Top Grilling Tips... Steak Edition

If you think grilling a steak is as simple as throwing meat on the grill, you are missing out on what could be your greatest beef achievement ever.

Here are some grilling tips that will make your steak a fine work of art.

1. Choose the right cut - Some steaks grill better than others.  Steaks that have a nice marbling of fat through it have a better flavor.  You should experiment to find your flavor and texture preference.  Here are the pros and cons of a few different cuts:

2. Choose a high quality steak - Nothing ruins a good steak like a bad steak.  By law, all proteins are inspected by the USDA for consumability, so you won't buy meat that will get you sick.  Quality grading, however, is a voluntary system.  Meat is graded on several categories, including the marbling of fat and the quantity of connective tissue.  Prime is the highest quality, followed by choice then select.  Choice meats are very high quality steaks and the most common used in the restaurant  industry.

3. Take them out - Let your steaks sit on the counter for about ten minutes, until they are almost room temperature.  Because steaks are whole muscles and you are cooking the outside well above the necessary heat, you don’t need to worry about food-borne illness.  Steaks at room temperature take seasoning better, will cook faster, and more evenly.

4. Season last - You should dry and salt your meat just before you toss them on the grill.  If you salt them too early, you will dehydrate the meat and cause a moist exterior.  Moisture will keep your steak from getting a nice sear.

5. Hot grill - Always start cooking on a hot grill. You will get the best color and flavor from high heat.

6. Don’t touch it - When the meat is done, it will easily turn... if it sticks at all, it isn't ready!  Know how thick your steak is and roughly how long it takes to cook. Only flip it once.  Check out this grilling chart as a guide on how long to cook your steaks:

Grilling Chart courtesy of www.kansascitysteaks.com

7. Leave it alone - Let your steak rest for 5 minutes before slicing into it.  This allows the juices to re-disperse leaving you with a moist piece of meat.

8. Make your sides early - You can't grill your meat outside and cook your sides inside without ruining your steak, your side dish, or both.  Plan your meal ahead of time and get your sides done early so you can focus your steak.

9. Enjoy!!!

To Brine or Not To Brine

That is the question...

     We are days away from Thanksgiving, and perhaps you're already researching how to cook that big, intimidating piece of poultry. There are questions that immediately emerge: How much turkey should I buy? What's the best way to cook it? Should I brine the bird?

     Brining will help you cook the most succulent turkey you've ever had, and the smartest and easiest way to do it is with a dry brine.  Even if you're hosting Thanksgiving for the first time and are a bit nervous about cooking your inaugural bird, here's how to dry-brine your turkey like a pro.

What Is Dry-Brine?

     When you're dealing with a large piece of lean meat like a whole turkey, it's easy to overcook it.  Also, just seasoning it right before cooking means there's no time for the salt to penetrate into the meat, especially for thick cuts.  Brining is a way to inject both flavor and moisture at the same time.  A dry brine seasons the turkey like a more traditional wet brine, but it does not use any water.  Instead, a dry brine involves rubbing the salt and seasonings and directly onto the meat and skin, and then letting the meat rest in the refrigerator for a period of time before cooking.

     The salt draws out the bird's natural juices through osmosis.  Next, the salt dissolves into the juices, and finally, the juice is reabsorbed into the meat and starts breaking down tough muscle proteins, resulting in juicy, tender, bird.  The larger the piece of meat, the more time is needed for the brine.   
Why Dry-Brine?

• The turkey is prepped ahead of time: Since a whole turkey needs one to three days of brining time, the dry-brining can be done in the quiet days before Thanksgiving Day.
• There's no sloppy water: With a dry brine, you just mix the salt and spices, rub it on the meat, throw it in the fridge and you're done!  This is in contrast to a wet brine, which requires a container big enough to hold the turkey, submerged in water, and space in your fridge to store it.
• No special equipment needed: Dry-brining can be done on anything big enough to hold the turkey, such as a roasting pan or sheet pan.
• You get crispy skin: The turkey sits uncovered in the fridge while dry brining.  This helps to dry out the skin, which in turn gives you incredibly crispy, golden-brown skin on the roasted bird.  If you're worried that space in your fridge will be tight and other foods might bump up against the turkey, you can cover it loosely foil.                                              Tips to Dry-Brining a Turkey
  
  
• Pick the right turkey: Since you'll be doing your own seasoning with salt and spices, you want to start with a bird that has no seasoning in it at all. Stay away from kosher turkeys, which have been pre-salted, as well as self-basting turkeys, which have been injected with a salt solution. Go for a natural or heritage turkey, and if you're not sure if it's already been seasoned, just check the label to make sure it has no added salt. 
• Thawed is best:  If the turkey was frozen solid when you bought it, the turkey needs approximately 24 hours for every five pounds of turkey to thaw completely. 
• Plan for brining time: Brining needs adequate time in order to be effective, so the thicker the piece of meat, the more time you want to give it so that the salt has enough time to work its way down from the surface. Although you can cook a dry-brined turkey after one day, giving it three days yields a much more tasty bird.  
• Use any cooking method. Once your turkey is brined, you can choose whatever method you like for cooking it: traditional oven-roasting, deep-frying, or even grilling.
   
  Happy Brining!