Who doesn’t love a good steak? This one is marinated in a fantastic whiskey sauce and then finished caveman style, directly on the hot coals.

Several hours before you want to cook your steaks (or even the night before) you want to whip up your marinade. In a bowl, mix together 1/3 cup of whiskey, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce (I used this amazing Barrel Aged Hardwood Smoked Soy Sauce from BLiS in Grand Rapids, Mich.), 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard, and 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes. Put your steaks into ziplock bags or use a FoodSaver if you have one. Pour in your marinade, split evenly between each steak, and then seal. Put into your fridge until you’re ready to grill them.

When ready to grill, put some charcoals in your basket and then light some coals with a chimney starter. I use almost exclusively hardwood lump, either FOGO or Rockwood. Once all the coals in your chimney starter are hot, dump them on top of the other coals in your grill basket.

Take your steaks out of the fridge and the marinade bags. Make sure to save the marinade juice in a bowl. Rub your steaks with Lane’s BBQ Ancho Espresso Rub, which is perfect for steak with an earthy, rich flavor profile. Put your leftover marinade into a sauce pan and bring to a boil on your stove, then reduce to a simmer.

Now comes the fun part, but make sure you have everything you need ready because you won’t want to leave your grill. Use tongs to put your steaks directly on top of the hot coals. Make sure there is a little bit of space between them, so depending on how many steaks you’re doing and how big your grill is you’ll probably have to do them in batches. Let them sit on the coals for a few minutes until they get a nice dark crust on the side facing down, then flip them.

Now it’s all about monitoring them to make sure they get up to temp without getting overcooked. You don’t have a lot of room for error since you’re cooking directly on the hot coals, so don’t walk away. After a few minutes, check the meat temp with your instant-read Thermapen. As with any steak, if you want them rare, you’re looking for 130-135. Medium rare you want 140-145. Medium 150-160. Well done and you might as well just throw them away and eat some cardboard instead…haha!

When the steak reaches your desired temperature, remove from the coals with tongs, making sure to give them a couple of shakes to shake off any embers before putting onto a plate. Drizzle some of your heated whiskey marinade over top and you’re ready to eat! Cooking on high heat directly on the coals gives the outside of your steak a great crust, especially with that Ancho Espresso Rub, which has some brown sugar in it that caramelizes nicely.

Since a t-bone is essentially a NY strip steak on one side and a filet mignon on the other side of the bone, your filet mignon side might be slightly more cooked than your strip side. But without sous vide there’s really no way to avoid this since they are technically two different muscles. Regardless, unless you completely char it, you’ll have a great steak with a fantastic bark in only a few minutes.

Note: Any products I endorse in my recipes are solely because I like them and believe in them. I am not paid or encouraged to endorse anything.

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