GrillinFools

Sorry to tease but I have to show you what I did over the weekend.  I reverse seared pork steaks and they may have been the best I’ve ever made.  I don’t have the full write up yet or the rest of the pics, but I can show you this pic.  Check out the smoke ring on that pork steak:

This will be my new method of making pork steaks from now on.  I had multiple people asking me for specifics on how to make them after dinner.  I’ll try to get the rest of the pictures and the write up done in the next couple of days…

***Now for the write up***

First, if you don’t know what a pork steak in, and if you aren’t from the heart of the Midwest, then you probably have never heard of them so click here to see exactly what they are and, more importantly, how to go to your local butcher or grocer and order them.  Now back to the write up.

So, I lost the chip that had the pics of the rest of the process of making reverse seared pork steaks.  In order to show you how this is done I had to bite the bullet and make pork steaks again.  The things I subject myself to in order to help my fellow grillin’ fools make great BBQ!!! Read on and find out if I recreated the magic from my first attempt at the reverse sear method.

I started with two fairly thick pork steaks.  I don’t recommend trying this method with thin pork steaks as you can dry them out.  I also don’t recommend using this method if you are cooking for a crowd as it takes about three hours. But, if you follow my instructions here you will make the best pork steaks you have ever made.

Here are the bad boys ready for the grill:

If you have no idea what pork steaks are, click here for an explanation.  And don’t worry, if you aren’t from the Midwest you probably have never heard of them.

I forgot a step above.  All I did was add coarse salt, black pepper and white pepper.  I forgot the granulated garlic in this second round so remember to dust with granulated garlic or garlic powder or use whatever rub you prefer here as it will make a great flavor crust later.

Then put them on the grill for an indirect smoke – coals and hickory on the right, pork steaks on the left.  I went with hickory over my usual favorites of pear, peach or apple as I will be saucing the pork steaks and going with a milder fruit wood would get overpowered by the sauce so I went with a more robust smoke wood.  Click here for a lengthy list of different things you can use to smoke  and what they pair the best with

While there are a million ways to make pork steaks, many people put them right over the coals and get a sear on them before they put them off to the side to smoke them.  The problem with that is that the once the outside of the meat reaches a certain temp it no longer takes on any smoke.  That’s why I am going with this method from now on.  I want that smoke flavor in the meat before I give it a sear and add a nice flavor crust.  So, put the meat off to the side and let it stay there between 200-225.  As you can see here, the temp is a little high, but once I lock down the vents the temp will get down to where I want it to be:

After just one hour look at how they are turning a nice golden color:

I realize that in this next pic you are seeing the pork steaks on a different grill.  I needed the grill space on the larger grill for some ribs so I transferred these guys to my grill manufacturer that shall not be named.  Here they are after 2 hours cooking indirect between 200-225:

And here they are after 2.5 hours.  Look at how golden brown they are from all the smoke they have taken on:

Now it’s time for that sear.  I added a few more coals to the small pile of coals in order to have enough heat to put a nice sear.  Put the pork steaks right over the hot coals and sear on each side for only a couple minutes on each side:

After you sear each side of the pork steaks slather with your favorite sauce.  This is a new sauce dad picked up in Dauphin Island called Richee’s which can be ordered here.  It’s a tweener between a tomato based and mustard based sauce.  It’s pretty original and really good:

Here are the pork steaks slathered on each side with Richee’s:

I slathered them a couple more times over the next 30 minutes and allowed the sauce to thicken up and caramelize before I plated one of them:

Let’s see if I recreated the magic of the first time I tried this method:

Smoke ring?  Check.
Juicy?  Check.
Tender?  Check.
Multiple levels of flavor from the seared flavor crust, the penetrated smoke flavor and the barbecue sauce?  Check.

As a coworker said who tried the first batch said, “the flavors just keep going and going.”

This is now my go to method for making pork steaks.  Try it and I bet it becomes yours too.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to shoot me an email or simply leave a comment below.

If you like this dish, click here for other pork done on the grill.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin pictures.

Filed under: Indirect Grilling, Pork, Uncategorized