A while ago I read a great article on something called ‘Dirty Steaks’. It refers to cooking meat directly on the coals of of a fire. It sounded like the best way to get that charcoal flavour and seal the meat in one easy step. And of course I had nothing better to do on a Monday than spend 2 hours lighting a fire, massaging meat and inventing a new kind of funky salt.
First step was to create a mad salt rub to massage into the steaks. This consisted of a teaspoon of Tasmanian Pepperberries, 2 teaspoons of coarse salt and a large dried chilli (courtesy of Productive Garden Co), the warmer the better! Combine all of the ingredients onto a coffee grinder and blend well. Pop the steaks into a mixing bowl with a couple glugs of olive oil and rub into the salt mixture. Let rest at room temperature for an hour.
Now get that fire cranking in your handy wood oven. Once roaring it will take 2 x Vale Ales and a glass of Ochota Barrels to settle down into some good hot coals. Rake the coals to the front of the oven and place your prepared steaks directly onto the red glowing beauties. I cooked them for 1.45 mins each side (for a rare steak). There will be bits of coal that will stick to the meat, that is fine as you will scrape it clean with the edge of a knife when cooked. The intense heat of the coals seals the meat instantly, leaving it very tender and juicy on the inside.
Once cooked, scrape any coals off the meat and let rest in a pan at the door of the oven ready to plate up.
This trick worked a treat and I will certainly do again. Some helpful things I learnt would be:
- Don’t leave it too long to place on the coals, as the meat will cool down the heat very quickly. When the fire is out and the coals are larger would be the optimum time. A thicker style cut would also be better.
- I’d would use more chilli in my salt – but that is personal preference.
- A piece of meat with lots of marbling is better suited as the fat quickly caramelises on the coals leading to a richer flavour.
