Top Summer BBQ Secrets for Gourmet Cooks

Know what you're searching for. Even heat circulation is crucial, and it's achieved by changing the vents to let oxygen in and out and stacking the coals to develop indirect and direct cooking zones. You also want a blazing-hot fire. Charcoal doesn't include water, allowing it to reach those white-coal temperature levels that produce the perfect sear on a steak or char on a cob of corn.

Sure, there are various types of charcoal grills, from barrel shaped to flat-tops. Even a standard Weber Original Kettle grill (top-rated in Customer Reports' "Finest Charcoal Grills of 2020") can outperform the others just based on its traditional shape, which is optimal for heat blood circulation.

If you desire the highest-performing, most heat-efficient charcoal-burning grill on the market and cost isn't a deterrent, think about a Kamado, whose designs include The Big Green Egg (see opposite page). Choose swelling charcoal over briquettes.

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This hollow metal cylinder with a bottom grate holds the charcoal. You utilize newspaper and matches or an air-driven lighter to assist the charcoal catch fire and never ever have food that tastes like lighter fluid.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

One failsafe strategy is to opt for thigh meat, which has more fat and for that reason greater juiciness and flavor. Do not like dark meat? Purchase bone-in, skin-on breasts and prepare them carefully over indirect heat. Zerkel also advises marinading the breast ahead of time and butterflying it slicing open the breast to make 2 cutlets.

The method you prepare this lean white meat makes a difference, too. To keep it from losing its valuable juices, "I would scorch it and move it to the cold side of the grill" to cook slowly, he states. He also purchases whole chickens, cuts them up and has parts he can cook differently grilled thighs, poached (in liquid on the stove) breasts for ramen.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Season your meat with salt and let it come to room temperature. (You can even season it as much as eight hours before cooking and let it sit in the refrigerator.) Position the steak on the most popular part of the grate and sear it for 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

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Move the meat to the cooler part of the grill to finish it off to whatever temperature level you like. "I'll put a half-cabbage on the 'cold' side of the grill, get an excellent char on it, and it softens and becomes something else" something fantastic, he says.

"The crust it forms will also help it separate" from the grate without falling apart, he says. Before using it each time, Zerkel scrapes the grate and wipes it down with oil.

Weber Original Kettle 26," $329 at Village Ace Hardware (2170 N. Prospect Ave.) Advocates declare the huge benefit is the taste it imparts to food that tantalizing smoky taste. But Zerkel, a professional chef who's accustomed to using a range's knobs and temperature controls with precision, likes this approach of cooking for its unpredictability.

Photo by Aliza Baran The Big Green Egg can bake, slow-smoke, saut and sear. If price is no object, this grill just may be for you. Picture thanks to Didriks You might have become aware of this contraption a green, egg-shaped ceramic grill that can cook a pizza at 700 degrees in minutes and smoke a beef brisket at 220 degrees for 14 hours.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

The Big Green Egg is a grilling investment that might make sense if you prepare to use it a lot. Todd Minkin does. The Fein Brothers co-owner keeps his Egg in regular rotation in summertime. What does he like about it? "Because of the thickness of the ceramic, it holds its temperature well.

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The Egg does not need much charcoal, and for those who hate cleansing grills, this one is low-maintenance. To purchase: Especially excellent for steaks, ground meat and pork ribs, bone-in roasts, chops.