If there's one thing I've learned from traveling to cooking events all across Texas, it's that how you cook your steak is a purely personal thing and everyone has their own favorite way of doing it. And that's what's so fun about food - there's not necessarily a right way or wrong way of doing it. Over the years we've perfected a very simple way of cooking steak that has so much flavor it might just change the way you "do steak" forever.

My favorite cut of beef is a one inch thick ribeye, but of course any cut of meat can do just fine. I will pull the steak out of the refrigerator and set it out on the counter for at least 30 minutes before putting it on the grill. I will also separate individual steaks if they are stacked on top of each other in the packaging they came in. Allow the meat to warm up close to room temperature or until it feels "cool" instead of "cold." Doing this will allow the meat to relax and slightly soften, and most importantly, will allow each steak to cook evenly throughout.

Olive oil. Drizzle about a quarter-sized dot on each side of the steak and rub the oil on all sides and don't forget the edges. If you don't want to use your bare hand for this, tear off a small piece of wax paper or use the back of a spoon to spread the olive oil instead. The olive oil plays an important part in the cooking process and makes a difference in the outcome. First, there are several ingredients in Stagner's Steak Rub that are oil-soluble and the oil breaks down the ingredients to really bring out the most flavor in the rub. Second, the olive oil helps keep the meat moist in the grilling process and helps the rub adhere to the meat. Olive oil's a good thing, baby.

Immediately after rubbing the steak with olive oil, it's time to break out your tin of Stagner's Steak Rub. Season the steak as if you would with salt and pepper. It's a very neutral and mellow rub so it's hard to overdo it, but it might take you a time or two to figure out exactly how much rub you prefer on yours. I'm pretty liberal with it myself - but that's just me. Don't forget some of the rub will come off in the cooking process. After seasoning, I only wait about 5 minutes before putting the steaks on the grill. Grill your steak to your liking and you're ready to cut into a little bit of heaven.

It really is this simple. Truly anybody can make a ridiculously great steak in their own backyard or kitchen.

One last parting word of wisdom...

Just say no. To using tongs, that is. If you are finding that a lot of rub is coming off when you grill your steak (or meat of any kind for that matter), there's a better way. Our Stagner Steak Turners allow you to flip meat without scraping off any seasoning at all as opposed to tongs which seem to scrape seasoning off the meat each time you flip it. The Steak Turners are very intuitive and easy to use. Grilling is so much better once you have one of these cool grilling tools.

Next time you're in the mood for a great steak, try it the "Stagner Way"and see what you've been missing.