Fabulicious!: On the Grill (11 page)

Tutto fumo e niente arrosto.

Instead of saying that something is no big deal or someone is “all bark and no bite,” Italians say it's “all smoke and no roast.”

O
f all the things that people grill, meat is the most common—and the most commonly messed up! We're going to fix that once and for all, so your burgers will be perfect, your steak will cut like butter, and your pork chops will be to-die-for delicious.

The most important thing to remember is that you're not always going to cook everything over high heat. As my Joe says, “Take it nice and slow.” It's called “grilling,” not “burning.”

One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to tenderize their meat in all the wrong ways. When I see someone pull out a metal hammer that looks like a medieval torture device and start hacking away at the raw steak, I cry a little inside. Believe it or not, tenderizing has nothing to do with hitting anything.

There are four main ways to truly tenderize meat: A) cooking it with moist, low heat for a long time to break down the tough parts; B) letting the meat tenderize naturally as its enzymes change, like butchers do by dry aging beef, but that takes about twenty days to work; C) using an actual tenderizing tool that looks like
a metal spike to poke into meat to break up the gristle, but doing this also breaks the muscle and creates holes to let moisture escape; and D) choosing a good, tender cut to begin with. The best choice is D.

(And remember, the most tender doesn't always mean the most flavorful. Have you ever noticed the flavor difference between flank steak and filet mignon? Just because it's beef doesn't mean that every cut tastes the same.)

If you use a pointy hammer on your steak in an attempt to tenderize it, you'll break up not only some of the connective tissue, but also the actual meat. Think of a meat hammer as a giant beast that is pre-chewing your steak for you. No good.

So what do people use a hammer for? To make a piece of meat—usually boneless and skinless chicken breast halves—a uniform thickness so it will cook evenly. If you have a giant hump on one end, that part won't get cooked through while the thinner end is overcooked. Steaks are usually pretty uniformly cut already, so you don't need to pound them; chicken usually isn't, so you do. But when you do, you should use a flat mallet or a rolling pin so you aren't damaging the meat. Put the meat between plastic storage bags, as this creates a slicker surface that helps the meat “stretch” from the pounding. And it's best to pound the meat when it's cold just after taking it out of the fridge, when the meat is firmer.

It's a myth that marinades can tenderize steak. They add great flavor and are good for your health when you're grilling (I'll tell you why in a minute), but they can't really penetrate a steak or the individual muscle fibers. It takes beef's natural enzymes almost a month to work on making steak soft during the dry-aging process; a few hours in your fridge isn't going to cut it. In fact, even if you marinate a steak for five days, it will only soak into the meat about one-eighth of an inch.

 

You might have heard that you need to bring meat to room temperature before cooking it, but that's a little too warm and not safe. All you need to do is take the chill off the refrigeration, which can be done in thirty minutes (on a hot day, you may only need fifteen). If you don't, and try and grill the cold meat right away, you'll end up having to increase your cooking time, which will decrease the deliciousness.

Covering your steak with plastic wrap while it sits on the counter doesn't do anything to help or hinder it, either. You really don't need to unless you have a dog that might run in and snatch it, or if there are pesky flies around.

Did you notice what
isn't
on my list of the tools you needed for grilling (see
page 25
). A grilling fork. Not only do you
not need
one, but you also
shouldn't
use one. Ever. Turn your meat with long tongs. If you pierce it with anything to pick it up, you're putting holes in it. It's the equivalent of stabbing your steak in its prime and watching its life essence drip away. . .

Now, I didn't say to use a spatula to flip your meat, and here's why: it's far too tempting to use the back of the spatula to press down on the meat before you flip it, especially burgers. Doing so may make that cool sizzling sound from fat dripping onto the flames, but it's a serious grilling offense. Not only does it rob the meat of moisture, leaving it more likely to dry out, but it can also cause a dangerous flare-up. So why do we do it so much if we're not supposed to? A friend told me it's because we've seen it done on TV and in restaurants: the cooks squish the
burgers. But those are flat, mass-produced burgers that need to get off the grill in a hurry, and are almost always served medium-well to well done.

Another thing that can ruin your otherwise perfect piece of meat or patty: moving it around too much. You only want to flip it once. Don't go near the meat until the underside has formed a nice crust. This is true of all grilling, but it's especially true with burgers because too much flipping can make the patty fall apart.

When you remove food from the grill, it keeps cooking inside so the internal temperature will actually go up three to five degrees. For that reason, you should take your meat off the grill when it measures three to five degrees before your desired temperature so it will end up right where you want it. So if you want a medium steak, take it off the grill at 130°F, let it rest, and it will go up to 135°F.

Here's a handy chart of what temperatures correspond to our descriptions of rare through well done meat.

Another thing that people tend to rush is serving the meat after it's cooked. You must, must, must let it rest first. After you take it off the grill, let it stand undisturbed for at least 5 minutes, 10 minutes for larger pieces. It won't get cold (in fact it will keep cooking), but it will get much, much juicier. When meat is heated, all the moisture is forced out of the meat fibers and settles in the middle. Cut it open right away, and the precious juices will flood your plate. When you let it rest, you give the meat fibers a chance to relax, open back up, and reabsorb the moisture throughout, making every single bite—as long as you're patient!—a luscious, lip-smacking wonder.

Not all cuts of meats—thin pork chops and steaks and chicken breast—are thick enough for you to use a thermometer. (That's one reason why a thin-stemmed, instant-read thermometer is better than a thick-stemmed, old-fashioned thermometer.) If you don't have a thermometer, you could always slice into the meat to see how done it is, but that's really ugly and lets the juices out, and really, just don't do that. Instead, get to know your way around steak by learning how to tell how done it is inside by the “touch test.” If you poke the steak in the middle with your forefinger, you can tell its degree of doneness by how firm or soft it is. How do you gauge what's firm and what's soft? It's takes some practice, but here's how it works:

Open your left hand so that your palm is facing up. Keep it nice and relaxed, then poke the fleshy part under your thumb with the forefinger (the first finger, also called your “index” or “pointer” finger, depending on where you grew up) on your right hand. See how squishy that is? That's how “raw” feels.

Now touch your left thumb to your left forefinger, making a loose “o” shape.
Poke the fleshy part of your thumb with your right forefinger again. This time it's a little firmer. That's what “rare” feels like.

Now release that finger, and touch your left thumb to your left middle finger. Poke yourself. A little firmer. That's “medium-rare.”

I think you know where we're going with this: Touching your left thumb to your left ring finger and poking your fleshy bit is what “medium” cooked meat feels like.

And finally, your left thumb touching your left pinkie gives you the same tension as “well-done” meat.

Chi la vuole cotta e chi la vuole cruda.

Literally: “Some want it cooked, and some want it raw.” What it means: “Different strokes for different folks.”

 

Makes 4 servings

This simple dish is as Italian as they come. We just call it “beef cutlets”; it's breaded steak on the grill. In fact, it's the first recipe Joe told me I had to include in this book because we make it so much. The breading helps keep the steak juicy and delicious! This is one time when you don't want to cook the steak over high, but over medium heat to crisp the crust. For “chicken cutlets,” just substitute the steak with pounded boneless and skinless chicken breast halves, and cook for about 10 minutes total.

1½ pounds sirloin steak, trimmed, cut 1 inch thick

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ cup Italian-seasoned dry bread crumbs

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Lemon wedges, for serving

1.
Cut the steak into 4 serving portions. Using the flat side of a meat mallet, pound the meat until it is about ½ inch thick, or about half of its original thickness.