If you’re a native of Saint Louis, Missouri, or the surrounding area, you’re lucky enough to know what a barbecue pork steak is. The rest of the country is saying, “hey, what are you talking about?” Well real quick, a grilled pork steak is not really grilled. Now, before the people of St. Louis go crazy, let me explain. Real barbecue is done with smokers, indirect heat, hickory or oak or other hard wood, takes a long time, hours, and makes great pork shoulder, ribs, brisket, and chicken. A pork steak can be cooked this way in a barbecue smoker, but it is not necessary. Most people here in St. Louis will use either a Weber Kettle grill with direct heat or a propane grill. So, BBQ pork steaks are actually, technically speaking, grilled pork with barbecue sauce applied.

How to cook a pork steak: five easy steps.

1. Get the meat. In St. Louis, that’s easy. Go to your grocery store, or neighborhood butcher shop, pick up the ones that are on sale, pay for them and take them home. If you don’t live in or around St. Louis, this might be a little more difficult. Most other areas of the country don’t have pre-sliced ​​and packaged pork steaks waiting to be picked up from the meat cooler. They will have plenty of pork chops, pork shoulder, pork roast, pork ribs, etc. You may be tempted to substitute pork chops. You could, if you want to grill pork chops, which are great by the way, but it’s not the same. You should ask the butcher to cut them to size for you. I may have to tell you how to do it. Tell him to take a Boston Butt (he’ll know what he’s talking about. If he doesn’t, get a different butcher), and cut it into half-inch to three-quarter-inch steaks. If he doesn’t do this for you, he gets a better butcher. He will need about one steak per person and an extra one or two for the big ones.

2. Rub your meat. Steaks should be seasoned before cooking with a mixture of spices known as barbecue sauce. Many books and e-books will have recipes for spice rubs. If you don’t want to use a barbecue seasoning, use salt and pepper. Be generous. Rub it all over the steaks.

3. Grill the meat. Grill the meat over direct heat, be it charcoal, gas, firewood, whatever you have available. Keep the flame low, a cool grill works best. Cover with lid and turn every ten minutes or so. Cook for about 35-40 minutes.

4. Put barbecue sauce on the meat. The last ten minutes or so, liberally spread barbecue sauce over the pork steaks. Use the sauce you prefer. In Saint Louis, most people prefer a local favorite, Mauls. Many people also thin the sauce a bit with beer. they use the local favorite, Budweiser, of course, for this step. Beer isn’t necessary, but some people use it to make their pork steaks taste better.

5. Serve the pork steaks. The pork fillets are served with the garnishes you wish to accompany. St. Louis favorites are yellow potato salad, cole slaw, corn on the cob, and baked beans. At least, those are my favorites, and I’m from St. Louis, so that must be everyone’s favorite. Generally, one pork fillet per person, eaten with a knife and fork. However, they also make great sandwiches.

There you have it, pork steaks, what are they and how to cook them.