Had a taste for Filet Mignon tonight. I toyed with the idea of cold smoking first but decided to do it this way instead.
Marinated for about an hour in mixture of salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, worcestershire sauce, and beer. Grilled over charcoal and oak on the fire side of my other smoker. (Kind of like smoking but much hotter and faster.) Then I topped with mushrooms sauteed in mixture of butter, garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper, and a little beer.
First time I have added beer to mushrooms. Turned out excellent!
Geeezzz Wildcat!
I'm still at work! :P
Sounds great!
;D ;D ;D
Mike
Sorry about that. I saw your reply to Iceman. :D
Quote from: Wildcat on January 23, 2007, 02:42:21 PM
Had a taste for Filet Mignon tonight. I toyed with the idea of cold smoking first but decided to do it this way instead.
Marinated for about an hour in mixture of salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, worcestershire sauce, and beer. Grilled over charcoal and oak on the fire side of my other smoker. (Kind of like smoking but much hotter and faster.) Then I topped with mushrooms sauteed in mixture of butter, garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper, and a little beer.
First time I have added beer to mushrooms. Turned out excellent!
(http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Tasty.gif) (http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Ready.gif) (http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Scoff.gif) (http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Cheers.gif)
Sounds great. Do give a try at the cold smoke on steak. If you can do it ahead of time and let it set sealed up in the fridge over night it is a surprising good treat. Very nice mild smoke flavor that is there through out...
Second the try on a cold smoke before grill. Did a 40 minute cold on a few Tbones a few nights ago. Could have used more time or maybe the wrap overnight would have deepened the flavor. Tasty as it was but would have liked just a bit more smoke.
Thanks WCK and Gizmo, I do plan on trying it. The method I used does put a good bit of smoke flavor into the steak, but sometimes I do not want to hassle with the charcoal/wood smoker. I also have a gas grill and the BS would be best at that time. My wife and I really like the charcoal flavor on steaks along with the wood flavor, so I did it this way. Next time I will probably do the cold smoke in the BS and then onto the gas grill.
Wild, i think you will be pleased at the BS with an overnight in the fridge. The overnight really seems to allow the smoke flavor to distribute somehow and enhances the flavor greatly. Finish on the Gas is my approach as well.
If the charcoal/wood smoker has the grill section, I wouldn't hesitate to use it to finish off the stakes. Maybe just a traditionalist here but the lump charcoal grill still gives off the best finish on a steak. High heat (400-500 deg F) 2 minutes, turn, 4 minutes (get the diamond mark effect) flip and repeat, pull. Should have about 135 deg F for a nice medium rare.
The one thing I noticed from the smoke then grill session that I did is the meat was tougher than the first batch that was only grilled (all bought at the same time). Other than the smoke treatment, the big difference between the two cooks was the last batch was frozen. I believe that was the actual cause of the steaks being tougher. Will see on the next trial and error. If anyone has any comparisons from their experiences, I would love to hear.
WCK - I plan to do exactly that, just to see how it turns out.
Gizmo - I have a wood/charcoal smoker with the side firebox. I can either grill direct in the firebox, or fast smoke to medium smoke in the smoke chamber. I mostly buy top quality steaks from Omaha Steaks. When I fast smoke steaks, I get a beautiful rose smoke color through out the steak with plenty of smoke flavor and fairly moist. I do this for my wife since she likes her steaks well done. With mine, I hot smoke to medium rare and then over the coals to medium. Either way I do not need a knife to cut the steaks and mine will have the most juice.
Just on the subject of steaks, one of my favourite ways of doing steaks is in my chiminea :o
I have a good quality chiminea (cast allu) quite often i fill a cast iron smoke box with damp wood chips, and put it directly on the fire, once the smoke starts, i hang a few steaks down the actual chimney.
Once they've taken on a fair bit of smoke, and already started to slowly cook, i take them out, then remove the chimney and place the steaks on the chimineas grill plate, then i just finish them to everybodies taste. they have a colour like deep red leather, and taste absolutely delicious!, and it's a fun way of cooking when we have friends round. ;)
You bet! ;D ;D
That does it guys!!! Now I have to stop by Mr. Prime Beef on the way home and pick up some (you guessed it) chickens. Ha!!! I mean rib eyes. :D ;D
The only good chicken is a smoked chicken!
Hey Iceman, I forgot to mention that Jr. drenched his steak with your sauce. :o I would have been offended had it been anything else. I love your sauce and it does go good with steak, but my preference for a good steak is without it. ;D
Wildcat,
That nice pink smoke ring on the meat is the one thing I miss from the bradley. The chemical burn just isn't there to produce it. But that is not where the flavor is. :D
I have been cooking beef steaks of all kinds for about 40 years now. So far the best has been top notch meat at the begining, extremely hot indirect heat/smoke from charcoal and oak, and then a final step right over the coals. I have not yet tried cold smoking in the BS and then on to the grill yet - but I will. My guess is that it will be similiar to my favorite method as stated here except without the smoke ring. I did try hot smoking in the BS. It turned out OK but was just a tad dry and lacked the charcoal flavor.
It is the cold smoke followed by overnight sealed in a baggy rest in the fridge that did it for me. Smoke and immediate grill was not as noticable / value added IMO.
Cold smoking instructions please !!!
Cold Steak out of the fridge
BS puck burner warmed up with door open - so the tower does not get hot. The tower heater is off!
When puck burner is hot load feed tube with 1.5 hours of Oak (or what ever pucks you like) followed by 3 bubba pucks
Press wood advance 3 times
Load steaks into BS
Remove at end of smoke and seal into baggy
Overnight in the fridge
Grill them next day.
Something like that?
As I said, I do plan to give it a try. It will be hard to beat my high-heat smoked version, but there may be something to this. I have had cold left over steak sandwiches the day after and the smoke flavor did seem a little stronger. I really like a stong smoke flavor in beef steaks. ;D
Works the same way on PR from my experience. Really do want to keep temp down with PR however.
OK - I cold smoked some bonless NY strips with 4 Hickory pucks after rubbing with salt, pepper, garlic, and onion. Internal temp started at 33 and reached 75F after an hour and 15 minutes so I elected not to go any further. Wrapped in a cling type wrap and is now chilling in the fridg until tomorrow then on to the charcoal grill. Will let you all know how they compare with my usual method. So far the only down side is having to clean up the smoker after such a short use. Clean up was minimal though.
Belly is full and I have the results. For those of you that prefer a mild smoke flavor and those who do not have a side firebox smoker or something similiar to create really hot smoke, then the cold smoke method is the way to go for beef steaks. It turned out wonderful, just not enough of a smoke flavor for me. (I have already tried the hot smoke method in the bradley and it turned out OK with more smoke flavor but a little dry.) As I said, the cold smoke was great. Just not a strong enough smoke flavor for my taste. When I conbine that with having to clean two instead of one cooker, for me my normal method is best. ;D