Here at Nommy we've decided that we want to bring you more than just a blog about food, but also a blog about the gadgets used to prepare food. From the simple to the devices that looked like they came from Dr. Suess on acid we will be purchasing them and using them in our lives and then reporting our findings to you.
I have a friend who is a Sous Chef at a 5 star restaurant in Las Vegas and while I was visiting them last year he walked me through preparing a grill so that it gives you a nice looking cut of meat perfectly cooked and served at just the right time. I've used his method of grilling ever since I got my gas grill and it's worked beautifully every time. OG MAKE FIRE!
The first step: to grilling is to make sure you have a well seasoned grill. You did season your grill when you got it right? No? Here is what you have to do to season your grill ... clean it really really well. Were talking Brillo Pads to get down through the crap and onto the nice shiny metal.(Ohh Shiny!) My grill is Stainless steal but the cast iron grills are usually coated in an enamel and are easy to tell when you have cleaned it far enough. When I say "cleaned it far enough" I mean you see the enamel not going all the way down to the cast iron. That would be bad!
Clean your grill on down to that point and then you want to coat it with a cooking oil. I use canola or vegetable oil, but apparently some people try to use motor oil to season their grill. While you may get more mileage out of your grill by going that route, it is not recommended for flavor ... and it smokes a lot. Once your grill is coated turn your burners on high and close the lid and let it heat for 10 min. Turn your grill off and let them cool. Once cooled apply more oil and repeat the process another 2 times. With charcoal ... get a nice big batch of charcoal going in your grill spread out the coals and then oil your grill and put it on top for 10 min, then remove your grill and let it cool, re-oil and place over the coals again.
The second step: Preheat your grill like you would an oven. Gas: Set all your burners to high and close the lid. Charcoal: Use more briquettes than you normally would for the cooking session and light then like you normally do. I like using a chimney starter but I've had no problems using the pile method. Let the charcoal become layered with ash and then spread out across the bottom grate. Place your cooking grate on top and then close the lid with the vents wide open to promote air flow.
The third step: Once your grill is nice and HOT take some oil and oil down the grill. The oil will only take a minute to get nice and hot then proceed to step four. The forth step: Lightly coat your food items of choice with oil and place on the grill. I like to place all the food running the same way lengthwise with the grill grates. I'll explain why in a second. Keeping the grill on high heat (or charcoal right under the food) stay right there with the food and you're going to sear the outsides. What this is going to do is lock in the juices. After about a minute or two rotate your food 45 degrees. This is going to give you that nice diamond pattern grill marks you see in restaurants. After another minute flip them then repeat the process. You're only doing this for a few minutes enough to sear the meat and lock in the juices. The reason why I run the meat lengthwise with the grills is so it's easy to rotate them 45 degrees. This is pure aesthetics but it does present a nice finishing touch to the food. I have a three burner Weber grill, you might have a two burner or a grill with less control than I have so just adjust where needed.
The final step: After you've seared the food you want to turn the heat down and cook it. Different types of food cook better at different temperatures. Beef or Fish: Turn the heat down to medium and continue grilling with a direct heat. The thickness of your cut will determine how long you need to cook it to achieve your desired degree of done. Chicken: Turn off the middle burner and crowd your chicken into that area, turning the front and back burners to low, close the lid and slow cook your chicken for about 10 - 15 min. Chicken is cooked when it is 175 - 185 degrees in the thick part of the chicken Pork: Pork needs to be slow cooked so you don't dry out and toughen the outside while the inside is still raw. Once again use the indirect cooking method as used with the chicken. Veggies: I also like to cook my veggies like I do my chicken with an indirect heat source. With veggies I like to constantly baste them or spray them with water because they tend to dry out really fast. That's it ... to sum it all up 1 Season your Grill 2 Preheat your Grill 3 Oil your Grill 4 Oil your food and Sear 5 Cook
