Chef’s Secrets Number 12 – Grilling

So I may be a bit off season here and should save my discussion on grilling for say…summertime? I present the argument that it is summer in Australia and I have some devoted Aussie readers. As for the rest of you, tuck this bit of info away for next spring or a beautiful fall day.

I grew up with parents who loved to cook. Perhaps that is what started me on my love for food, but my father was the undisputed grill-master. Whether it was just to stand outside in self-contemplation with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other, or by grilling he was filling some pseudo-male need for contributing in bringing in the hunt, my father loved to grill. Oh, he also loved to grill things to death.

Oh the years of chewing on nicely flavored albeit dried out meat were endless. Steaks were either notoriously under or overcooked, and for God’s sake don’t let the man BBQ chicken or we’d all get sick. No Dad, chicken should NOT be pink inside.

To be fair, it is tough to grill to perfect doneness. That is why the majority of chefs don’t! Grills in a professional kitchen are largely for putting grill marks onto meat, and imparting a taste of a thousand other pieces of meat and burnt ickyness into the meat.

Once perfectly marked and seared, the meat goes into the oven. Yup, that’s right. Finish that meat in a blast of 400F oven and your meat can be monitored and finished to perfection without drying out.

This is how I do it at home, too. Rarely (pun intended) will I fully cook something on the grill. The only exceptions are steak and meats on the rotisserie. The rest gets lovingly marked and seared and then into the oven.

Try it next time. Unless of course you’re one of those men who stands outside with cigarettes and beer contemplating the mysteries of MAN-kind while fiercely guarding the grill to provide sustenance for your family.