michael s
(Michael S)
#1
But before you spark up your grill, commit these five rules to
memory to make cooking easier and more successful:
1. It's all about prep. Once your grill is hot or your guests have
arrived, you don't want to be measuring ingredients and you shouldn't be
up to your elbows in shrimp marinade and running around your kitchen
like a chicken with its head cut off. Doing your prep work well
beforehand will make grill cooking much less stressful and the end
result far better. So before you light the grill, make sure you have
everything you need—the spatulas and tongs at the ready, the little
bowls of spices and marinade in place, the veggies cut and rinsed, the
meat waiting patiently on a plate under plastic wrap. This is your
performance; have your orchestra tuned up.
2. Don't get too hot. If you are using charcoal, avoid cans of
charcoal starter or coals presoaked with accelerant—unless you
particularly enjoy the flavor of lighter fluid. Instead, invest in a chimney
starter. You stuff newspaper in the bottom of this metal cylinder, top
that with your briquettes or lump charcoal, and light the newspaper with
a match. In 10 minutes, you'll have gray ash coals ready to dump into
your grill. If you are using a gas grill, your job is much easier. Light the
gas and control the heat with a turn of a knob. With either method, cook
with moderate heat to avoid flareups that'll cover your meat with a
greasy black film and fail to caramelize it properly.
3. Cook on a clean grate. Using a heavy-duty grill brush, scrub the
metal while the grate is warm. Charred food bits on your grill can ruin
the taste of meat, fish, and vegetables.
4. Air your meat. Fifteen minutes before grilling, allow the meat to
come to near room temperature. Take the meat out of a refrigerator,
place it on a plate, and cover with plastic wrap. This will help the meat
cook more evenly.
5. Don't poke at it. Use tongs to move your meat around on the
