The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

characteristic smoky, ever-so-slightly acrid (in a good way)
flavor. It’s a flavor you simply can’t get from a stovetop or
even a gas grill, both of which burn significantly cooler than
coal.
Going thick is always a good idea on the grill (steaks at
least an inch and a half thick)—it’s the best way to
guarantee that you’ll get plenty of good crust development
while being able to maintain a nice, expansive medium-rare
center. But ultrathick Flintstones-sized double-cut bone-in
big-enough-to-serve-two-fully-grown-Thundercats rib-eye
steaks (commonly referred to as cowboy chops) require a bit
of extra care when cooking. Their thickness makes it all too
easy to end up with a burnt exterior and cold, raw middle.
Just as with roasting a large standing rib roast, the very
best way to guarantee that you maximize that medium-rare
center—you want to see pink from edge to edge—while still
getting a nicely charred crust is to first cook the steak over a
very gentle low heat before finishing it over ripping-hot heat
to sear its surface. It’s better to do it in this order rather than
searing first and then cooking through, because a
prewarmed steak will sear much faster, minimizing the
amount of overcooked meat under the surface (and we all
know now that searing does not lock in juices, right?)