Can you steak cooking pros help a rookie?? I hope to do a few SCA contests next year and could use some help. Would like to have some info on the judging process. I think I understand taste, presentation, and doneness, but would like to know how they judge texture? How many judges taste your product?
Searing vs Charring...all the winning pictures of the steak boxes show char marks on the meat. I would assume that real searing for that great nutty flavor from the Milliard reaction or caramelization on the steaks is not being taught to the judges because I just don’t see it in any pictures. What say you? Is there any chance of winning with a real seared steak?
Ok, here is my setup for these events assuming I must have char marks to have a chance at winning.
I will be cooking steaks on my Weber Jumbo Joe kettle on this cold 33 degree morning.
I have a Stainless Steel charcoal basket that matches the size of my Grill Grates and also my Weber cast iron griddle if a fellow could win with that setup. I start with a full chimney of lump and pour about 1/4th of it cold into my charcoal basket. I fire up the remaining lump and add it to the basket and add a chunk of hickory.
I’ll go ahead and show the griddle setup but doubt if I will use it in competition steak cooking.
Add the grill grates and let it heat up for about 20 minutes.
Get my tools ready as it goes pretty fast.
I let the meat warm up for about 45 minutes. The full size steak is prepped with my favorite steak rub and and would be the steak I would turn in at a contest. The two half steaks are part of my on going rub trials.
Checked the cooker after the 20 minute warm up and found it at about 625 degrees on the Grill Grates and this should be perfect for the char marks.
Cooked my turn-in steak to medium and it looked pretty good coming off of the cooker.
Then cooked the two half steaks for my rub trials.
I think the competition steak looks pretty good.
I used all three pieces for the rub trials and my favorite still won out on this round.
Ok, does anyone know if the cooks use a marinade, maybe some oil, maybe a butter of some type? How about a finish rub? Talking about rubs, what are the cooks using? How much heat is being used in the rubs? Tell this rookie how to cook a winning SCA steak?
How did I do on my practice cook? What can I do to make it better?