Dirty Steak

Dirty Steaks, a.k.a Caveman steaks are basically cooking Steaks directly on the coals rather than above them on a grill. Sounds like it should be a culinary disaster and a waste of a good steak, but what actually happens is as soon as the steak touches the red hot lump charcoal it sears the meat and removes any oxygen between the meat and the wood, so there is no combustion available to force a flare up - the steak starts to leak moisture as the heat begins to cook the meat through, meaning you get a superb crust on your steak, even if you've only cooked it to rare.

We liberally cover the steak with sea salt (kosher salt) and pepper (the pepper may burn a little but I find that adds to the crust - remove it and add at the end if you prefer). Once your lump wood is white hot blow away and loose ash and lay the steak down on the coals, you should see smoke & steam coming off the sides of the steak very quickly.

Thickness affects cooking times greatly but in our video we cooked a medium thick steak for 3 minutes on each side for a medium rare finish, remove this to 2 minutes for rare. Practise makes perfect.

Once both sides have been cooked rest the steak for about the same amount of time it's been on the coals. This allows the steak to equalise internally and the entire steak will be the same beautiful pink colour when you slice it. In our video we brushed some flavoured oil onto the cooked side of the steak to provide another level of flavour, again you don't have to do this but if you like the results then experiment with it.

Once rested slice the steak and simply Eat & Enjoy!