Does it get any better than pork steaks?
On most weekends, and particularly holiday weekends during the hot weather months in the St. Louis area, backyard barbecues are in full swing. Without question the favorite meat to get grilled and barbecued around these parts is the venerable, blue-collar pork steak. And if you’ve never heard of a pork steak, don’t feel bad, most of the country hasn’t either.
Pork steaks are a real St. Louis tradition and frankly they probably will not get much national acclaim any time soon. Most people outside eastern Missouri just don’t get the attraction. That’s partly due to the fact that the steaks are sliced from the pork “butt” (actually the shoulder) and partly because they’ve never had one. But that’s OK, since that just means more pork steaks for us here in St. Louis. You go and pay your $5.00+ per pound for spare ribs, we’ll take the $1.59 per pound step-cousin all day long.
The interesting thing about grilling pork steaks is that there must be at least a hundred different ways to make them. Most recipes are passed down and modified by families and they all have their own mystique. For me, I prefer the method that takes the longest. That way you have more time to enjoy St. Louis’ other favorite summer pasttime — beer drinking.
If you came here looking for a secret recipe, this is the best I can do. My method involves cooking over a charcoal fire. There’s plenty of debate in cooking over propane versus charcoal, but for me the longer it takes, the better (see above). I start by generously seasoning the steaks on both sides with a minimum of salt, pepper, onion powder and steak seasoning. Once the coals have settled down and I have a medium fire I put the meat on the hot part of the fire and sear the steaks on both sides for about 10 minutes total. After that I baste the steaks in a mixture apple cider vinegar and beer (big surprise) turning every 4 minutes or so and basting some more, until a beautiful crispy texture to the meat and fat has been achieved (about 30 minutes). Finally, I pull the steaks off the hot part of the fire and then give them a thick coating of barbecue sauce on both sides and let the steaks rest on the cool part of the grill while the sauce reduces and slightly carmelizes on the meat.
The pork steak isn’t the fanciest barbecue meat around, but for whatever reason it’s makes for a very special summer dinner to us. On this occasion, we gave the pork steaks a little soul food flair by pairing them with turnip greens, a combination of black-eyed peas and snow peas (sounded like a good idea) all accompanied by corn bread muffins.
Pretty tasty stuff! Happy Memorial Day!
