Time for some updates. After re-reading
Everything You Thought You Knew About Grilling Is Wrong, I realized that I’d left out quite a few things that will help raise the bar on your grilling efforts. That particular essay was all I needed to move from never buying steak as an adult (for fear that I’d have to be the one to cook it) to grilling it at least once a month — sometimes much more — during the summer.
But what about the grill temperature? you ask. What if I want to grill some potatoes, or other vegetables? How long can I expect the food to take?
Okay, okay. I just finished cooking up a truckload of steak and veggies for the family, and noticed a few things I’d left out, so here are a few more helpful grilling hints.
Too Hot Is Bad (also see: Flames Are Bad)
I have a gas grill, so I’m able to more accurately regulate temperature. I typically keep the flame as low as my grill will allow. The only exception to this is when I feel like grilling in October or December and the external temp is maybe forty or fifty degrees. But in the heat of the summer, keep it dialed down as low as possible. For charcoal, you don’t want any open flames. Coals are the best. Be forewarned, that even with the lowest heat, you’re likely to get some flames shooting upward, charring the meat. If you’re tending the grill, this might be mitigated somewhat, because you’ll see a lot more smoke coming out than normal. More often than not, this will happen when you’re cooking a lot of chicken — especially thighs — and the juices drip out. Flip early flip often to manage this. Otherwise — as I had to do earlier today — just stick ’em up on a higher rack in the grill. Flames will mess with the schedule, blackening the outside and leaving the inside raw.
Cook Potatoes Longer
Whenever I add potatoes to the grill, I throw them on a full ten minutes before anything else. And I forget about them. The flip, flip, flip rule does not apply to potatoes. They take longer to warm up for one, and I like at least one side to appear a little browned. Constant flipping will certainly cook them, but they won’t necessarily be as aesthetically pleasing as if you let them cook on one side for fifteen or twenty minutes before flipping.
Simple Potato Recipe #1: cut some baking potatoes in half (lengthwise, so the halves are shallow). Create a criss-cross pattern with your knife across the tops, cutting about a quarter of an inch deep. To do this, do one set of parallel lines, then rotate the potato slightly and repeat. Smear butter across the top, then salt and pepper. Wrap tightly in foil — you do this tightly so the potatoes get grilled, not steamed. I tear off a big sheet of foil, then fold it back on itself so it doesn’t accidentally get punctured while I’m moving it around the grill.
Simple Potato Recipe #2: quarter a bunch of baby new potatoes. Dice half an onion or so. Highly specific measurements, I know. Dump both into a large Reynolds Foil Pouch, along with a bunch of butter and salt and pepper.
Give yourself half an hour for the potatoes, either variety.
Truth be told, pretty much any combination of vegetables in a foil pouch with salt, pepper, and butter, works out well. Just mix and match. Green beans by themself are fine, but you might want to add fresh dill. Diced tomatoes and onions with sliced summer squash is also nice and the optional quartered mushrooms are good too.
Slice Steak Before Serving
You’ll rarely have leftovers if you do this, plus you’ll be able to serve steak without steak knives. You’re the cook, right? You prepared the marinade. You carefully tended the hot grill, making sure to flip the steak early and often. And now you’re just supposed to throw a slab on somebody’s plate so they can say “whoa, too much,” or “darn, not enough?”Get a nice serving plate. Cut the steak for everybody, in nice, thin, diagonal stripes, across the grain, similar to how you might cut a flank steak. Instead of worrying about “eating an entire steak” your guests are free to select one or more strips. They won’t need the steak knife because you’ve already done the work for them. If they’re selective about how done the meat is, your nice strip will clearly show varying stages of pink. When they’re done, believe me, they’ll go back for “just one more.” The only time I’ve ever had left-overs was when I over estimated the amount of steak I’d need by about a pound and a half.