I'm Just Here For The Food Part 3

A WORD ON COUNTER-TOP GRILLS.

A certain retired boxer has made approximately a gazillion dollars by marketing an electric counter-top grill. I know plenty of folks who like them, but I've never been able to get any real lasting heat out of one. And without real heat there will be little if any sear. And, of course, with the top down there's going to be steam. Don't get me wrong, it's a valid method of cooking-it's just not grilling, and you should adjust your expectations accordingly.

I have learned that the George Foreman Grill has changed the world in a very positive way. Many people out there live without kitchens and this appliance gives many of those folks a way to cook that they haven't had before.

I am very much at home with charcoal. I love charcoal. I can reach a Zen-like oneness with the coals. A couple of summers ago I constructed a 4-by-8-foot fire pit in my backyard and had special grates made to fit it. I cooked whole pigs over hickory fires, then harvested the leftover charcoal to use in my three grills. I am a freak, but I can live with that.

By the way, even truly fine gas grills cannot generate the heat of natural chunk charcoal. That's because a glowing coal simply has so much of the light spectrum going for it. Don't believe me? Go into a darkened hangar with a gas grill and a charcoal grill. Fire them both up and observe them through your infrared goggles. See what I mean?

CHARCOAL LORE.

Henry Ford was really into camping. The Ford archives are lined with photos of the G.o.dfather of the a.s.sembly line lined up with his cronies, all sitting around smoldering campfires in suits and morning coats and ascots and spats and things. (I'd love to spend more time camping but I just don't have the right cufflinks.) One is always struck by how puny the fire looks compared to the a.s.semblage and their mansion-tents. Turns out that campfire starting and management was always an issue among the gents, who no doubt resented snagging their watch chains on kindling.Now it just so happens that during this time Ford's company was manufacturing an automobile called the Model A, and it was a ragtop. When engaged, the fabric top was held in place by wooden staves. The factory that made these staves had a lot of leftover wood chips to get rid of. One of Henry's buddies started thinking about the chip problem and the campfire problem and in a true flash of genius conceived the charcoal briquette. The fellow's name was Kingsford. Up until the 1950s, you could only buy Kingsford charcoal (boxed not bagged) from Ford dealerships. To this day, Kingsford charcoal controls 50 percent of the country's charcoal market.

Grilling

When Brillat-Savarin made his famous remark "We can learn to cook but must be born to roast," he was actually talking about the process we know as grilling, the cooking of foods (especially meats) via the radiant energy and convection heat generated by glowing coals or an actual fire. B-Savarin was right inasmuch as grilling cannot be taught; it can, however, be learned through experience. In other words, the only way to learn to grill is to grill.

Many people do not want to hear this. They want a recipe to follow, which is why there are so many books about grilling published each year. The problem, of course, is that besides the usual considerations that go into the cooking of a given food, there are many other factors unique to grilling. Among them: * The size, shape, and style of the grill* The type of charcoal* How much charcoal is involved* How that charcoal is positioned in relation to the target food* The outside temperature* The outside humidity* Available airflow

All of these factors are concerned with the management of heat. Many fine grill teachers have wrestled with this issue, and one prevailing method has emerged: It is to hold one's hand a certain distance from the fire and count how many seconds you can stand to hold it there.

This is a fine method for the experienced griller who has learned how to interpret the information his hand/sensor gathers, but for the novice it is a buggy system at best. (See ill.u.s.trations, opposite.) The other popular method is to use charcoal volume as a guide. You often see references to "a chimney starter's worth of charcoal" or "about a quart." This is not a bad point of reference if you're using something standard like briquettes, but for lump it's a little dicey. Besides, the volume system doesn't take arrangement and distribution into account, and that's probably the biggest factor in grilling.

MORE LORE.

Until 1951 all grills were "table" grills. Since the food had to be cooked directly over the coals, the only way to control the heat was to move coals around by reaching though the grates and pushing them. Such devices were extremely limited in scope-not to mention incredibly unsafe due to their high centers of gravity.Then along came a genius. Like the rest of postwar America, George Stephen enjoyed backyard cooking. But George chafed at the lack of control he had over the grills of the day. He lived in Illinois, where the wind would whip in from the prairie and blow out his fire.George worked at the Weber Brothers Metal Works, a company known for its darned fine marine buoys. Legend has it that one day George was fastening the bottom to the top of a buoy when, like the monkey picking up the bone in 2001: A s.p.a.ce Odyssey 2001: A s.p.a.ce Odyssey, the potential gradually dawned on him. He took home some sc.r.a.pped parts and created the first kettle grill. Friends and coworkers were shocked and surprised by both the quality and consistency of his creation. George headed up the new barbecue division of Weber Brothers and things must have worked out, because in 1965 the company became Weber-Stephen and has been ever since. Today George occupies a rightful place next to Prometheus on the high throne of fire.

PRE-1951 GRILL Bright red paint job can't camouflage medieval design. Charcoal goes in the bottom, food goes on the grate. Okay for cooking a thin steak but outside of that, not great. Bright red paint job can't camouflage medieval design. Charcoal goes in the bottom, food goes on the grate. Okay for cooking a thin steak but outside of that, not great.

POST 1951 Brave new grill. George Stephen's grill was the Volkswagen Beetle of the cooking world-it changed everything.The lid, spherical shape, and air vents made it possible to control heat levels by controlling air flow. Since heat could convect throughout the vessel, indirect-heat grilling suddenly became possible. Lacking vision, the n.o.bel Prize committee failed to acknowledge Stephen. Brave new grill. George Stephen's grill was the Volkswagen Beetle of the cooking world-it changed everything.The lid, spherical shape, and air vents made it possible to control heat levels by controlling air flow. Since heat could convect throughout the vessel, indirect-heat grilling suddenly became possible. Lacking vision, the n.o.bel Prize committee failed to acknowledge Stephen.

In 2004, I hooked a gas-powered blower to a trailer-sized rental grill. Several metal parts melted. It was a beautiful moment.

AB WEBER MODIFICATION V1.0.

No one at Weber knows I've done this and I'm confident that if they knew they wouldn't like it. I removed the rotating cover plate from one of the bottom air vents and fitted it with a length of tail pipe and a hair dryer. Essentially, I've turned the grill into a blast furnace capable of generating enough heat to please the average blacksmith. I got the idea after seeing a chef in Italy cook steaks over a fireplace grate after whipping the fire into a frenzy with a hair dryer. Why does it work? Remember, combustion is really a chemical reaction in which the carbon in the charcoal (or any coals for that matter) has a thermal fling with air. More air, more combustion, more heat available for radiating to a target food. I'm contemplating a new version utilizing the motor out of an old vacuum. Oh and by the way, if you do this and burn the house down, you're on your own.

CARDBOARD BOX SMOKER.

MY GRILLS.

First there's my hulking Bar-B-Chef, manufactured by Barbecues Galore, an Australian company. This very stout piece of ordnance has an actual coal elevator inside that allows you to crank the coal grate up and down in relation to the food, which sits on heavy, wide, cast-iron grates above. It's wonderful for direct-heat grilling and for rotisserie work. For all indirect cooking (what I call grill roasting), I have a 22-inch-diameter Weber 1-Touch Gold (meaning it has an integrated ash catcher). It's bright orange and I love just about everything about it. Of course, I've made some modifications (see ill.u.s.tration, above) that I'm not sure the folks at Weber-Stephen would endorse, but hey, what they don't know won't hurt 'em, right? I've also got a couple of Smokey Joes, which look like the 1-Touch's sp.a.w.n. They're great travel grills and capable of some lovely tricks of their own.

CLEAN YOUR MACHINE WHERE IT COUNTS.

It may look like a beat-up '74 Gremlin on the outside, but your grill grate had better be squeaky clean or food will absolutely, positively stick, especially high-protein items like meat. Not only will sticking badly damage the food, it removes those groovy (literally) grill marks. Now, I'm not a very neat person, but here's my plan: I never clean the grate after I use it; I clean it before I use it.

GRILL TOOLS.

Essential * * fire extinguisher fire extinguisher * * spring-loaded tongs (long) spring-loaded tongs (long) * * stem-style a.n.a.log thermometer stem-style a.n.a.log thermometer * * stable table or other work surface stable table or other work surface * * grill rag: a tied towel for rubbing down grill (see ill.u.s.tration, right) grill rag: a tied towel for rubbing down grill (see ill.u.s.tration, right) * * clean platter for retrieving cooked food clean platter for retrieving cooked food * * for fish or burgers, a grill spatula for fish or burgers, a grill spatula * * pumice stone for heavy crud (and light rust) removal pumice stone for heavy crud (and light rust) removal * * wire brush for general cleaning (the bristles need to be closely cl.u.s.tered and short; otherwise they'll simply wave to either side of the grate) wire brush for general cleaning (the bristles need to be closely cl.u.s.tered and short; otherwise they'll simply wave to either side of the grate) * * spray bottle or squirt gun for putting out flare-ups spray bottle or squirt gun for putting out flare-ups * * digital timer digital timer Awfully Nice But Not Essential * * grill light for night maneuvers grill light for night maneuvers * * metal skewers metal skewers * * saute basket (looks like a giant square metal ashtray with lots of holes drilled in it) saute basket (looks like a giant square metal ashtray with lots of holes drilled in it) * * portable hairdryer (for churning up the fire) portable hairdryer (for churning up the fire) * * ash bucket ash bucket * * small metal trash can with lid for charcoal storage small metal trash can with lid for charcoal storage * * fire stick for lighting fires fire stick for lighting fires * * fireproof mat for underneath grills on decks or wooden structures fireproof mat for underneath grills on decks or wooden structures

HOW TO GRILL BY DIRECT HEAT.

Despite its mystique, I wasn't quite ready to buy into the grilling as a s.n.a.t.c.h-the-pebble-from-my-hand Zen thing. I asked a bunch of cook friends what factor they thought most important in grilling, say, a perfect steak. All five of them said the same thing: heat control. Then I asked them how they knew they had it right. They all said: experience. Having recently seen the film Memento Memento, I decided to give myself a problem: what if a person couldn't make memories and had no way to acc.u.mulate experience? Could he or she still grill a New York strip? Perhaps you could load the equation in this person's favor by identifying a set of controllable factors (time, ma.s.s, heat), then provide the tools for their control.

Time was the easy one, so a timer would definitely be part of the kit. I thought too of weighing the steak, but figured that in direct-heat cooking, what really matters is how far the heat is going to travel, so thickness matters more than any other single factor. So I bought a strip and cut myself nine 1-inch thick steaks. Next, the big one: heat.

Many a grill aficionado judges the heat of the grill with a thermometer mounted in the dome of the grill cover. (Although the thermometer that Weber builds into the handle of their nicer kettle grills seems relatively accurate, I always back it up with another stem thermometer inserted in the top vent.) That thermometer can only tell me what the c.u.mulative air temperature is inside the dome. That's great info to have if I'm planning to grill-roast with the cover on. But if I'm planning to grill a couple of steaks, it's useless. For that I need intelligence from the front lines, so to speak. I need to know what's going on at the grate. And I'm not going to put my hand anywhere near it, thank you.

I figured that measuring out the charcoal was a good idea, even if it only got us into the ballpark, so I settled on a single chimney's worth (about one quart of lump charcoal). I fired it up, and once the coals were glowing, I dumped them onto the fire grate. Now what? I tried placing a coil-style oven thermometer right on the grate, but since it's designed to read air temperature, it got a little confused. Besides, I really needed to know not only the temperature of the radiant heat at grill level but the temperature of the grate itself.11 I was flummoxed. Standing there staring at the coals had warmed me up, so I went back to the Airstream to ponder the situation over an icy beverage.

Ice melts when its temperature rises above 32 F. That's a known factor, so one could say that ice is a good thermometer.

Since I knew that the thickness of the food mattered a heck of a lot more than its width or length, I decided to stretch my meat supply by cutting the steaks down to 4-by-4-inch squares that were 1 inches thick. These I seasoned liberally with kosher salt and allowed to come up to room temperature.12 I filled an ice bucket, grabbed a stopwatch, and divided my grill grates into four zones. My plan: select a cooking time and a desired doneness, then finesse the fire until it delivered my steak in that time and to that doneness. Then all I'd have to do is time how long that same fire took to melt a cube of ice and I'd have a measuring stick to steakhood. I filled an ice bucket, grabbed a stopwatch, and divided my grill grates into four zones. My plan: select a cooking time and a desired doneness, then finesse the fire until it delivered my steak in that time and to that doneness. Then all I'd have to do is time how long that same fire took to melt a cube of ice and I'd have a measuring stick to steakhood.

I started the test by melting cubes in all four sectors. I used the standard cubes made in ice trays in some 90 percent of American household freezers, shaped like this:

The times were radically different, which I'd expected, given the fact that I hadn't really arranged the charcoal but let it fall where it may (see ill.u.s.trations, opposite).

I laid a square steak on each sector of the cast-iron grill grate and hit the timer. I figured that 4 minutes per side was reasonable, so I left them for 2 minutes then rotated them 90 degrees and gave them another 2. At that point I turned over all four pieces (with tongs of course) and let them cook again for 2 minutes, then rotated them for 2 minutes more. I removed them and let them rest for 5 minutes.

Both the steaks from the right side, those from zones A and B, with ice cube melt times of 24 and 35 seconds looked the best, and once sliced, the steaks were very close to perfect: the steak from zone A was on the medium-rare side of rare, and the steak from zone B was on the rare side of medium-rare. Both steaks were darned tasty. The steaks from the slower sectors were undercooked inside and out. I hypothesized from this that if an ice cube melted on the grate in 30 seconds, give or take a couple of seconds either way, you could produce a darned fine steak in 8 minutes, 4 on each side with a twist after 2. Subsequent testings bore this out. At one point, the ice took over 50 seconds to melt so I stopped and added more charcoal; 15 minutes later we were back to 25 seconds and great steak.

Next I wanted to find out how much the grate material itself mattered, so I replaced the cast-iron grates with the standard-issue grate from my Weber and retested.

GRILLING: THE SHORT FORM.

* A clean grill grate is important. You can clean a grate in a self-cleaning oven or use your muscle and a pumice stone. A clean grill grate is important. You can clean a grate in a self-cleaning oven or use your muscle and a pumice stone. * * For direct cooking, spread coals in a single layer that extends approximately 2 inches beyond where food will cook, with briquettes barely touching each other. For indirect cooking, place your food over a drip pan and mound the briquettes along the sides of the pan. For direct cooking, spread coals in a single layer that extends approximately 2 inches beyond where food will cook, with briquettes barely touching each other. For indirect cooking, place your food over a drip pan and mound the briquettes along the sides of the pan. * * The number of briquettes needed depends on the size and type of grill you're using and the amount of food being cooked. A general rule is 30 briquettes to grill 1 pound of meat. The number of briquettes needed depends on the size and type of grill you're using and the amount of food being cooked. A general rule is 30 briquettes to grill 1 pound of meat. * * Their grayish white color indicates that coals are hot and ready. You shouldn't see much in the way of smoke or flames because the compounds that produce them are gone. Their grayish white color indicates that coals are hot and ready. You shouldn't see much in the way of smoke or flames because the compounds that produce them are gone. * * If you need to lower the heat, try raising the height of your grill rack, s.p.a.cing coals farther apart, covering the grill, or closing the grill's air vents. On the other hand, if you want to increase the heat, try gently poking the coals or moving them closer together. If you need to lower the heat, try raising the height of your grill rack, s.p.a.cing coals farther apart, covering the grill, or closing the grill's air vents. On the other hand, if you want to increase the heat, try gently poking the coals or moving them closer together. * * Once the grill is hot, wipe the grates down with a rag dipped in vegetable oil. Do this every time you use the grill. Once the grill is hot, wipe the grates down with a rag dipped in vegetable oil. Do this every time you use the grill. * * The best way to tame a flame is to choke off its air supply using the grill lid. The best way to tame a flame is to choke off its air supply using the grill lid. * * Remember, charcoal burns about 200 hotter than a wood fire. Having a fire extinguisher on hand is always smart. Remember, charcoal burns about 200 hotter than a wood fire. Having a fire extinguisher on hand is always smart.

The melt times for the ice cubes were significantly longer-almost twice as long on the thin grate as for the same level of fire under the iron grates. That made sense. Conduction kicks b.u.t.t when it comes to delivering heat, so the denser ma.s.s and greater surface area of the iron grates would deliver more heat to the ice quicker. To compensate for the lack of actual contact, I cranked the fire up physically and put on some more charcoal. Within another 15 minutes the fire was at its hottest.13 I dropped my ice again and hit the timer. I dropped my ice again and hit the timer.

Hoping to conserve steak, I decided not to split hairs and went with the zone with the highest contrast, zones A and B again. As soon as the meat hit, I knew I'd have to change plans, as the meat in the zone A started popping and blackening around the edges almost immediately. At the 1-minute mark I turned the steak, but held to the 2-2, 2-2 timing of the original test for the steak in zone B. After 2 minutes, I turned the steak in zone A, exposing a surface that I would have called just short of burned. I figured it was toast but went ahead and let it cook another minute, then turned it and let it cook a final minute. I let both steaks rest 5 minutes.

When I sliced the steak from zone A, it was beautiful. As terrible as it had looked sitting on the plate, once cut, it revealed a beautiful red, medium-rare interior that contrasted nicely with the charred edge. Flavor-wise, it was a great contrast of char bite and creamy meatiness. All the tasters proclaimed this as their favorite; the steak from zone B, at medium, came in second.

On a lark, I tossed on even more charcoal, then cut another steak crosswise into 1-by- 1-by-4-inch rectangles. I mounted these on steel skewers, 2 per skewer, then salted them rather heavily and let them sit at room temp for 10 minutes. I grilled them on the near-nuclear fire for 1 minute on each side, slid them off the skewers while they were still hot, and rested them for 3 minutes. I sliced them into cubes (again: a great contrast between mahogany exterior and almost rare interior), sprinkled them with balsamic vinegar, ground on some pepper, and served.

The tasters devoured these the fastest despite the fact that they had already gorged themselves on the earlier tests. Turns out that the added surface area allowed for more crust development. And that was a good thing.

SO WHAT WAS LEARNED?.

Ice cubes can be used to gauge the heat at the grate level. Using widely s.p.a.ced bars, arrange the charcoal so that a standard ice cube melts in 30 seconds; cook your meat for 2 minutes, then rotate 90 degrees and cook for another 2. Flip and repeat. Rest for 5 minutes, slice, and serve. If you like more char, consider the narrow bars and coals that will melt the ice in 20 seconds, then cook 1-1, 1-1. Or you can grab your own bucket of ice and figure out what you like. The next time you grill steaks for company they may chuckle when you start grilling ice, but with practice you'll be able to hit your desired doneness every time. Finally, all other things being equal, meat on widely s.p.a.ced, dense grates will cook faster than on small, wiry grates.

Despite America's fascination with hunkin' hunks of meat, I no longer serve steaks in their whole state. And boy do I have reasons: * Nine times out of ten, a 12- to 16-ounce steak is too darned much for one person. By slicing a grilled steak, you still get the illusion of "a lot" without plopping half a cow on your plate. Two people can suddenly feel full on what would normally feed one.* Slices are easier to eat. By controlling the thickness of the slices, you prevent your guest from cutting off more than he or she can comfortably chew. The meat will also seem more tender, regardless of the temperature to which it was cooked.* Don't be afraid to cut a steak before you cook it. The kabob experiment taught me that. Also, the 4-by-4-inch blocks used in the test were trimmed of most of their perimeter fat, and that prevented flare-ups.

HAMBURGER SUCCESS.

There are six or seven ground meat options, not counting pork, lamb, and veal. Successful meat cookery depends on knowing the nature of the cut. Ground round and ground sirloin come from the round and sirloin primals, respectively. They're lean and, if cooked to recommended hamburger temperature, will be overcooked and dry. Chuck comes from the chuck primal. It has a bit of connective tissue and contains about 30 percent fat. When ground, chuck is exceptional for hamburger making. Hamburger or ground beef is made from leftover meat tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs. That's likely to include filet and rib-good stuff. So when buying hamburger or ground beef, it's likely to be better than buying ground round.* Keep seasonings to a minimum-a little kosher salt is all you need. Keep seasonings to a minimum-a little kosher salt is all you need. * * Don't make mega-burgers, a 5-ounce patty works great. Don't make mega-burgers, a 5-ounce patty works great. * * Make sure your grill is hot before adding the meat in order to get that great crust. Make sure your grill is hot before adding the meat in order to get that great crust. * * Don't apply pressure to burgers when they're cooking. It only serves to push the juice out of the meat. Plus, using a spatula on the raw meat can lead to cross contamination. Don't apply pressure to burgers when they're cooking. It only serves to push the juice out of the meat. Plus, using a spatula on the raw meat can lead to cross contamination. * * Flip burgers only once. Flip burgers only once. * * For a burger that's medium-rare (130 F), cook 4 minutes per side. For a burger that's medium (150 F), cook 5 minutes per side. Anything beyond medium just ain't worth cooking. For a burger that's medium-rare (130 F), cook 4 minutes per side. For a burger that's medium (150 F), cook 5 minutes per side. Anything beyond medium just ain't worth cooking.

FAVORITE GRILLABLE FRUITS.

It used to be that once my steaks, chops, ribs, whatever, had come off the fire, I felt a little guilty-seemed like such a waste to let the fire just die without putting anything else on it. Now whenever I grill I make sure I have some fruit prepped to take advantage of those final BTUs. By the time dinner's done, the fruit is soft with a little char-perfect for topping with ice cream or sorbet. Here are some fruits that work well on the grill:* Peaches, halved, pit removed Peaches, halved, pit removed * * Pineapples, skin on, cut into long wedges Pineapples, skin on, cut into long wedges * * Mangoes, the meaty cheeks only Mangoes, the meaty cheeks only * * Bananas, whole in the peel (make slits to allow steam to escape) Bananas, whole in the peel (make slits to allow steam to escape) * * Grapefruit, halved and seared, then turned cut side up and sprinkled with sugar Grapefruit, halved and seared, then turned cut side up and sprinkled with sugar * * Honeydew melon, chunks can be skewered or long slices can be grilled Brush or spray the fruits with a neutral oil. This will prevent sticking, and the oil will help get high heat into the fruit. Honeydew melon, chunks can be skewered or long slices can be grilled Brush or spray the fruits with a neutral oil. This will prevent sticking, and the oil will help get high heat into the fruit.

Cooking times vary but I usually sear the cut sides over direct heat while I'm standing there, then turn the pieces cut side up, set them off direct heat, and leave them until the fire dies down. The sweeter the fruit the more I like to let it char... Ah, contrast.