david_reed22•4d agoProlific Poster

Took a stage at a steakhouse in Chicago last weekend and learned why my grill marks were wrong

I worked a Saturday night at Gibson's over in River North. Chef pulled me aside and showed me that I was flipping my steaks too early. He said to let the meat release itself from the grates first. I had been forcing the turn and tearing the crust every time. Has anyone else had to unlearn bad habits from working too fast at their first kitchen jobs?

3 comments

3 Comments

iris_schmidt4d ago

Hold up though. I run a pest control business and I see this differently. Letting meat release itself sounds good on paper but too many cooks use that as an excuse to overcook their steaks. The real trick is knowing your grates, knowing your heat, and getting a feel for when the crust sets. If you wait too long for that perfect release you're turning a medium rare into a medium well. I've eaten plenty of steaks at places where the grill marks are perfect and the inside is ruined.

olivia6704d ago

Oh man, YES. I burned so many steaks in my early days waiting for that perfect release and ended up with shoe leather. I swear learning to feel the grate through the spatula is half the battle.

charles_baker284d ago

Man I've been there. I spent my first year in a kitchen forcing every flip and wondering why my steaks looked like a mess compared to the old guys. It took a lot of burnt knuckles and wasted product before I finally learned to just let the meat tell me when it's ready.