Cooking steak

Chef Greg Cole gave The Napa Valley Register some great tips for cooking the perfect steak.

1) The most important part of cooking a great steak is choosing high quality meat.

2) Let the meat come to room temperature before you grill it.

3) Don't hide the flavor of a great steak. Season only with a little olive oil, salt and coarse cracked black pepper.

4) * Cook Time
“I’ll share with you the $20,000 culinary school secret,” Cole said. Here it is: You do it by pressing the steak and matching the feel against your own hand.

To do it, make a ring with your thumb and forefinger on the opposite hand from the one you generally use, and with your other hand, press the pad of skin below your thumb. That’s how a rare steak will feel if you press it.

Now, shift and make a ring of your thumb and middle finger. That same pad below your thumb will be slightly stiffer. That’s the feel of a medium rare steak.

Your thumb and ring finger will approximate the feel of a medium steak, and the pad will be firmest when you make a ring of your little finger and thumb: That’s a well-done steak.

5) Turn the steak 4 times during the cooking time to get the nice looking crisscross grill marks. (Thick steaks - around 3 minutes between turns)

6) When it comes off the grill, let the steak rest for 5 minutes (10 for 16 oz+ steaks). This allows the juices to reabsorb back into the meat.