Often, when you eat out at your favorite restaurant, you see those delightful and professional diamond-shaped grill marks on your steak. In your mind, you’re like: that is the mark of a great chef – beauty and taste!
Well, you’re right. But do you know you can recreate such great chef ques marks right in your home?
Impossible? Not if you know how to do it.
The best part is that you won’t even have to go through a 6-hour course or drill to achieve such feats. All you will need to do is follow the instructions in this guide.
Yes, it is that simple. So, let’s get right into it then. I assume you have bought some high-quality steaks online or at your preferred butcher store.
Table of Contents
Getting Started: What You Need To Create Magic
There are a few things you need to make those grill restaurant-shaped grill marks on your steaks at home.
Your Grill
First things first, get a grill. Any type will do. There isn’t any unique rule; you could stick to the usual BBQ kinds.
However, we would advise you to stay away from charcoal grills as a beginner. Why?
Charcoal grills come most of the time with steel grates. Unfortunately, such grates are not the best type for the artistic marks that you need. Worse: they’d soil your efforts, especially as a beginner.
Instead, use gas grills. Unlike the former, these come mostly with a thick cast-iron grate. With such, you’ll get deep sears into your steak. The reason is that they retain heat better.
Extra option: aluminum-raised grills are excellent choices as well.
1: Start The Right Fire
Now, here’s the tricky part. The temperature you need to appropriate is the one at the surface of your grill. And it should be in the range of 400 – 500°F.
Anything higher than that will burn your meat and destroy the taste.
So, how do you ensure you keep to such a temperature?
Get a grill surface thermometer! These aids are cheap and comfortable to read; they sit right on the surface of your grill.
2: Oil Up Your Meat
Here, you should ensure that your meat is at room temperature and dry of its juices. After that, you can start oiling the steak lightly.
Your oil should be one with a high smoke point like grape seeds. Else, you won’t even see what you’re grilling.
For ease, you can use a basting brush to apply the oil.
Note: don’t put much oil, nor should you put too little. Apply the dressing like powder on a woman’s face – moderate.
Now, your wands are ready. Let’s create some magic!
Diamond-shaped Grill Marks On Your Steak in 5 Simple Steps
Here is the real deal; kindly follow the rules to the last letter. Let’s start:
- Do not drop your meat on the grill. Instead, lay it gently like a baby on a cradle. Ensure that the top of your steak faces 10 o’clock.
- Now, give your meat a mild press. Doing that would let the diamond shape press into the steak. For this, use a large spatula.
- Once the juice of your meat starts rising, it is time to turn it. Now, twist it gently until the top face is at 2 o’clock. Again, repeat the mild press from step 2.
- Now, deep scrape your steak after a max of two minutes until you’ve attained the right “doneness.”
- Remove your steak from the grill. Then, rest it for a max of 5 minutes before serving.
There you have it, the creation of appealing diamond-shaped grill marks.
Bravo, chef!
Did you mess up?
If this is the first time you try this you might not like the result. The good thing is that you can turn over the steak and give it another try. A little secret is that restaurants also only put grill marks on one side.
If you like to see this in action I have found a video for you that explains it probably better than I can.
Let me know if this helped you in cooking a great-tasting steak with great-looking diamond-shaped grill marks.
This same technique can also be used on meats such as pork chops and even hamburgers.
