Omaha Steaks Chef David Rose Reveals How To Cook The Perfect Steak - Exclusive

"If I could marry a steak or an inanimate object, a ribeye would be that," chef David Rose, who's the Executive Chef at Omaha Steaks, confessed. Omaha Steaks has a plethora of steaks to choose from, and Rose's absolute favorite is the 48-ounce bone-in ribeye. "And it's just the quintessential perfect cut of meat. It's a thing of beauty," Rose added. He isn't kidding. Omaha Steaks' ribeye is a gorgeous, incredible hunk of beef, and it deserves to be cooked properly. In an exclusive interview with Mashed, Rose shared his tips and tricks for grilling the perfect steak.

Omaha Steaks actually has a cooking chart for all of their proteins to help figure out timing and doneness, via the company website. Two particular tools, though, are a must-have for David Rose: a timer and a digital thermometer. "Because the last thing you want to do when you're juggling eight, 10 steaks, and the kids are screaming, the guests are screaming, grandma's getting hangry, is you don't want to guess what temperatures [for] which steak and forget which steak is which," he said. When you're ready to grill, Rose recommends taking the steak out of the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes beforehand and letting it come to room temperature. But keep it out of the sun, he warned. "You never want to have a steak or any other meat outside in the sun, exposed to...heat or sun or humidity. You definitely don't want that."

"I'm a charcoal man," Rose told us, "through and through. Charcoal runs through my veins." Charcoal and smoke infuse meat, poultry, and seafood with a specific flavor profile that doesn't happen on a gas grill. Adding wood chips — like mesquite, apple, or cherry — imparts even more flavor. Before you light the charcoal, though, the grill must be cleaned. 

"Either before or right after, use a non-bristle grill brush, get rid of all that grit, all that grime," Rose said. He also advises oiling the grill grates with a high smoke point oil, like canola, grapeseed, or vegetable oil. When you're setting up the charcoal, have two areas: One where the grill will be the hottest, and another where it won't be as hot. Then light the charcoal, and wait for the heat to hit 550 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. "You want to put that steak on the hottest part [of] the coals. So something that's toasty and red, cherry-red embers. That's a good indicative sign visually ... of the hottest part of the charcoal. That's where you want to put the steak."

According to chef David Rose, the two best techniques for grilling steak are sous vide and reverse sear. The sous vide method slowly cooks the steak to five to 10 degrees lower than the desired internal temperature. Rose likes a medium-rare ribeye, which would have an internal temperature of 130 Fahrenheit. "I would set the water bath temperature to 120 F, 125 F, and then I let that go for about two hours until the internal temperature of the ribeye reads that," he advised. The steak is essentially done, and to finish it off, you sear it on the grill to get a hard, crusty char. For the reverse sear method, you cook the steak slowly at 250 F until it reaches the doneness you want. Then you take the steak off the grill, increase the temperature to 500 to 550 F, and quickly sear the steak. 

But Rose's favorite way to grill a steak is caveman-style. So, what exactly is caveman-style? Cook the steak using the two methods Rose recommends, and then finish it off by tossing it directly onto the charcoal to get that nice, hard sear. "The caveman had it right ... meats onto the charcoal, onto the wood."

You can find more of David Rose's tricks and tips for grilling over at Omaha Steaks and follow his culinary adventures on his Instagram page.