Kimbo’s Perfect Steak

Ingredients

• If you want a rare or even medium–rare steak, it should be THICK enough to stay rare or pink in the middle in the time it takes to get the outside nicely browned and caramelised. Conversely, if you want a well-done steak, it should be THIN enough that it won’t burn on the outside while the inside is cooking right through. • If you get any steak out of the fridge and throw it straight on the barbie, it won’t cook evenly. Bring your steak back to ROOM TEMPERATURE for half an hour to an hour (not in the blazing sun) before you cook it. • I like to PUT THE OIL ON THE STEAK, not pour it all over the flat grillplate, because all you get is the flavour of a lot of burnt oil. If you pour oil all over the chargrill, you simply need your head examined. • You need the HOTPLATE HOT when the steaks go on or they’ll stick to it and they won’t caramelise properly. • There are differing views on SEASONING. Some people think that salt before cooking draws the moisture out of a steak. I’m of the ‘a little before on both sides and plenty at the table’ school, but that’s just a personal preference. • THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, without doubt, is that you TURN THE BLOODY STEAKS ONCE ONLY. You want the natural sugars in the meat to caramelise and turn into a lovely brown crust. If you turn the steak, 5 , 10, 20 times and your mate turns it some more while you grab a beer, the steak will fi nish up like a piece of shoe leather. It is a mystery why the Australian male believes it is his mission on earth, to justify his position as holder of the tongs, to be constantly turning the steaks. • If you give the steak A LITTLE REST after it’s cooked, all the juices relax back into the fi bres of the meat. Try taking a piece of steak direct from the grill and cutting it immediately; your plate will be covered in juices and blood. Rest the meat loosely covered with foil or a clean tea towel; don’t seal tightly or the meat will keep cooking in the steam created. I prefer a clean tea towel, which keeps most of the heat in but allows for some air. Don’t forget to spoon the delicious juices that have come from the meat back over them – you can’t make a sauce that good. • Don’t put the cooked meat on the plate that it came to the barbecue on, with the blood still on it. Put it in a large bowl or on a CLEAN PLATE. Whenever I say this at cooking classes, there’s always the ‘Why do you have to do that, mate?’ responses from the crowd. The obvious answer is ‘So you don’t poison everybody’. Like I said, it’s only common sense. So the next time you’re having a barbie, just try these steps and see what a difference it makes.