The Greatest Steak Grilled at Home, According to Mrs. SNarolina Foodie!

According to my wonderful wife, I grill one excellent steak. Together, we've enjoyed some of the Carolina's best, so when I hear her praises on my grilling, it makes me happy. My steak grilling technique comes from the Morton's Steak Bible.

First, I select high quality beef,  from places like the New York Butcher Shoppe and Whole Foods. I've noticed that when I've gotten beef from other groceries, quality has been an issue. Please note, not all beef are created equal! For our most recent home grilled steaks, I purchased two 8 oz filets from the New York Butcher Shoppe out of Charlotte, NC.

The following are my directions for the greatest steak grilled at home:

1. Bring your steaks out of the refrigerator and let stand for 30-60 minutes. What I've learned, getting the meat to room temperature, aids in the grilling process and the meat cooks evenly.

2. Once the steaks have come to room temperature, I cover them in Extra Virgin Olive oil (EVO).

3. After coating the steaks with EVO, I coat the steaks, liberally with Sea Salt. Actually, most meat that I grill, I coat in Sea Salt.

4. While I am waiting for the steaks to get to room temperature, I get the grill fired up to around 500 - 550 degrees F.

5. With the combination high temperature on the grill and the Steaks at room temperature, it doesn't take long for the steaks to cook, especially the way I like them, RARE! At the high temperatures, most steaks will be ready within 10 minutes or less.

6. Enjoy! No steak sauce is needed, especially when you have a high quality piece of beef!

Grilled Filet Mignon, RARE!

Moules on the Grill!

I'm a huge fan of mussels and more specifically moules frites, which are very popular in Belgium and France. Grilling is a hobby of mine and so I had this notion that I wanted to try some mussels on the grill. I've never cooked them before, but wanted to play around and see what I could come up with.



Ingredients: 1/2 Purple Onion chopped, Garlic, Butter and Lemon

 I sauteed the onion with garlic and butter on the grill for about 2 minutes, when the onion soften.

Finally, the mussels were added along with the juice squeezed from the lemon and cooked until the mussels opened. The guy at the seafood department said to cook the mussels for about a minute  more once they open up.

The final verdict, the mussels were good, but I totally overcooked them. The garlic, onion and lemon flavors were a great compliment. When mussels are overcook, they shrink and don't provide much meat. Next time I venture in making mussels, I will steam them and maybe follow a recipe, versus trying it on my own.