc.  In other words, it's the perfect covering for steaks.  Once the steaks are covered on one side I shake a little cayenne pepper on top as well.  Be careful here, it's really got a kick and you want to have a hint of heat, not a three alarm fire on the back of your tongue.  Flip the steaks and repeat the process.  Let them stand for at least a couple of hours.  In our house that means putting them in a cold oven top protect them from our street cat: Nala.  She's been known to drag entire salmon filet's and steaks on to the floor.




Turn your grill on as high as it will go, ours is a Turbo and  if you are using a charcoal grill time the steaks to go on at just prior to the peak of heat from the briquettes.  Cooking time is determined by thickness and every grill I have ever owned has hot spots and cool spots.  Never cover your grill when cooking steaks.  It's OK to partially cover but never all the way because at that point your baking one side and broiling the other.  Every steak deserves a good sear so start super hot and rotate to the cooler area on the second turn.  I never, ever turn a steak more than four times.   Why?  Because if you do they get tough!

My New York;s were about an 1 1/4 inches thick  and most of us like rare to medium rare.  The first turn happened at about the two minute mark, the second two minutes later and the last turns were 1-2 minutes each depending on desired doneness.  Our friends Ann and David went for Rare and the rest were medium rare to medium.   One good way to tell if a steak is done is to poke it with your index finger.  After awhile, you figure out how to tell the difference between rare, medium etc with just a little poke.  Rare is soft to the touch and well done feels like a hockey puck.

Remove from the grill , bring inside, add a hefty slice of your frozen, sliced shallot butter to the top of each steak and plate.   I plated this whole dinner because I don't want anybody getting a medium steak when they are looking for rare.

Unfortunately, Cherie was fighting a vicious cold and we did not take many photos.