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Charcoal-Grilled Porterhouse or T-Bone Steaks Recipe - America's Test Kitchen
When arranging the lit coals in step 2, make sure that they are in an even layer. If the coals are stacked unevenly, large
flare-ups may occur, causing the steaks to blacken. We highly recommend thick steaks, but if cooking thinner steaks
(3/4 to 1 inch thick), make the following adjustments: Reduce the kosher salt to 1 tablespoon (or 1 1/2 teaspoons table
salt) and the pepper to 1 1/2 teaspoons. In step 2, build the fire with a full chimney (about 100 briquettes). Cook the
steaks, as directed in step 3, over the hotter part of the grill for about 3 minutes per side for rare to medium-rare, or
about 4 minutes per side for medium, but do not transfer them to the cooler side of the grill; they will be fully cooked at
this point.
Charcoal-Grilled Porterhouse or T-Bone Steaks
Serves 4 to 6
Grilling fatty American beef over the hot fire created by charcoal briquettes often produces dripping fat, causing flare-ups and charring the meat. Moving the steaks periodically prevents charring, but it also keeps them from developing a good crust.
We wanted to produce a steak in the Florentine style—with a dark crust, smoky aroma, and deep grill flavor.
We solved the charring problem by spreading the coals evenly over only one half of the grill and initially searing the steaks directly over the coals. After the steaks developed the right color, we moved them to the coal-free side to gently finish cooking over indirect heat. But we still faced a problem created by the T-bone structure. A T-bone is really two steaks—a tender New York strip steak on one side of the bone and a buttery tenderloin on the other. We found the tenderloin side tended to cook faster than the strip side, becoming somewhat tough and dry. The answer was to position the meat so that the tenderloin always faced the cooler side of the grill. There was one final question to answer: Would it make a difference if we salted the meat earlier in the process? Yes. By sprinkling the meat with salt half an hour before grilling, we boosted the flavor from crust to bone. (It’s necessary to remove any moisture that accumulates on the surface of the steaks with paper towels, so that the steaks start searing immediately, rather than steaming on the grill.)
