Summer Grilling: Meat Lovers

With Memorial Day quickly approaching it’s hard to keep thoughts of summer from overtaking the brain. Days whittled away at the beach, cooling down with an ice cream cone, and above all, delicious backyard BBQs. Plus, May is National Barbecue Month!

One of the greatest things about the season is firing up the grill and enjoying a meal of freshly cooked meat, seafood, and vegetables with friends and family. But grilling can be a bit intimidating, for newbie chefs, for those counting calories (hello beach weather), and even for those experienced chefs that want something a bit more creative than the standard steak sauce.

Grilling should be as a carefree as your summer days, and there’s no point stressing over the grill when we have tips from chefs to make your time in front of the BBQ easy. To help you fire up, we asked the pros for the best tips and tricks on summer grilling, starting with barbecue tips for meat lovers.

First, be patient and generous. Chefs K.C. Fazel of Los Vegas’s Tender Steak & Seafood, Carey Yorio of Goya Foods, Saul Ortiz of Las Vega’s Tacos & Tequila and Greg Bastien of Chicago’s Tavernita stressed the importance of pre-heating and oiling the grill. Be generous with your fuel source when initially starting up the grill (you don’t want to refuel while you are cooking, which could make your food taste like ash or flames) and oil up with plenty of non-spray oils before you start.

Next up, marinades, cooking time, and finally, recipes!

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Second, marinate your meat.

“Grilling is a hot, fast, cooking method that can dry out meats quickly,” explains Yorio. “To ensure that your grilled foods stay juicy and tender, marinate them.”

Depending on the marinade method used, your meat could marinate for just a few minutes or as long as 48 hours. If you’re using a sweet glaze, don’t add it until the last few minutes of cooking as the sugars burn easily. Follow the specific instructions that come with your marinade and remeber to let meat come to room temperature before throwing it on the grill.

“This ensures a more consistent internal temperature versus when you throw the meat directly on the grill from the refrigerator,” said Bastien, who also recommends that you wipe off any excess marinade before grilling to reduce flares.

Third, learn the right moves. You should turn over the meat, not flip it. Practice makes perfect and you have a whole summer to get your technique down, so try pick up the meat and in one motion place it back down. 

Again, patience is key. Once your meat starts sizzling, resist the temptation to move, prod, poke, or taste test. Generally speaking, for a one-thick piece of meat on high heat, it will take about 13 minutes to reach the medium stage, 18 minutes for one and half inch thickness, and 20 minutes for two-inch thickness. Of course, that all depends on your grill, fuel, heat, even weather conditions. 

For chicken or burgers test the meat with your finger. If the meat feels soft, it’s rare, if it’s hard you’ve overdone it, and if it bounces back it’s done. And after taking the meat off the grill, rest it. Even though it’s off the grill the meat is still cooking, so let it  cool at room temperature for five minutes. You will be deliciously rewarded for your patience. 

Now, that you got the meat grilling down try out recipes for Grilled Lemon and Garlic T-Bone Lamb Chops, Grilled Pork Chops with Mango Sauce, and Grilled Skirt Steak with Argentinean Chimichurri.