Mastering the grill: the owner’s manual for outdoor cooking

418 Pages·2007·210.92 MB·English

by  David Joachim

MASTERING
T H E G R I L L
THE OWNER’S MANUAL FOR OUTDOOR COOKING
BY ANDREW SCHLOSS AND DAVID JOACHIM / PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALISON MIKSCH
CHRONICLE BOOKS
SAN FRANCISCO
DEDICATION
FOR RON JOACHIM (1945-2003),
A MASTER OF FIRE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Three years ago, we started researching and writing about the science of grilling. Since then, so many people have fanned the flames, it’s
difficult to know where to begin thanking everyone. Initial sparks came from our agent Lisa Ekus and editor Bill LeBlond, who encouraged
the notion of us writing a book together. Thank you both for your support and insight every step of the way. To Amy Treadwell, huge thanks
for lending your intelligent and creative mind to our sprawling manuscript. Barretto-Co., we can’t thank you enough for making a mountain
of information so easily accessible with your simple, bold design. Thanks also to Arthur Mount for your detailed illustrations and to Rebecca
Pepper for razor-sharp copyediting.
We spent 18 months testing recipes and would like to thank everyone who test-drove, sampled, and critiqued the recipes in this book,
especially Tara Mataraza Desmond and Meera Malik for offering plenty of down-to-earth suggestions during long days at the grill, as well
as Christine Bucher; August and Maddox Joachim; Bonnie Joachim; Jon, Michelle, Jonathan, and Michael Joachim; Bill, Mary, Leah, and
Brian Joachim; Chris and Lisa Neyen; Tom Villa; Kurt Larson; Paul Dellapa; Dave Pryor; Selene Yeager; Tom Aczel; Michelle Raes; Andrew
and Kim Brubaker; Doug Ashby; Danielle Lubene; Bill, Beth, and Natalie Strickland; Mark Bowman; Mark Taylor; Röbi Eugster; Dale and
Cindy Mack; Bill and Bridget Doherty; Cathy, Ken, Tomias, Nick, and Tessa Peoples; Kathy, Dan, Elizabeth, and Natalie Shollenberger;
Karen, Dana, Ben, and Isaac Schloss; Ned and Debby Carroll; Topher Desmond; Mary and Allen Frankel; Diane Zilka; Karen Mauch; Joan
and Burton Horn; Deborah Shain; and Murray Silberman.
Throughout the recipe testing and photography, we cooked with food from a huge array of food merchants and purveyors. Thanks in
particular to John and Sukey Jamison of Jamison Farm for outstanding lamb; Bill’s Poultry at the Allentown Farmer’s Market for quail and
other birds; and the many farmers at the Emmaus Farmer’s Market, especially Rod Wieder of Backyard Bison and George and Melanie
DeVault of Pheasant Hill Farm.
Text copyright © 2007 by Andrew Schloss and David Joachim. We took on this book’s photography ourselves and are indebted to the talented photography team that created such stunning photo-
Photographs copyright © 2007 by Alison Miksch.
graphs over months and months of shooting, including photographer extraordinaire Alison Miksch, food stylist and papaya connoisseur
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.
Michael Pedersen, assistant food wizard Donna Land, photography assistant and scarf aficionado Jada Vogt, and tireless prop stylist Erika
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.
Ellis. We also thank Asa and Olivia Fritz and Donna and Ed Land for graciously allowing us to set up camp in your fields and fireplaces for
ISBN - 978-0-8118-7835-7 (epub, mobi) various photo shoots. Big thanks to Phillip Shulman; Carol Moore; Christine Bucher; August and Maddox Joachim; Bill, Beth, and Natalie
ISBN -978-0-8118-4964-7 (pb)
Strickland; Sharon, Walter, and Tess Sanders; and Sean and Morgan O’Rourke for modeling during these photo shoots. To Susan Pollack,
Manufactured in China. a special thank-you for taking some very cool shots of us hamming it up at the grill.
Design and typesetting by Barretto-Co. For trumpeting our book title and roadside assistance during book promotion, thanks to Jennifer Tomaro and Peter Perez at Chronicle
The photographer wishes to thank her parents for their ardent support Books.Thanks also to the behind-the-scenes staff at Chronicle for helping us bring this book to life, including Tera Killip, Doug Ogan, and
and generous spirit, which infuse her life and work. Evan Hulka.
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books Lastly, big hugs to our wives Christine and Karen for gracefully enduring yet another book and making room in our homes for more
9050 Shaughnessy Street grills, smokers, and knives.
Vancouver, British Columbia V6P 6E5
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com
DEDICATION
FOR RON JOACHIM (1945-2003),
A MASTER OF FIRE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Three years ago, we started researching and writing about the science of grilling. Since then, so many people have fanned the flames, it’s
difficult to know where to begin thanking everyone. Initial sparks came from our agent Lisa Ekus and editor Bill LeBlond, who encouraged
the notion of us writing a book together. Thank you both for your support and insight every step of the way. To Amy Treadwell, huge thanks for
lending your intelligent and creative mind to our sprawling manuscript. Barretto-Co., we can’t thank you enough for making a mountain of infor-
mation so easily accessible with your simple, bold design. Thanks also to Arthur Mount for your detailed illustrations and to Rebecca Pepper
for razor-sharp copyediting.
We spent 18 months testing recipes and would like to thank everyone who test-drove, sampled, and critiqued the recipes in this book,
especially Tara Mataraza Desmond and Meera Malik for offering plenty of down-to-earth suggestions during long days at the grill, as well as
Christine Bucher; August and Maddox Joachim; Bonnie Joachim; Jon, Michelle, Jonathan, and Michael Joachim; Bill, Mary, Leah, and Brian
Joachim; Chris and Lisa Neyen; Tom Villa; Kurt Larson; Paul Dellapa; Dave Pryor; Selene Yeager; Tom Aczel; Michelle Raes; Andrew and Kim
Brubaker; Doug Ashby; Danielle Lubene; Bill, Beth, and Natalie Strickland; Mark Bowman; Mark Taylor; Röbi Eugster; Dale and Cindy Mack;
Bill and Bridget Doherty; Cathy, Ken, Tomias, Nick, and Tessa Peoples; Kathy, Dan, Elizabeth, and Natalie Shollenberger; Karen, Dana, Ben, and
Isaac Schloss; Ned and Debby Carroll; Topher Desmond; Mary and Allen Frankel; Diane Zilka; Karen Mauch; Joan and Burton Horn; Deborah
Shain; and Murray Silberman.
Throughout the recipe testing and photography, we cooked with food from a huge array of food merchants and purveyors. Thanks in
particular to John and Sukey Jamison of Jamison Farm for outstanding lamb; Bill’s Poultry at the Allentown Farmer’s Market for quail and other
birds; and the many farmers at the Emmaus Farmer’s Market, especially Rod Wieder of Backyard Bison and George and Melanie DeVault of
Pheasant Hill Farm.
We took on this book’s photography ourselves and are indebted to the talented photography team that created such stunning photographs
over months and months of shooting, including photographer extraordinaire Alison Miksch, food stylist and papaya connoisseur Michael
Pedersen, assistant food wizard Donna Land, photography assistant and scarf aficionado Jada Vogt, and tireless prop stylist Erika Ellis. We
also thank Asa and Olivia Fritz and Donna and Ed Land for graciously allowing us to set up camp in your fields and fireplaces for various photo
shoots. Big thanks to Phillip Shulman; Carol Moore; Christine Bucher; August and Maddox Joachim; Bill, Beth, and Natalie Strickland; Sharon,
Walter, and Tess Sanders; and Sean and Morgan O’Rourke for modeling during these photo shoots. To Susan Pollack, a special thank-you for
taking some very cool shots of us hamming it up at the grill.
For trumpeting our book title and roadside assistance during book promotion, thanks to Jennifer Tomaro and Peter Perez at Chronicle Books.
Thanks also to the behind-the-scenes staff at Chronicle for helping us bring this book to life, including Tera Killip, Doug Ogan, and Evan Hulka.
Lastly, big hugs to our wives Christine and Karen for gracefully enduring yet another book and making room in our homes for more grills,
smokers, and knives.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: THE SCIENCE AND MECHANICS OF GRILLING 9
PART I: THE GRILLMASTER’S MANUAL
CHAPTER 1 MASTERING 13 A.Types of Grills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 D.Grill Storage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
YOUR B.How Grills Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 E.Grill Tools and Accessories. . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
EQUIPMENT C.Grill Cleaning, Maintenance, and Repair. . . . 19 F. Grill Fuels and Fire Starters . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
CHAPTER 2 MASTERING 29 A.Mastering Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 03. Rotisserie Grilling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
YOUR 01. Starting a Wood Fire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 04. Adding Smoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
TECHNIQUE 02. Starting a Charcoal Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 05. Barbecuing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
03. How to Maintain a Live Fire. . . . . . . . . . 33 06. Cooking in the Coals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
B.The Science of Heat Transference. . . . . . . . 34 07. Wrapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
01. Conduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 08. Cooking on a Plank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
02. Convection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 D.Mastering Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
03. Radiant Heat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 01. Judging Meat Doneness. . . . . . . . . . . . 42
C.Mastering Grilling Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . 36 02. Judging Produce Doneness. . . . . . . . . . 43
01. Direct Grilling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 03. Judging Doughs’ Doneness. . . . . . . . . . 43
02. Indirect Grilling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 04. Resting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
CHAPTER 3 MASTERING 45 A.Mastering Meat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 C.Mastering Seafood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
YOUR 01. Protein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 01. Fish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
INGREDIENTS 02. Fat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 02. Shellfish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
03. Grass-Fed, Grain-Fed, and Organic . . . . .47 D.Mastering Produce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
04. Cuts of Meat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 01. Roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
05. Ground Meat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 02. Stems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
06. Grading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 03. Fruits and Vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
07. Beef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 04. Leaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
08. Veal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 05. Flowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
09. Pork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 E.Grilled Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
10. Lamb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 F. Grilled Dough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
11. Game Meats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62
B.Mastering Poultry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
01. Poultry Cuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
02. Fat and Skin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
CHAPTER 4 MASTERING 77 A.Seasoning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 D.Brines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
YOUR B.Rubs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 E.Marinades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
FLAVORS C.Mops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 F. Glazes and Sauces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
PART II: THE GRILLMASTER’S RECIPES
89
CHAPTER 5 MASTERING BURGERS AND OTHER QUICK MEALS
131
CHAPTER 6 MASTERING STEAKS, CHOPS, AND OTHER QUICK-COOKING CUTS
183
CHAPTER 7 MASTERING ROASTS, RIBS, AND OTHER SLOW FOOD
225
CHAPTER 8 MASTERING THE BIG KAHUNA AND OTHER INCREDIBLE GRILL PROJECTS
259
CHAPTER 9 MASTERING VEGETABLES AND OTHER SIDES
305
CHAPTER 10 MASTERING FRUIT, DESSERT, DOUGH, AND EVERYTHING ELSE
349
CHAPTER 11 MASTERING MARINADES, MOPS, BRINES, RUBS, WET PASTES, GLAZES, SAUCES, AND DIPS
INDEX 401
BIBLIOGRAPHY 415
TABLE OF EQUIVALENTS 416

INTRODUCTION: THE SCIENCE AND MECHANICS OF GRILLING
If you have ever sacrificed a rack of ribs to the
incendiary powers of a backyard grill, or tried to
convince yourself that “black and crusty” is exactly
how you like your chicken, then you know firsthand
the ambiguous art of cooking over an open flame.
The problem is not always a lack of skill; it may be
a lack of understanding. Many of us operate under
the delusion that grilling is little more than throwing
the desired number of edible items over a blaze
and sitting back until they heat through. However,
cooking outdoors, without the high-tech benefits of
things like thermostats and heavy-gauge saucepans,
requires greater vigilance and knowledge than any-
thing demanded from indoor cooking.
The first step in mastering live fire is figuring out what it’s all about. Many grill books and many
food science texts are available, but very few cookbooks venture into the science behind
grilling. That’s the focus of our book. We aim to explain how grilling works, how to make grills
work better, and how to use simple flavoring and cooking techniques to cook delicious grilled
foods. We don’t go overboard with trendy food science wizardry. We use no test tubes, vials,
centrifuges, or sous-vide (French for “under pressure”). Our tools are the ones most grill lovers
are comfortable and familiar with: tongs, spatulas, and knives. But we’ll occasionally employ
something offbeat if it is useful, such as a marinade injector or a grill skillet.
Likewise, our main ingredients are the usual four-legged animal meats like beef, pork, and
lamb, as well as fish and fowl of every sort, plus some game meats here and there. We also
devote an entire chapter to vegetables and another to fruits, doughs, and cheese. We grill every-
thing from whole animals to primal cuts to retail cuts to parts and pieces. Our grilling tech-
niques range from the expected to the adventurous. For instance, we prefer to cook some food
directly in the hot coals rather than on a grill grate, such as Sweet Potatoes in the Coals with
Lime-Cilantro Butter (page 287). We also cook some foods in roasting pans on the grill grate
when it makes sense (see Clambake on the Grill, page 237). We also use brines, marinades,
sauces, glazes, mops, dips, pastes, and spice rubs to enhance flavors. And our recipes can be
grilled with gas, charcoal, or wood as the fuel.
All of this should be fairly familiar to most grill lovers. So what’s new here? In this book, we
approach the grill from the perspective of science and mechanics. Our goal is to impart an
understanding of what happens during grilling, so that you can make better-tasting grilled food.
Great grilling and barbecuing involve more than following accepted techniques and endless
ingredient jockeying. Grilling is more than an art. It’s simply not enough to say that grilling is an
“inexact science,” as many grill books do. After all, baking was an inexact science before we
understood the structure of flour, the browning properties of sugar, the alchemy of leaveners,
and the tenderizing effects of fat. Just like bakers, tinkering grill cooks want to know more about
the medium and the method. They want to know what’s going on when raw food meets live fire.
They want to know when to use a dry rub and when to marinate, what meats should be brined
and which foods take best to mops, sops, and sauces. They want to know why a strip steak
sometimes browns nicely, while at other times it burns inedibly. And they want the holy grail of
grilling—to know how to make a simple, tender grilled hamburger rather than a charred hockey
puck. We believe that just as baking science has allowed bakers to hone their craft, knowing
the science of live-fire cooking will allow backyard grill lovers to vastly improve their flair with
the flames.
This book tells you exactly how various grills, pit barbecues, and smokers work. It explains
the physics of fire, the chemistry of dry-heat cooking, and the mystery of this most primal cook-
ing method. It’s also an owner’s manual to virtually all of the equipment that home cooks will
encounter when grilling and barbecuing. We explain not just how to use various types of grills
but how they work mechanically, how to maintain them, and how to repair them. You’ll also learn
about the science of heat transference and how different fuels affect this fundamental process.
You’ll marvel at the physical and chemical transformations that govern all live-fire cooking, from
the gradual magic of slow, low-heat barbecuing to the brisk alchemy of fast, high-heat grilling.
10
MASTERING THE GRILL