How to Create Restaurant Style Grill Hashmarks On Steak

Grilling is about two things: taste and appearance. A perfectly grilled steak at a restaurant has those nice cross-hatchmarks on it,. Well, this article will help you create those some cross-hatchmarks on your steak when grilling at home to wow your family and friends.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Grill (charcoal or gas)
• Vegetable oil
• Paper towel
• Long-handled tongs
• Steak

Creating Cross-Hatchmarks on Grilled Steaks

1. Marinate your steak. Start your gas grill or light the coals for your charcoal grill. Give your grill plenty of time to heat up. High heat is one of the biggest keys to creating those fancy cross-hatchmarks.
2. After your grill has heated for 15 minutes when using a gas grill, or the coals on your charcoal grill are lightly covered with ash, you will want to prepare your grilling surface. Pour one cup of vegetable oil into a glass container. Don't use olive oil for this because olive oil tends to create too much smoke and can give your steak an odd flavor.
3. Take your steak out to the grill, along with the container of vegetable oil, several paper towels and your long-handled tongs. Ball up a paper towel and hold it with the tongs while dipping it into the vegetable oil. Use the tongs to coat your grill grates completely with vegetable oil. You will notice how the oil causes flare-ups, this is why you always use long-handled tongs to apply the oil to the grill.
4. After oiling the grates on your grill, place the steak on the grill using the long-handled tongs. Let the steak cook for about a minute and a half.
5. Pick up your steak with the long-handled tongs from the grill and rotate the steak 90 degrees. Do not flip the steak over at this point. Let this cook another minute and a half.
6. Use your long-handled tongs to flip the steak over to the other side for cooking. When you flip the steak over you will see the cross-hatchmarks on the side of the steak that had been on the grill grate surface. This means you are halfway done with creating your grill cross-hatchmarks.
7. After a minute and a half, rotate the steak again 90 degrees. This time do not flip the steak.
8. After a minute and a half, flip your steak over again. Now you will see the cross-hatchmarks on the other side of your steak. Allow the steak to remain on the grill until it reaches the desired level of cooking. Remove your steak from the grill and give it ten minutes for the juices to settle. Present your steaks to your family and friends and receive the compliments on the beautiful cross-hatchmarks you have created.

Tips & Warnings

• The higher the temperature you are grilling at, the more pronounced will be the cross-hatchmarks.
• Never apply the oil to the grill grates using your hands; dripping oil will cause flare-ups on your grill.