Broadview Brontosaurus Steaks

Black Cherry Smoked Grass-fed Rib Eye

After being let down more times than I can count on rib eye steak, I gave up asking several years ago. In fact, the only one that ever got me excited was done by Chef Jeremy McLaughlin during a private dinner one night at Salty’s on Alki several years back. His was the only one to qualify as tender and savory, but I never got his secret out of him.

Still, I believed there must be a way to prepare a good rib eye right at home and have it come out head and shoulders above what’s available at most restaurants that serve it.

I started with the cut of meat. I went for a 100% grass fed 1 ½ inch thick cut. Purchasing two 8 oz cuts set me back $30. That’s right. $30 a pound. I was going to be upset if this failed. The cuts I chose had the most amount of the trim, my favorite part of any rib meat. As they were grass-fed, they had some fat on them, but not a lot. That’s okay. And, as they were grass fed, instead of corn fed, they had a significant amount of the good omega 3 fatty acid and little of the bad omega 6. I was going to do as well as getting a nice cut of salmon for this meal.

To insure the meat would be tender, I placed it into a marinade of black cherry balsamic, shallots, rosemary, thyme and salt and pepper – for 24 hours in the fridge. Before cooking it, I removed it from the marinade and rubbed it with Tom Douglas’ Rib Roast rub, letting it set for an hour back in the fridge, before firing the grill. When it came time for cooking, I drizzled extra light (not extra virgin) olive oil over the meat and spread it evenly using a silicon brush.

I’d had some apple wood chips I’d been soaking for a few hours. I drained them and placed them into the wood chip smoker box (see photo), placed it on the grill and fired it. When it reached 350, I placed the two rib eye steaks along with four 6” sprigs of rosemary onto the grill. At the 5-minute mark I flipped the steaks. At 10 minutes, I inserted an instant read thermometer into the steaks. 97. Not time. The plan was to bring them to 130. Just to be safe I flipped them back to side one and at the 15-minute mark I got the 130 I was looking for. Time to pull ‘em and let them rest a few more minutes to take them to the desired 135.

Earlier in the afternoon, while the chips were soaking and the rub was doing its work, I’d blended 1 teaspoon of ghee and 4 tablespoons of crumbled organic blue cheese together and placed it into the fridge. That would become the icing on the cake.

The result – HEAVEN and good for ya! It was all there. The black cherry, the rosemary smoke, the Applewood smoke. HEAVEN.

While a downtown steakhouse will sell you a $135 Wagyu omega 6 steak, try this recipe at home and see if you can’t beat that.

Broadview Brontosaurus Steaks

Recipe

Serves 2

• 2 8-10 oz. grass fed rib eye steaks (available from Central Market)
• 1 cup of black cherry infused balsamic vinegar (available from Queen Anne Olive Oil)
• 1 tbsp finely chopped shallot
• 1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary
• 1 tbsp thyme
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp Tom Douglas Rib Roast Rub
• 1 tsp organic Ghee (clarified butter)
• 4 tbsp organic blue cheese crumbles
• 2-4 tbsp extra light olive oil
• 4 6” sprigs of rosemary

Directions

1. 24 hours before cooking, make the marinade, blending together the balsamic, shallots, rosemary, thyme salt and pepper. Pour it into a 1-gallon freezer rated zip loc bag. Place the meat into the bag with the marinade, close the bag and shake a few moments. Store in the refrigerator 24 hours.
2. 1 hour before cooking, pull the steaks from the marinade, discard the marinade and rub the steaks each with a tablespoon of the rub. Place back in the refrigerator. Place a handful of Applewood chips into a bowl and let them soak an hour.
3. Make the blue cheese topping, mixing together the ghee and blue cheese crumbles in a large ramekin, then store in the refrigerator.
4. After an hour, remove the steaks from the refrigerator, drizzle extra light olive oil over the steaks and coat them throughout using a silicon brush.
5. Fire the grill, place the chips into a chip box and place them on the grill. Bring the grill to 350 degrees. Oil the grill, then place the steaks and rosemary sprigs on the grill. Cook 7-8 minutes a side. When your instant read thermometer reads 130, pull the steaks for medium rare, pull at 140 for medium. Let them rest 5 minutes and enjoy.

Notes

• Pairs nicely with a Syrah, Australian Shiraz and any red blend that incorporates lots of Cabernet Sauvignon.
• 8 ounces of steak is a lot of meat and a lot to eat. No need to carb load on a meal this size. Skip the potatoes, rice or heavy veggies. A simple salad of spring greens, dried fruit, pine nuts, parmesan cheese and an oil and vinegar dressing will make the meal complete.
• It’s perfectly fine to enjoy the fat from a grass-fed steak without worrying about bad cholesterol, because there is none. A little with each bite makes it that much more wonderful.
• Oiling the meat just before cooking is essential to sealing in the moisture while cooking, which is critical when cooking grass-fed meats.
• The smoke point of extra virgin olive oil is 375 degrees. After that it becomes carcinogenic. Not good. Extra light on the other hand, has a smoke point of 450 degrees, making it the preferred oil to use when cooking at high heat.
• Grow herbs like rosemary, parsley, sage and thyme at home and skip the expense at the grocery store.

Tom Mehren/September 2017