Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Grilled Ribeye Steak with Rosemary Garlic Butter

It's no secret that ribeye is one of my favorite steaks.  Then again, so are porterhouse, NY Strip, flank, a good sirloin, and tenderloin.

This is just a quicky and not really a recipe post per se.  Steaks are so easy and delicious that they are often a weeknight meal for us.  This was one of those times. 

I am a daily or almost daily shopper.  My dinner process often starts on the meat aisle at Food City where I see what looks good.  Then I build my meal around that.  On this particular day, they had a beautiful pair of USDA Prime, Certified Angus Beef® Brand ribeye steaks.

USDA Prime, Certified Angus Beef® Brand ribeye steak from Food City
My appetite isn't as voracious as when I was young, so Alexis and I usually split a ribeye.  That also lets us have steaks 2 nights in a row, so that's good.  The trick is making sure that you split both the eye (longisimus muscle) and cap (the spinalis) evenly because the two pieces have different textures to me.  I want some of both!

I seasoned the ribeye steak with the Santa Maria Rub posted online at Certified Angus Beef Brand's website.
My prep process for quick ribeyes is simple.  I wipe it with high-temperature cooking oil (canola, peanut, or avocado), season it, and let it rest at room temperature for at least an hour.  This day I used the Santa Maria Rub recipe from the Certified Angus Beef® website.



The reason for leaving it out for at least an hour is salt.  Intially, salt will draw moisture out of the steak.  If you cook it then, not so good.  But at an hour, the meat juices mix with the seasoning, the concentration is stronger outside of the steak and then the juices pull back into the steak.  That makes for an amazing tasting ribeye.
The PK Grill is an old-school clam shell type grill made out of cast aluminum.  It lasts forever and a day.
My weapon of choice for this cook was my PK Grill.  There is no strategic reason other than I felt like using it.  PK's are simple and durable.  If you want a basic grill that will last you 20 years, the PK is it.  I bought one with the portable stand so it's easy to take on the road.  When I feel like old-school grilling, it's the one I use.
For fuel, I used a Tennessee hardwood lump but I'll gladly burn briquettes in the PK Grill.  Either way, I light it in about 8 spots (6 on the edges and 2 in the center) with my JJ George grill torch.

The string just keeps the shape of the ribeye during grilling.  It really isn't necessary, it's just helps keep the spinalis from splitting from the eye.  

Grilling a juicy ribeye steak from Certified Angus Beef® Brand.
I grilled the steak for about 3 minutes and 30 seconds per side with a quarter turn to rotate the steak halfway through the allotted time on each side.
My butter recipe was simple.

Rosemary Garlic Butter

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • leaves from 1 sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
  • 1 large clove garlic, peeled and minced
  • pinch or two of salt
  1. Leave the butter out at room temperature for an hour.  
  2. Whip it together with the rosemary, garlic, and salt.  
  3. Put on steak either in the last minute or two of grilling or as soon as the steaks come off the grill.

Rosemary garlic butter melting onto a thick Certified Angus Beef Brand ribeye steak from Food City.
I put the compound butter on the steak during the last few minutes so it will melt over the steak.  Sometimes I'll hit the steak with more butter as it comes off.

One tip about compound butter for steak is if you made it ahead of time and have refrigerated it, leave the butter out to rest at room temperature for at least an hour before using it.  It melts easier that way.


It was a sunny but slightly chilly afternoon so I fired up my fire pit that is made out of a tractor tire rim. Once that metal gets hot, it throws off a comforting heat in the nearby area.  The guy that made this has worked in railroad maintenance for decades and does all the work by hand, no CNC machines or anything.


Coming off of the grill, looking all delicious and stuff.

Well butter my biscuit, that's a delicious steak!  Alexis and I scarfed that down.

So while everyone else was out buying toilet paper, I was buying extra charcoal and pellets.  You too?