Pork Steak St. Louis Style

[cjonsmoke]

So I decided to do a St. Louis Pork Steak. In this case, it was 1 1/2" steak cut out of the center of a nice pork butt. I seasoned it with Slap Yo' Mama seasoning and put it on my SMC at 225°. I spritzed it occasionally with 1/2 apple juice and 1/2 bourbon.. At about 2 1/2 hours it hit the stall @ 155°. I thought, "I know what this is. I'll just wait it out." I really wanted 165-170°
Bad idea. An hour later, when it started out of the stall and got to 160° I pulled it and dropped it to a close grill to do a reverse sear. 3 minutes on a side got me what I wanted and I pulled it and took it tot he table. It was beautiful. It was tasty. It was dry.
I now think that for the next time I will pull the steak when it starts to stall and do a reverse sear then and just eat it.

[Huskee]

Pork steaks are best at 140-145. I like to cook them hot & fast, but indirectly.
225 will work, but I tend to get better results going 325-340. With pork it seems you often need one extreme or the other- either medium-rare or long low & slow. The in-betweens are what make for dry pork.

[smarkley]

I wonder if he should have treated as a 'country rib'... take it 200+ IT then sear it... since it is cut from the same area... thoughts?

[Hardwarehank]

I'm with Husky on this one. 140-145 and that pork steak would have been tender and juicy.

[LA Pork Butt]

Country ribs cut from the Boston butt, have done well for me taking them to 200 on my BGE. I've also gotten acceptable results with the pork steaks cut from the butt. I didn't sear at the end. I basically served it like pulled pork. It wasn't as tender, but far from dry.

[RAmorris]

I use 1-1.5 inch thick center cut pork chops. Put Oakridge BBQ Dominator rib rub on them 2 hours before cooking and put in a foil covered pan in the refrigerator. Grill on my Weber gas grill like I would a steak. No reverse sear, just grill to almost medium. The juice runs down my chin when I eat them.

[HorseDoctor]

Huskee nailed it. Either medium (or even medium rare) or take it all the way to the 200 ballpark. Rare meat is tender because the muscle fibers start out tender (see beef carpaccio). The more we cook them, the more they tighten up from the heat. At higher temps the connective tissue (collagen) between the fibers starts to break down and turn to gelatin. Then it gets "tender" and "moist" again. Anything in between is only tender and juicy if it is extremely heavily marbled with fat which is pretty much always soft and moist.

[LA Pork Butt]

So, cook it on either end but never in the middle.

[Ernest]

I have done 160 just fine BUT depends on how well marbled it is.

[HorseDoctor]

Yup, but no real need to go that high. Same cut would be at least as good @ 130-140 unless your guests are totally "pink pork phobic".

[Willy]

Love pork with a bit of pink. It's so nice to be beyond my childhood when pork was done until bone dry and the only thing that saved it was the grease from the frying pan.

The Mexican and Thai cultures (and probably many more) do great things with thin pork steaks and chops.

[cjonsmoke]

Yeah, I think I'm with Huskee. A little hotter for the cook and quit when they get to 140° or so. Could even do direct, but I think I like the indirect because I want to put a little more smoke on them. I do "Iowa chops" (center cut pork chops 1 1/2 thick) direct like I grill a steak and they are quite good, but they lack the innate smokeyness I get with indirect and slower and more smoke. That is what I was going for with the pork steak.
I'll try it again ad let you know.

[RAmorris]

I always cook my pork medium. That's because of trichinosis, a parasitic disease caused by roundworms, most commonly in hogs. Humans get it by eating the under cooked meat of animals with it. If untreated, it can cause brain infection and heart failure. Virtually all wild hogs have trichinosis, so when butchering them you need to wear gloves, because the infection can enter your body through a cut or sore in your skin. Domestic animals raised for food under the USDA guidelines are usually safe, but there have been rare exceptions.