"Eisenhower Steak" Is the Retro Grilling Technique That Deserves a Comeback

If you’re trying to turn up the heat on your cookout this summer, look no further than Dwight D. Eisenhower’s daredevil method for grilling a steak. The 34th president of the United States—a five star general, a native-born Texan, and “enthusiastic amateur chef”—reportedly loved to shock dinner guests by dropping a four-inch steak directly onto the coals of a campfire on the White House lawn. 

“Guests have had to be restrained from springing forward to rescue the steak,” wrote Ralph McGill, covering the president’s unconventional method for the Miami Daily News in 1953. 

The big reveal, of course, is that the steak isn’t ruined at all. Although it came off the coals completely blackened on the outside, cutting into it would reveal a perfectly rare, juicy steak, wowing White House guests every time—much to the self-satisfied delight of the grill master in chief.

“Only another amateur chef can know how much the combined relief of the guests and their enjoyment of the steak means to the male, non-pro cook,” quipped McGill. 

“It’s theatrical, for sure,” agrees Tim Byres. “It’s a real ‘Dad Thing.’” Byres is a Texas grill master and author of the James Beard Award-winning book SMOKE: New Firewood Cooking. He says he’s drawn to grilling methods that use a bit of showmanship, that bring people together, and that are just plain fun. Grilling an Eisenhower steak, he says, is the perfect performance. 

“I always have fun being kind of casual with it,” he says. “Like: Oh, here's this super epic Flintstone-style piece of meat. Let's season it. And then, in Eisenhower fashion, you just kind of casually just toss it on the flames, and people are like, ‘What’s going on?!’”

How to Make Eisenhower Steak

Byres says you too can make an Eisenhower steak on the grill or right over a campfire. “A patio fire pit would work just fine,” he says. From there, a perfect steak starts with the coals: It’s essential, Byres says, to use lump charcoal made from natural wood—not briquettes, which cook down to ash. “You don’t want to end up with a really ashy, dirty steak.” You want to be cooking these steaks over a 2-to-3-inch layer of red-hot coals; give them ample time to heat up. 

Next, season your steak heavily. Byres’s preferred spice rub is made with coffee grounds, aromatic spices, and dark brown sugar. “The brown sugar is great because it melts and creates a barrier, so the outside gets crazy charred.”

When it comes to the cut of meat, “I suggest really primal cuts,” says Byres. “Like a big Tomahawk or a really thick Porterhouse.” A 2-to-3-inch bone-on steak is the ideal; a larger cut leaves more room for error.

Now the tricky part: How will you know when your steak is ready to come off the coals? Byres says it’s a lot of trial and error, but he ballparks about 8 minutes per side, before letting the steaks sit and rest for 10 minutes. “A lot of people will get nervous that they’re burning it,” he says, and of course, it can be nerve-wracking to see a beautiful Porterhouse steak in flames over the coals. But he says the Eisenhower steak, for all its fanfare, can be pretty forgiving. “You might get a little char or burn, but it’s like toast, man. You can scrape it off if you overdo it.”

To calm your nerves, says Byres, just go in prepared: Have a shovel or long tongs ready to fish the steak off the coals, set up an area for the steaks to sit once they’re off the fire, and use a meat thermometer to check internal temps. (For rare to medium rare steaks, you’re looking for 130 degrees Fahrenheit.) You can always take them off the coals once to check on them, then throw them back on to finish them up.

At its core, the Eisenhower steak is about throwing caution to the wind and following your instincts, instead of adhering to some highly specific methodology. “Too often, grilling becomes this very technical thing,” Byres says. “I think the bigger piece is having fun with the people around you.”