Hand Forged Steak Turner

[Alan DuBoff]

A smithy friend of mine up in Idaho sent me this hand forged steak turner as a gift, which works great on this tri-tip I cooked with it yesterday eve.

(Linky pic to my blog which has a link to a gallery with more pics)

http://www.traditionaltoolworks.com:8080/roller/aland/resource/tri-tip.jpg (http://www.traditionaltoolworks.com:8080/roller/aland/entry/taking_the_steak_turner_for)

[Alex Shanku]

WOW!!

Its 7am and I am thinking I would love to eat at least half that platter!!!

Excellent!!

[Alan DuBoff]

WOW!!

Its 7am and I am thinking I would love to eat at least half that platter!!!

Excellent!!
Yeah, it was good! That Santa Maria style is from Cali, right in the backyard of where I used to hang out as a kid...

I have been told that the turner will not work on pork or other white type meats as the meat will flake and the turner will stand a chance of dropping the meat...

I was told that these have been tried and tested on beef, bear, venison, and elk.

I plan to use it on beef mostly, we don't get much in the way of bear, venison, and elk in my parts...:rolleyes:

What matters most to me is that the turner was hand forged by a friend and gifted to me, and that it is 100% made by hand. It's a beautiful tool for the 'que...:cool:

[Don C Peterson]

Alan,

Are you from Santa Maria? I grew up there, and whenever we go back I have to find some Santa Maria style BBQ.

Out here in KC, they think they know how to BBQ, and there's lots of debate over the best BBQ sauce, but IMAO, the best BBQ sauce is SALSA!

...Great, now I'm hungry...

[Alan DuBoff]

Alan,

Are you from Santa Maria? I grew up there, and whenever we go back I have to find some Santa Maria style BBQ.
I grew up down in the San Fernando Valley, and Ventura County, my parents live in Newbury Park near the top of the 101 grade. Spent a good number of nights camping at Lompoc, surfing the break at Rincon, and mostly sailing in the Santa Barbara Channel. One of my friends died recently and the 'ol group was talking about having a reunion/camp at Lompoc...just for good times sake...

Out here in KC, they think they know how to BBQ, and there's lots of debate over the best BBQ sauce, but IMAO, the best BBQ sauce is SALSA!
I like the KC style with a vinegar based sauce, for ribs it can't be beat, IMO.

The Santa Maria style is a bit different, and Cali put tri-tip on the map.

I've been pondering some other tools to forge that would be useful for the 'que, like a pair of tongs for flakey type meat. I have a few I forged to tend the fire and such, and amazing how rusty one got as I hadn't coated it with oil...rust never sleeps...when steel sits outside in the rain...

Do you do any forging Don?

My understanding is that the ranchers would use a long skewer with the tri-tip on it, and 'que it over an open fire and/or grill. I've been taught to do the marinade with Bernsteins, from a friend that grew up in Santa Barbara. You can get pinquitos online here (http://www.susieqbrand.com/). I'm not real fond of beans, but that's the style they serve, as you most likely know...:)

[Chris Padilla]

Alan,

I'm trying to figure out how this is ww'ing related. I may have to put the Mod hat on and do some really upleasent things now.... :(







;)

[Alan DuBoff]

Chris,

It's not, it's blacksmithing related. In the past blacksmithing was welcome, but your more than welcome to remove this thread, no worries.

[Don C Peterson]

I do a bit of blacksmithing too. Our family volunteers at Old Missouri Town 1855, which is a living history site. I am usually in the woodworkers shop, but I have been known to sneak into the blacksmith's shop.

Jr. Strasil has loaned me a portable forge, anvil and some tools, but I haven't taken much opportunity to fire it up, even though I'd like to. I've just been too busy in the wood shop...

"True" Santa Maria Style BBQ is seasoned with Elk's Seasoning. The Santa Maria Elk's Club makes big batches of the stuff (the exact ingredients are a closely held secret) and sell it to raise money. Essentially, it's dried garlic, salt, and pepper and a few other spices that escape me right now... Another requirement is to cook the tri-tip over an Oak fire.

It's kind of funny, when we first moved out here to the KC area, we went to a farmer's market and we were very surprised to see a booth advertising Santa Maria Style BBQ. It only vaguely resembled the real thing.

BTW, that hook is exactly what most folks use out there. It's just a corkscrew type hook attached to a pole. One of the more popular things to do was to create the hook and braze it on to a golf club shaft.

[Alan DuBoff]

I do a bit of blacksmithing too. Our family volunteers at Old Missouri Town 1855, which is a living history site. I am usually in the woodworkers shop, but I have been known to sneak into the blacksmith's shop.
I've done some smithing over at Ardenwood Historical Farm, it is similar to your Old Missouri Town from your description. They even have a horse drawn train, which is kinda cool...

Jr. Strasil has loaned me a portable forge, anvil and some tools, but I haven't taken much opportunity to fire it up, even though I'd like to. I've just been too busy in the wood shop...
That's a drive-by gloat if I have ever seen one! ;)

I've been pondering forging some chisels, but am not decided on how I want to go about that. I think I'd like to use softer steel and laminate a piece of tool steel on the back for the edge, similar to how the Japanese do nowadays, and how the English did it back in the 18th/19th century.

Elk's seasoning sounds good, never tried it...I usually just used Bernsteins as it's easily obtainable and folks like it. If you can get tri-tip back there, try it. I've never tried to put any beef rub on a tri-tip, but a brisket rub might work ok.

BTW, that hook is exactly what most folks use out there. It's just a corkscrew type hook attached to a pole. One of the more popular things to do was to create the hook and braze it on to a golf club shaft.
It does work good for beef. I like the idea of the golf club shaft for a large pit! :)

One interesting tidbit, the smith that forged this used a brass wire wheel on a grinder to add the color, heat the turner up just before it starts to turn red and wire wheel at 3600 rpm on the grinder. The color came out very nice. I'm told you need to use the smallest brass wire brushes available though. Looks pretty easy to make, but I have more interest in chisels...:rolleyes: (and saws of course, wouldn't mind forging a saw like the Japanese do)

I told Chris to go ahead and pull this thread, as the forging is not related directly to woodworking in this case. Although blacksmithing used to be ok to post here, most of what I forge is woodworking related, but that steak turner was done by another smith as a gift. ;)

[Jim Koepke]

Alan,

I'm trying to figure out how this is ww'ing related. I may have to put the Mod hat on and do some really upleasent things now.... :(


;)

You mean BBQing with our scraps of oak and hickory doesn't count as wood working related?

jim

[Jim Koepke]

I've never tried to put any beef rub on a tri-tip, but a brisket rub might work ok.

Worcestershire sauce and garlic marinade, yummm.

jim

[Chris Padilla]

I hope some of you caught the "tongue 'n cheek" obligatory ;) I put in!!

:D

Jim has the right idea to bring it on topic, however!!!