Grilled Steaks with Bacon-Wrapped Corn

Its springtime, and you know what that means. Fire up the grill and get cooking outdoors with fire. Whether you grill over charcoal or love the convenience of your gas grill, there are thousands of different combinations of spice rubs, marinades, seasonings, salts and sauces for just about any cut of steak that is on sale during any given week. Before you head out to the back yard though, take a few minutes to consider which cuts you plan to toss on the fire. Although we all like lean meat, a bit of marbling is absolutely necessary for a truly tasty steak. You want to look for meat that has a bit of fat marbled all the way through it. A steak that has no fat or concentrated blobs of fat breaking up long stretches of pure red will be tough after it takes a turn on the grill. Be selective and ask your local grocery store butcher for advice.

In this recipe, the steak gets a simple but tasty treatment; the side dish is really the star. When you cook corn this way, people won’t feel the need to slather it with butter.

Recipe: Grilled Steaks with Bacon Wrapped Corn

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
• Serves: 4
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 6-10 minutes for steaks; 15-20 for corn

Ingredients

• 4 ears of corn, shucked and silk removed
• 4 slices of thick cut bacon (preferably not a ‘sweet’ or ‘smoky’ flavor)
• 4 New York strip, porterhouse, or T-bone steaks, cut at least ¾ in thick
• Salt and/or garlic salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Fire up your grill and bring it to a medium high heat (if gas) or wait until the coals are mostly white but still have a good red core (if charcoal).
2. Wrap each ear of corn with the bacon in a spiral pattern, making sure not to overlap the bacon too much.You can either tuck the bacon into itself to secure it or use a toothpick at either end to secure it.
3. Place the wrapped corn around the outer edge of the grill and rotate every couple of minutes. Grill for about 10 minutes before adding the steaks to the grill.
4. Liberally season your trimmed steaks with salt and freshly ground black pepper and lay them out on the grill with at least an inch of space between them.
5. Steaks cook relatively quickly at high heat and there are dozens of methods to tell doneness. If you need a time, the best rule of thumb for an inch thick steak is 3 minutes per side for medium rare, 4 for medium, 5 for medium well and 6 minutes on each side for well done. Only flip the steaks once during cooking.
6. Remove the steak when it reaches its desired doneness and let it rest on a warm plate for at least 5 minutes before serving. This allows all the boiling juices inside of the steak to redistribute through the meat so they won’t escape all over your plate.
7. Remove the corn when the bacon is done and its outside is crispy. Remove the bacon from the corn and served it alongside the corn or even chopped up and added to any salad, green beans, baked potatoes or any other dish that could benefit from it. Or, you could just eat it as the cook’s treat while the steaks rest.

Tips, Tricks and Tweaks

• One the steaks it the grill, leave them alone for at least 2 minutes. Don’t mess with it. The sear time helps create the steakhouse-style crust we all like.
• If you want those nifty grill marks on your steak, rotate the meat a quarter turn onto a section of the grill that hasn’t had anything on it. The bars that have been under your steak for two minutes aren’t going to be hot enough to sear a dark char into already partially cooked meat.
• The corn takes on the salty goodness and the fat from the bacon, and will also absorb the ‘flavorings’ used on the bacon. So if you don’t want smoky maple corn, don’t use smoked or maple bacon.