Top Ten Mistakes Made When Grilling Meat

Posted by Tim on Dec 13, 2010 in Blog, Featured, Food Science | 2 comments

With holiday roasts, hams and poultry just around the corner, now is a great time to sharpen your grilling and roasting skills. Here are ten things you want to keep in mind to get just the right results.

The top ten mistakes people make when grilling or roasting meat:

1.

Failing to thaw meat completely before grilling or cooking. Although there are some exceptions, typically you never want to put frozen meat over heat or it wonʼt cook evenly. The best way to thaw is in your refrigerator.

2.

Failing to have a target temperature in mind. Many people rely on the firmness or color of their meat as gauges of doneness, but these are unreliable at best. Knowing your target temperature and testing with an accurate cooking thermometer takes the guesswork out of every masterpiece.

3.

Failing to select a grilling method—low and slow versus hot and fast. In general, steaks are best prepared over high heat and ribs and roasts are better cooked over longer periods at lower heat. Be sure to consult your favorite cook book or expert website before you set the heat on your grill. Some methods combine “searing” at high heat with cooking at lower temperatures.

4.

Failing to clean cooking thermometers after each use. An accurate and fast cooking thermometer can fundamentally change the way you cook and make near-misses a thing of the past, but you want to be sure to clean your thermometer with anti-bacterial wipes or spray after each use to avoid cross- contamination—particularly when dealing with raw meats, poultry or fish.

5.

Failing to monitor heat consistency. An oven is a fairly stable temperature environment but coals under a grill can fluctuate in heat while you are cooking. This is particularly true when you are cooking a larger cut of meat over an extended period. Be sure to monitor not just the meat itself but the heat of your coals and add fuel as needed to maintain a consistent heat.

6.

Failing to diffuse or offset heat. Some cuts of meat, particularly the “low and slow” cuts, do better with indirect heat to prevent charring. Be sure to consult your recipe or favorite expert about banking coals to the side of the grill or inserting a “thermal mass” like a pizza stone to deflect direct heat from reaching your ribs or roast.

7.

Failing to check internal temperature in several places to determine doneness. Oven thermometers or alarms often include a probe that can be inserted into the meat and a heat resistant cable leading to a monitor that can tell you when your meat is nearing doneness. This can be very helpful, however, you should never rely on a reading from just one spot in the meat. Be sure to take several readings with a handheld thermometer to verify the doneness of the meat. Different parts of a large roast or whole turkey can sometimes vary by as much as fifteen degrees (F, 8°C) at the same time.

8.

Misinterpreting color or “bloodiness.” Many home cooks and grillers have grown used to gauging doneness by the appearance of meat, but chicken can sometimes appear “bloody” after reaching an adequate 165°F (74°C) due to marrow from the bones escaping into the meat. Rare beef can sometimes appear darker than pink because of oxidized myoglobin and well-done beef can sometimes appear pinkish. Checking the internal temperature of a cut of meat in the center of its thickest part with an accurate cooking thermometer is still the only reliable gauge of doneness.

9.

Failing to let the meat rest and losing the meatʼs juices on the plate. Itʼs important to let a piece of meat “rest” after cooking and before being cut. Juices have a tendency to accumulate in the center of meat while it is cooking and resting allows those juices to be reabsorbed into the fibers throughout the meat. If you cut meat immediately after grilling, much of the flavorful juice will spill onto the plate.

10.

Failng to account for a further increase in temperature while the meat is resting. Meat will continue to cook after you remove it from the heat and while it rests. Typically, you can count on about a 5°F (3°C) rise in temperature but larger cuts of meat may show even more of an increase. Be sure to factor this into your calculations when you choose a target temperature for your cut of meat. A chart of recommended temperatures can be found here.

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