Father’s Day marks the unofficial start of grilling season, with new gadgets and cookbooks aimed at dads debuting every year around this time. One of the most pleasant surprises among this year’s crop is “ManBQue!” (Running Press, $22).
With the provocative subtitle, “Meat, Beer, Rock & Roll, 120 Essential Recipes for the Modern Man,” it’s much more than a cookbook. It’s the manifesto and how-to guide of the men’s grilling and lifestyle community of the same name — giving younger guys who are getting married and having kids the good word on keeping friends together with food and fire, and even DIY music playlists.
Authors Jesse Valenciana, the founder and public face of ManBQue, and John Carruthers, the managing editor of ManBQue.com , are the Chicago-based friends who held their first "meating" on the roof of an apartment building some seven years ago. Since then, the community has expanded to chapters in Los Angeles, Seattle, Florida, Costa Rica, Mexico and Germany.
As it turns out, though, there's no Atlanta chapter, yet.
And for those planning to grill some steaks on Father’s Day, here’s the “ManBQue!” way:
New York Strip
Our favorite cut of steak, and one that benefits most from leaving it the hell alone and finishing with a bit of butter or oil. Every man (and woman) should know how to grill a perfect cut of steak. This is ours. All knowledge put forth in this book is made possible with the confidence we have from being able to cook our perfect cut of steak in just the way we like it.
Times are measured on a standard kettle grill over a single chimney of hardwood charcoal.
Hands on: 10-20 minutes depending on temperature Total time: 10-20 minutes depending on temperature Makes: 4 steaks
4 New York strip steaks, about 3 pounds total
Peanut oil, to brush
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Compound butter, such as shallot herb butter, to serve
Pat the steaks dry with paper towels and brush with the oil. Season the steaks with an avalanche of sea salt and a healthy couple cracks of the black pepper.
Preheat the grill to high for indirect heat. Get that SOB as roaring hot on one side as you possibly can. Clean and oil the grate.
Place the steaks down on the grate and, for the next 90 seconds, follow our perfect 5-step plan.
1. Leave
2. Them
3. The
4. Hell
5. Alone
When 90 seconds have passed, give the steaks a 45-degree turn. This will give them the diamond sear pattern that will make you look like a pro.
Repeat with the second side, 90 seconds total with a 45-degree turn for the diamond pattern.
Move the steaks to the indirect side. Or not, if you prefer an awesome Pittsburgh rare. Otherwise, here are the times you can look out for. Remember to remove them about 5 degrees from your target temperature to compensate for the carryover cooking while they're resting:
7 to 8 minutes: Rare
8 to 9 minutes: Medium Rare
9 to 10 minutes: Medium
10 to 12 minutes: Medium Well
12 or more minutes: MURDERER!
Remove the steaks, add a slice or two of compound butter, and rest for 5 minutes.
Eat your steak. Scratch that-BASK in your steak.
Per steak: 688 calories (percent of calories from fat, 57), 70 grams protein, trace carbohydrates, trace fiber, 41 grams fat (14 grams saturated), 167 milligrams cholesterol, 176 milligrams sodium.
Adapted from “ManBQue!: Meat, Beer, Rock & Roll, 120 Essential Recipes for the Modern Man” by John Carruthers and Jesse Valenciana (Running Press, $22).
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