Ever notice that on backyard barbecues, it’ s always the man on the town who is in charge of the grill? Maybe it’ s the scent and the sizzle of fat and grease hitting a sizzling hot surface. Or the primal allure of cooking with the most basic of tools. Whatever it is, you still need to know the basics of cooking like that for your family to completely enjoy the thrills in the grill.
You have to keep in mind that grilling is a simple cooking process. The meat has to be tender right from the start. You cannot cook extended like in steaming and boiling where it can tenderize the meat. You try that while in the grill and you will end up with charcoal for meals. Be aware of a meat’ s freshness, thickness, cut and marbling. These factors will determine the final outcome of your projects.
All the fancy flavourings and infusions might be useless if done on the wrong cut of meat. Porterhouse steaks, T-bone, and strip steaks are popular choices because they are the ones best worthy of being subject to this grill’ s high warm. Thinner cuts like flank beef and skirt steaks burn easily and are not recommended for outdoor barbecues and indoor broilers.
Balance freshness with aging. To ensure freshness, look for beef that is definitely bright red or serious red. Avoid too much blood and stay away from those pre-cut meats with too much liquids sloshing around from the packaging. This simply means the meat has been staying in the butchers for so very long that liquid is noticed that you seep out. Also look for meat that has a layer of fat. During the grilling process, this fats will melt and infuse your meat with intense taste.
Even cuts are the perfect for grilling. Too thin and you burn the meat. Too thick and the inside will be live. Have one side thinner and that side will get achieved first. Cook it long enough for any thicker side to get done and you will end up burning the other.
Next concern is aging a meat. Buy meat a few days from the planned barbecuing. This way, the met will have time to mature in your refrigerator. Aging is when the meat’ s natural enzymes act on it making it more sensitive. Frozen meat should be allowed to thaw out completely in advance of being grilled.
If the recipe involves a marinade, this would be the time to do it again. Marinades often contain acids like vinegar or lemon juice, salt, and possibly liquor from wine or brandy. This makes them fast-acting so you have to marinate on the day itself instead of longer. There is a change between tender and mushy so you have to time it perfectly. To prevent spills inside your icebox, place the meat along with the marinade inside a resealable vinyl bag.
Remember that that you are still handling raw meat so many of the usual precautions still make an application. Keep it refrigerated until the grill is nice plus hot. Also mind the surfaces you will be laying food on. food poisoning caused by bacteria will ruin just about any picnic, so be very careful.
Finally, you can place the meat to the grill and wait eagerly for dinner to be served. Enjoy!
