All in good fun, the 50 Campfires team slings the insult “snob” at each other at least a couple times a day. Among the crew we have a wool snob, a whiskey snob, a knife snob, a sauna snob, and even a couple of tech snobs. But one thing all of us get behind is being discerning when it comes to steak; particularly cooking a world-class steak while camping.

There’s a fine line between being a steak lover and a steak snob. The line moves depending on your personal commitment to cooking and eating the “perfect juicy steak.” One man’s snobbery is another’s Saturday night endeavor at the campsite.

No matter how much you spend on a luxuriously marbled piece of meat, how carefully you build a fire, what exotic herb blend you’re trying, how attentive you are to every second of the cooking and resting process, you can never know for sure you’ve achieved perfection. Just as steak snobbery is a moving target, so is the perfect steak. What’s perfect for one person is average to another. The key here is to find what perfect steak means to you.

In the 50 Campfires “9 Rules to Flame Cook a World-Class Steak” we’ve assembled 9 rules we’ve learned the hard way in our pursuit of steak perfection. Click through our complete list below to see what it takes to flame cook a world-class steak.

9 Rules For a World-Class Steak

Selecting a Steak
Preparing Steak
Seasoning
Fire, Fuel and Cooking Surface
Cooking Process
Cooking to Temp
Resting
Cutting and Slicing
Saucing and Sides

If you’re new to cooking great steaks over open flames, this guide can be a springboard to launch you in the right direction. Even if you are a seasoned griller, we’ve included a number of tips we’ve picked up from cooking hundreds of steaks at campsites all over the country. More than anything, we hope to inspire confidence. A good, high-quality steak is expensive, and the last thing you want to do is have it resemble boot leather. Learning these proven techniques should help put you at ease by providing a roadmap to the perfect steak.