Originally written March 2017 -
This is just the first of many cooks with Whimsy Chef, Jocelyn Wheeler. This girl cracks me up. She’s a mother of three but often cooking for up to ten on any given day. She’s got passion, pizazz and personality for days. Sharing the kitchen with her was a blast and I’ll quickly get through the details so that we can get to planning the next menu.
Jocelyn mentioned a few weeks ago that she had made the best steak of her life. Naturally, I was all in for hearing all the details. She went onto explain her recipe for pan-frying in oil and butter and then popping the pan in the oven. Yum, restaurant style steak at home. I needed to try it. However, there was a hitch, I had been cooking steak on my Traeger for a while now and I really love the results. In a swift moment, we knew what we had to do: A Juried Steak Cook-Off. It was not hard to find friends to come by for this event.
Naturally we had to serve more than just meat so we both chose a quick appetizer to also prepare. Appy’s should be no stress, quick and flavorful. Cocktail of the night? Gin and Tonic. This night was about the meat however, so let’s get to it.
Both of us gave the steak time on the counter to warm up to room temp. We both kept the seasoning simple, generous salt and pepper.
In my corner, we’re trying a low temp smoke for 35 min then a return to a hot grill for the finish. After the smoke, the steaks are pulled from the grill while it heats up. Grill on high heat until the internal temp reads what you like. We had them on for about 4 minutes on each side.
Jocelyn’s cuts hit the hot oil for a beautiful crust. Following the hot oil and butter then went into a hot oven for 7 minutes.
We both finish them with butter and let them rest for a bit prior to slicing. Side by side, they both look gorgeous, but Jocelyn’s have that crave worthy crust that everyone wants.
On the inside, the smoked and grilled steaks have that lovely smoke ring, and they are cooked to an even medium rare. Jocelyn’s are a bit more contrast of medium crust and rare center. She definitely had the quicker cook producing a great contrast in temperatures.
The results: No losers on steak night. We loved the crust on Jocelyn’s. We loved the smoky notes of the grilled steaks. Jocelyn and I decided that next time we’re going to try smoking them and then cooking them off in the cast iron for that beautiful crust. It seemed like the easiest way to get another steak cook off on the calendar.
