Steak Advice

Ribgasim,

Congratulations on the new cooker. I have been adjusting my temperatures, but not my cooking method since getting my PG1000. I will start off with a 20-30 minute smoke at 180-200*, LHT 10/HHT 40. I then move the meat to a pre-warmed plate in the warming drawer and increase the temperature to 475* with a LHT of 10/HHT of 70. My girlfriend likes a steak medium so I will place hers on the direct side to sear with mine remaining in the drawer. I usually cook on the direct side 1-2 minutes on one side, do a 45* rotation to make a cross hatch grill marks and repeat on the other side. I then place her steak in the #4 area and put mine on the direct side and cook the same for a nice medium rare. When my steak is done, her's is a perfect medium.

When I first bought the 1000, I would sear at 600-700+* and I did not like the flavor, or I should say, lack thereof. Since lowering my direct cooking temps, I get a more flavor of the smoke, the beef and any spices/herbs that may have been sprinkled on the steak prior to cooking. I believe that ultra high sear temps cook any flavoring...smoke, garlic, pepper, etc off of the meat either through evaporating the oils or the meat "sweating" them off in the juices.

Have fun and experiment until you get it like you want it. The PG1000 will do anything you want.

Cowley

I cook very similar to Cowley...

I set it at 400-ish degrees, with the hood open turning steaks etc my pit tends to overshoot... so 400 seems to keep it kind of toned down...

Direct side at 400° until well done for the wife, I usually set mine in zone 4 for the last few minutes to keep a little pink.
My LHT/HHT are set at 10/30 and haven't changed in over a year