Our friend Travis is a serious griller. Not only do he and his wife Heather make several gallons of chili every fall weekend for Navy game tailgates, Travis still always makes sure to bring beef or pork (often rubbed with the awesome coffee his brother makes, and accompanied by some kind of homemade sauce), hamburgers, brats and all manner of other meats to grill for anyone who would care to eat.

So it’s no surprise that he has a very impressive grilling setup in his backyard. Or that he would attempt to make something from this book for our going-away cookout:

No one was quite sure what to expect of this recipe. When we saw the rock salt on the counter, all of the girls asked (hopefully) if he was making homemade ice cream. But this is Travis we’re talking about. He was obviously not making ice cream. He was making meat.

As someone who is slightly afraid of cooking meat, I have to say that this recipe seemed pretty simple, although you will probably question many of the steps. But you just have to take some deep breaths and trust the process.

 

 

So far, so good, right? We’re just stirring together a lot of seasonings and spreading on some mustard. Next, you cover the steak in the seasoning.

 

Now? Well, now things start to get interesting.

 

 

Yep, that’s right. You wrap the whole thing up in the newspaper, tape it closed, and then submerge it in water. You don’t have to use a bottle of bourbon to keep it down in the water, but it does make it significantly more manly if you do.

 

 

Now you see why you have to wrap it up and soak it: You cook the steak right on the hot charcoal. The water heats up and helps cook the steak, and the flavor from the outside permeates through. Then, once it’s done, you unwrap it and scrape the gunk off.

And then you slice it and devour it, because it’s incredible. I don’t even like steak, and I went back for seconds. Try it the next time you fire up your grill, and let me know what you think! (Linking up this recipe on Scarletta Bakes‘ Virtual Picnic)

Salt steak (Adapted from The Von Hoffmann Bros’ Big Damn Book of Sheer Manliness)
1 large sirloin steak, at least 1 1/2 inches thick (the bigger and thicker, the better)
6 sheets of newspaper (no color print)
1 bag rock salt
1 jar whole peppercorns
2 jars Lawry’s lemon pepper
1 bottle Worcestershire sauce
1 jar dijon mustard
Masking tape
Giant bucket of water
10-pound bag of charcoal

Start by lighting the fire. You want a charcoal bed at least six inches thick — and leave the grill rack off after you light the fire.

Once the fire is going, stir the rock salt, peppercorns and lemon pepper together in a large bowl. Lay out the newspaper on the counter and place the steak in the middle of it. Slather  a thick (like 1/4-inch) layer of mustard on one side of the meat, then pat a bunch of the salt mixture on top. That side of the steak should be totally covered in the salt mixture. Then pour Worcestershire sauce all over the top of it.

Turn the steak over and repeat the mustard-salt-Worchestershire routine. Once the steak is sufficiently covered, wrap it up in the newspaper and tape it up with the masking tape. You don’t want to use a lot of tape, but you do want it to stay closed.

Put the wrapped steak in the bucket of water and soak it while you wait for the fire to reach its peak. Then, squeeze the excess water out of the paper-wrapped steak and (carefully!) place it directly on the coals. Dump the water out of the bucket.

Cook for about 10 minutes on one side (until the paper is dried out and charred), then use tongs to flip it and cook an additional 10 minutes or so. When the paper is totally charred, remove the steak from the fire and use tongs or something other than your hands to remove the paper and scrape the mustard and salt off the steak. The steak should be partially cooked.

Now, put the grill rack back on and put the steak on for an additional 3 to 5 minutes per side (or until done). Slice and serve to your amazed guests.