Read Online Fabulicious!: On the Grill by Teresa Giudice - Free Book Online Page B

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.

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    * * *     Steak Selection Cheat Sheet     * * *
    Y ou don’t have to buy a porterhouse to get tender steak. As long as you prep, cook, and cut it correctly, there are many inexpensive cuts that are juicy and delicious. But there are some, like round steak, that are best avoided on the grill unless you’re a master and want to exercise your jaw muscles. There are a million choices, but here are my personal recommendations:
    Expensive Cuts You
Can’t Go Wrong With:
—Tenderloin
—T-bone
—Porterhouse
—Top Loin
—Strip Steak
—Club Steak
    Inexpensive Cuts That Are
Great with Marinades:
—Sirloin
—Flank
—Chuck
—Round
—Tri-Tip
—Skirt
    Inexpensive Cuts That Are Great with
Careful Cutting Across the Grain:
—Flank
—Tri-Tip
—Flat Iron
—Skirt
 
 
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P RECOOKING T EMPERATURE
    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.
F ORKED
    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 theburgers. 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.
P REMATURE F LIPPING AND T OO M UCH F USSING
    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.
C OOKING T EMPS
    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