Cooking Steak on a Weber Charcoal BBQ

I thought it was about time to share how I cook great steak on my Weber Charcoal BBQ. Now when I say "steak", I mean the kind of steak that you share with your family or "get your meal for free" size steak. So this could be a large cut t-bone or a tomahawk or a ribeye. For my demo I am cooking a 1.1kg yearling ribeye, which will be dinner for my 7 year old, my wife and myself. We will also get some leftovers for lunches through the week.

So first of all I get the Weber set up for the cook. This is indirect cooking so I have an empty basket on one side of the BBQ with an aluminium try adjacent (which the meat will sit above). I leave the access grill up ready for the hot charcoal. I always have my smoking wood ready to go too. If you want to keep an eye on the temperature, you can also use an internal thermometer, this is optional as cooking times should be around 1 1/2 hours with the indirect method. Below is what it looks like.

Next we light some charcoal in a chimney. I normally measure how much I need with the other empty basket and add a little extra for luck. It takes about 20-30mins to get a nice white glow, which is just enough time to prepare the meat.

So now we are going to prepare the meat, I protect myself with some nitrile gloves. Google these guys and find them from cooking shops or hardware stores. They are kinda heat and cutting resistant, so perfect while working with raw or cooked meat. Also you look really cool.

Now I take the meat out of the wrapper. At this point I will get excess moisture off the meat with kitchen towel.

Now for the rub. You can pick what you like. I am using Barbecue 101, which I got from a local Perth BBQ school. They also taught me how to cook this 😀.

I then shake reasonably amounts of the rub over the steak and help it out on the sides.

Once the charcoal is ready, its time to get it all on. I will tip the charcoal into the basket and then pick up the strays with tongs. I then add a small amount of water to the aluminium tray, this helps keep the temperature low. The meat is place over the tray and away from the charcoal. Last of all I add the smoking wood to the charcoal and flip down the grill cover. It should look like the image below.

Now we put on the lid and make sure the holes are open on the lid and positioned over the steak so the smoke passes over the meat. I also open the bottom vents the whole way too and only close them if I think it's too hot, maybe above 180C.

Now it time to get on with your condiments and enjoy the smells of the meat cooking.

Depending on how you like your steak, you will just need to cook until the internal temperature reaches the required amount. A quick google should provide an answer, but I use this website. 

To measure you will need a meat temperature gauge. It is a good idea to use an instant one as they speed up the process. I have a Thermastick, it is great.

Checking the meat around 1 1/2 hours and you should be close. Mine ended up taking about 1 3/4 hours and around 56C.

The final part of the cook is moving the steak over the charcoal. This is why my meat was a little less in temperature than what I wanted. By adding some rest time to the end the meat will also cook further.

Now it’s time for a little rest. At most I’d wait 30mins. I waited about 5 for this cook.

Now it’s time to slice it up and it looks great.

I finished it off with some asparagus, broccolini and zucchini cooked on my gas Weber. Added some cherry tomatoes and leftover potatoes.

Oh and it tasted amazing.