GUEST EDITOR

We are very pleased to welcome Don who lives in Temple, TX, - he was bred and born in Texas which in 2014 led the nation with 87.73 million heads of cattle.  Nebraska and Kansas are right behind Texas.  His wife Suzanne has always raved about how good a steak he puts out.

So I asked him.  This is his reply:

"Buy the best you can afford.  Beef is graded with "Select" being the least desirable and "Prime"  the best.  If you are astute and knowledgeable a good "Select" can be found.  This requires patience and sometimes even that fails.

Get a steak at least 1 in. thick and preferably 2 in. thick with plenty of marbling; I prefer bone-in cuts.  Butcher cuts are not normally graded accordingly and if you know your butcher, he may show you the right path.

I take the steak out of the fridge well before cooking it.  Tonight it will  be  out about five hours.  I also salt and pepper at this point.  I am not a salt fan but beef should be liberally salted.  Do not pierce  meat.  The only seasoning I have had that was acceptable was chili pepper or coffee (dry, unused.)

I cook on a gas grill.  I wish I had a Jenn-Aire in the house, but, alas, I am impoverished.   I prefer a wood fire  but for ease I use a gas grill.  Cooking in an iron skillet is acceptable if you get the skillet hot enough, but you had better have the windows open, fans going  and be prepared for grease residue.

I cook the steak on the hottest fire I can.  I put it on the grill, let it sit for one or two minutes, depending on the thickness and do the other side the same.  I cook only "rare" or medium rare steaks.  I only cook them for others' sakes as I would sit down and eat the salted burger raw and warm .  If someone at my house wants a steak well  done or some such foolishness, I tell them to stop at McDonald's and get a burger on the way here.

Last note:  NO steak sauce is allowed