Porterhouse Perfection
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Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown

Dry Aged Chimney Porterhouse

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  • Level: Intermediate
  • Total: 4 days 20 min
  • Prep: 15 min
  • Inactive: 4 days
  • Cook: 5 min
  • Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

Directions

Special equipment:
Newspaper, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, natural lump charcoal, chimney starter
  1. Wrap the steak in a single layer of paper towels and put on a cooling rack set inside a half sheet pan. Refrigerate 24 hours. Discard the paper towels, rewrap and return to the refrigerator, on the rack, for 3
  2. days. Change the paper towels again if it becomes damp and sticks to the steak.
  3. An hour before cooking, remove the steak from the refrigerator and remove the paper towels. Thirty minutes before cooking, sprinkle the steak on both sides with the kosher salt.
  4. Spritz 2 pieces of newspaper with the vegetable oil and put in the bottom of a charcoal chimney starter. Light a pound of natural lump charcoal in the chimney on the cooking grate of a kettle grill. Burn the coals for 11 to 15 minutes, or until all pieces are ashen and have decreased to a single layer of charcoal with several holes through which you can see.
  5. Carefully shake the chimney to knock any ash off the coals. Pick up the chimney and use tongs to brush away any coals or ash on the grate. Lay the steak on the grate where the chimney was. Put the chimney over the steak and cook for 1 1/2 minutes. Watch for coals that may fall out of the chimney onto the steak and remove immediately.
  6. Remove the chimney, flip the steak, and replace the chimney for another 1 1/2 minutes. Put a cooling rack on top of the chimney during this time to heat.
  7. Remove the steak from under the chimney and put on the cooling rack. Cover with a medium metal mixing bowl and cook for 1 minute. Watch for flare-ups from the chimney and remove the whole cooling rack as necessary. Flip the steak, recover with the bowl and cook for an additional 1 minute. Remove the steak from the chimney and rest on the cooling rack set inside a clean half sheet pan, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and slice. Arrange the slices on serving plates and serve.