Chomp!

By Ron Aiken

 

The two secrets to grilling success!

There’s a line in one of my favorite movies of all time, The Shawshank Redemption, that says geology is the study of pressure and time. After some grilling debacles last month I’d prefer to forget, I got simple with my techniques and reclaimed my mojo by reducing my strategy – and stress – to two words that will serve you well the rest of your life when it comes to success on the grill: time and temperature.

There’s really nothing more to grilling than that. In my consecutive disasters, I lost track of both time (being distracted) and temperature (out-of-control flare-ups). Maintaining control over both is a matter of some basic vigilance that will empower you forever.

First, know how long stuff takes to cook, be it salmon, chicken or steak (our family’s three go-to proteins, not including pizza). It’ll vary by the size of the meat. For chicken, obviously chicken tenders (or sliced breasts) take less time than a breast on the bone. For steak, it’s all about the thickness of the cut. For salmon, you’re pretty much always in the same ballpark.

You need to know your times for your protein before you even light the grill. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Have a hard number in mind, and stick to it. You’re feeding the people around you – do not let them pull you away from this. THEY WILL TRY!

Now, temperature. You will NEVER go wrong with medium-high heat for almost any cooking chore. You can ABSOLUTELY go wrong with high heat, and low heat, well, why does it even bother besides being there for simmering purposes?

Many people adhere to the dual-heat method for grilling steaks, wherein one side is HIGH where you sear for 1-2 minutes a side then move to MEDIUM heat to finish the next 5-10 minutes or so, depending on the steak. FORGET THAT NOISE! We’re keeping life simple and grilling on MEDIUM-HIGH. You can still get a nice sear and you’ll still have a delicious meal to serve your family.

When I was getting started grilling, I had my times for different cuts of meat (adjusted from experience) written down and I’d take the paper to the grill with me along with a stopwatch (on my cell phone). I’d gotten cocky and stopped doing that, leading to my recent embarrassments. I’m back on the stopwatch system, and the results – I hope – speak for themselves:

 

I know, right? I mean, SERIOUSLY???? This chicken tasted even better than it looked, which as I’m sure you’re thinking right now, doesn’t seem possible.

 

Every great beauty needs a close-up, so here’s my money shot.

 

I dare you not to salivate.  I dare you! You are dared!

 

And for the steaks, my redemption was complete as I mastered different cuts and sizes of meat in one fell swoop:

 

A host of New York strips and ribeyes! They were so, so tender it was effortless to chew them. Like butter they melted! Like heaven itself they tasted!

 

To finish off the above meals, I usually do a salad, like so with fruit (strawberries, apples or blueberries) and a couple kinds of cheese (feta or goat to put on top, then slices gruyere or parmesan).

 

I like simple, healthy, semi-sweet salads that I can use my Raspberry Walnut vinaigrette with rather than the cucumber/carrot/tomato variety that I cannot resist using blue cheese or ranch dressing on.

 

For potatoes, I go with new potatoes and generally leave them whole in the oven where they soften up like marshmallows and I can add a touch of sour cream.

 

They look like this! Delish-ee-yoso!

 

Finally, I love doing either fresh Brussel sprouts on the stove with butter and salt or green beans which, thanks to Levi Benggio, I’ve done like this recently taking on his idea. Check it out:

 

I had to be convinced that blueberries and green beans belonged together, but when you add some butter and brown sugar (second pic, below), you get something kinda rockin’ and fun! I’m not saying you do it every time – after all, butter, salt and garlic are a pretty great way to go – but why not mess around sometime?

 

Here’s a close-up of the brown sugar in the pan after I’ve added it.

 

So, what have we learned? Grilling success is all about TIME and TEMPERATURE. Google the times if you don’t have a good idea, and print them out. Then, change those times to suit your specific grill so you can duplicate over and over and over. There’s no other secret to success than that, and good readers, I’m delighted to share it with you, especially when it was learned at so heavy a price (turns out my brother’s root canal WAS NOT covered by his insurance, so those steaks I wrote about that took a crown out of his mouth led to $1,500 out of pocket at the dentist’s office).

Til next time!

 

 

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