Ask Americans what foods they grill and they’ll likely say chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, and maybe even vegetables. But ask them to name their favorite food to grill and the answer is practically universal: Steak.

The Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association consumer survey shows 71 percent of barbecuers say they cook steak on the grill. A Google Trends analysis shows Internet searches for “steaks” has been steadily increasing for the past five years.

For a steakhouse sear, the perfect temperature is between 500 and 600 degrees.

Why? According to Karl Marsh, CRC, executive chef at Omaha Steaks, “It’s the ‘umami.’” Umami is the hard-to-describe, intense flavors of foods such as mushrooms, caramelized onions, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and beef – especially steak. “Human beings crave umami,” says Marsh.

“When you cook a steak, you concentrate the umami through the searing process,” he says. “It’s the ultimate umami experience, a ‘umami bomb.’ There is a strong human desire for these flavors.”

So much so that some retailers say the promise of a free steak dinner can actually help close a grill or outdoor kitchen sale, or lead to a new one.

“Steaks are a very desirable gift,” says Matt Burdette, Sales and Marketing manager for Omaha Steaks Business to Business division. The company offers several ways for retailers to give steaks to customers as a gift-with-purchase to boost sales, or to employees as an incentive for meeting sales goals.

Retailers can choose to have steaks direct-shipped from Omaha Steaks to recipients, or offer a gift certificate program where recipients can choose their own steaks (or other options) from a collection in a pre-established price range. Prices for either program run from about $40 to $150 or more, including shipping, but the sweet spot is usually between $40 and $80, according to Burdette.

Both programs are turnkey and easy to implement; the dealer simply provides the recipient’s information and Omaha Steaks handles all fulfillment. There are no order minimums, and with the gift certificate option, retailers even have the ability to be billed on redemption, so there is no risk.

“Retailers only pay if the customer redeems the certificate,” says Burdette. “We have done programs with large manufacturers and retailers, but we’ve also partnered with a ton of smaller retailers, too,” he adds. “We’re very flexible to help meet dealer and manufacturer needs.”

That includes providing photos, logos, cooking tips and instructional videos for dealers to use in their marketing campaigns. “Retailers tell us these gifts are very motivating for customers and definitely generate sales.”

In addition to helping close the sale, some dealers say steaks have helped generate new customer leads. Jack Wills, III, president of Jack Wills Outdoor Living, with four stores located in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee, makes post-sale visits, with steaks in hand, to customers who have purchased an outdoor kitchen.

He throws a party for up to a dozen of the customer’s guests, and provides a chef to cook and teach guests how to use the equipment. He says the parties often lead to a grill or outdoor kitchen sale to one of the guests in attendance. For events such as this, or for larger-scale cooking classes and demos, Omaha Steaks can deliver bulk steaks at competitive prices.

	Interior Color	Touch	Internal Temperature	Surface Appearance	Steal Doneness
Rare	Completely red all the way throughout	Feels very soft	120°F – 130°F	Beads of bright red juices barely begin to form on edges of steak
Medium Rare	Red center with pink edges	Feels soft & spongy	130°F – 140°F	Red juices form on surface
Medium	Pink in center with brown edges	Resistance to touch	140°F – 150°F	Abundant pink juices on surface
Medium Well	Mostly brown, slightly pink in center	Feels slightly firm	150°F – 160°F	Brown and pink juices on surface
Well	Brown all the way through	Feels very firm	160°F – 170°F	Juice, if present, will be brown

Getting It Right

People may be eating less red meat, but when they do indulge in a steak, they want it to be memorable. Given the price, there’s a lot of pressure to cook it perfectly.

As authorities on outdoor cooking, retailers of premium grills should be able to teach their customers how to grill a perfect steak. The better a customer’s cooking experience, the higher their satisfaction will be with the grill they just bought. That translates to more return visits and referrals to friends.

To cook a good steak, you need to start with a good steak. The secret to choosing one? Marbling. These swirls of fat running throughout the meat will melt during the grilling process and ensure the steak is tender, juicy and flavorful. But while fat within the meat is a good thing, a thick band of fat around the outer edge can cause flare-ups, so it’s best to trim it to no more than one-quarter-inch before cooking.

If you sell grills, you should become the authority on cooking a wide variety of food on a grill.

About 30 minutes before cooking, steaks should be taken out of the refrigerator and blotted dry with paper towels, before being lightly oiled to enhance searing and prevent them from sticking to the grilling grid. Then it’s time to season the meat on both sides.

Chef Jamie Purviance, in his book Weber’s New Real Grilling, advises, “Don’t be timid with the salt.” He says a liberal sprinkling of kosher salt “seasons the meat deeply, amplifying the steak flavor below the surface.”

Chef Marsh says the best way to cook tender cuts such as filet mignon, ribeye, strip or top-sirloin steaks is direct-grilling over high heat. Very thick steaks or whole beef tenderloins can be seared over direct high heat first, before finishing over indirect heat, so they don’t burn on the outside before being cooked sufficiently on the inside. Whole tenderloins are also great cooked on a rotisserie.

To get a steakhouse-style sear with a delicious, crusty exterior, the perfect grill temperature is between 500 and 600 degrees, according to Marsh. Infrared searing zones or sideburners that reach 700, 800 or even 1,000 degrees are ideal for achieving a great sear too – usually a minute or two on each side is sufficient before transferring to the traditional burners to finish cooking. But, according to Marsh, most of the premium-quality, traditional-burner gas grills sold at specialty retailers, or a hot charcoal fire, reach temperatures hot enough to do the job just fine.

One of the most important rules is not to fuss with the steaks once they’re on the grill. Marsh recommends grilling the first side 60 percent of the total cooking time before flipping and cooking the second side the remaining 40 percent of the total time.

Those diamond-shaped, cross-hatch grill marks don’t really add flavor, say the experts, but they sure look cool. To get them, rotate the steak a quarter-turn after the first 1 1⁄2 to two minutes of cooking. The process can be repeated on the second side.

To determine doneness, checking the internal temperature with a meat thermometer is the most foolproof method (see chart for temperature ranges). Or, Weber’s Chef Purviance suggests the “Touch Test” method of pressing the steak with your fingertips. Rare meat will feel soft, like the fleshy part of the palm near the base of the thumb when the thumb and index finger are touching. Medium-rare meat will feel less soft but still spongy, like the fleshy part of the palm when the middle finger and thumb are touching. The steak will offer increasing resistance as doneness progresses.

As specialty barbecue retailers, you are expected to be an authority on all things grill-related, so you should be able to talk the talk with customers when they ask about grilling steaks. Fortunately, the best way to master steak-grilling techniques is to practice. At least you’ll eat well, and may even sell a few more grills in the process.

As Burdette says, “What goes better with a grill than steak?”