Ah, barbecue season—time to fire up the grill and bring your appetite. Even if you fancy yourself a grilling guru, you can always benefit from a few lessons from the real masters, like Bobby Flay, whose book
Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries, and Shakes shows you how to shape and cook a burger perfectly, and even melt the cheese just so; and Adam Perry Lang, the chef who gave up his 4-star restaurant gig to dedicate his career to grilling meats. Lang's aptly named book Serious Barbecue takes a technical approach to selecting the perfect cuts of meat and unleashing their full flavor potential.
But for now, I've done some digging of my own and uncovered these helpful hints for cooking not only meats, but also fish and veggies over an open fire this Labor Day weekend.
First thing's first: No matter what you’re cooking, always preheat your grill for five minutes before placing the food on it.
Burger time
If you're making your own hamburger patties, follow these steps:
- Buy 80–85% lean ground beef. Leaner beef won’t bind well enough to form patties, and fattier beef will drip into the fire and cause flare-ups.
- Form equal-sized patties, and don’t mix the ground beef too much; it will make the meat tough.
- Cook the burgers over a medium fire (about 350°F). Turn them once halfway through the cooking time.
- The cooking time depends on the thickness of the burgers and how you like them cooked; here's a breakdown:
Thickness Rare (minutes/side) Medium Well Done
½” 2–3 3–5 5–7
¾” 3–4 5–7 7–9
1” 4–5 6–8 8–10
And if you're curious about how burgers made their way onto the picnic tables of so many red-blooded Americans to begin with, check out the fascinating foodie tome The Hamburger: A History by Josh Ozerksy, online food editor of New York magazine.
Hot dog!
You don't have to go to a ball game to enjoy the tasty convenience of hot dogs (although that's another staple of summer, so why not?). All hot dogs are sold precooked, so they only need to be grilled long enough to brown the exterior and warm the interior (a good choice for feeding large crowds quickly). Cook your beef or turkey hot dogs over medium heat for 7–8 minutes, turning them frequently so that all sides brown evenly.
Thinkin' chicken?
Because chicken is a fairly dense meat, it benefits from marinating. Grilling chicken can be difficult, since different parts cook at different rates, and pieces can vary in size and thickness. To cook an average boneless, skinless 6-oz chicken breast:
- Place the breast on a medium-hot grill and let it cook, covered, for 8–15 minutes. Turn the chicken when the edges begin to turn white.
- Turn the breast over, place the lid on the grill, and cook for another 8–15 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into its center reads 160°F
- Remove the breast and let it sit for a few minutes before serving.
As a general rule, breasts cook faster by weight than thighs and legs, and boneless pieces cook faster than bone-in pieces. If you’re cooking anything other than boneless breasts, add 2–3 minutes to steps 1 and 2. Chicken cooked properly should be white inside with no pink coloring.
For more information on preparing chicken on the grill and beyond, check out
Williams-Sonoma Collection: Chicken.
Sizzlin' steak
Tender cuts of beef, such as T-bones, sirloins, tenderloins, ribeyes, and porterhouses, do not need to be marinated, whereas tougher cuts, such as skirts, flanks, rounds, and chuck steaks, benefit from overnight marinating. Cooking time depends on the thickness of the steak and how you want it cooked.
Thickness Rare (min/side) Medium Well Done
½” 2–3 3–5 5–7
¾” 3–4 5–7 7–9
1” 4–5 6–8 8–10
Fish out of water
Both fish steaks and fillets are excellent for grilling. If you’ve never grilled fish before, begin with fish steaks, like swordfish, salmon, or halibut; they’re firmer and less likely to fall apart than delicate fillets. The steaks should be 1" to 1 1/2" thick. To grill fish steaks:
- Season the steaks.
- Place the steaks over a medium-hot fire.
- Grill for about 8 minutes, turning once halfway through.
- Check for doneness by placing a thin knife between flesh layers. If the flesh is opaque, the fish is ready to come off the grill.
Flakier fish fillets, such as bluefish, trout, and catfish, are better grilled in a fish basket: two grates connected by a hinge that pulls the grates against both sides of a fillet to keep it from falling apart as it’s grilled.
Here's a great resource for fish-grilling tips, techniques, and recipes:
Heat your veggies!
The vegetables best-suited to grilling are peppers, onions, corn, eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, asparagus, portobello mushrooms, and squash. The simplest and most common method for grilling vegetables is the following:
- Brush the vegetables with oil and season as desired.
- Grill until the vegetables soften and change color, switching sides every 3–4 minutes. Total cooking time depends on the type and thickness of the vegetable.
You should slice most vegetables—with the exception of corn and asparagus—so they lie flat on the grill grates and don’t fall through the cracks. Vegetables benefit from marinating, but don't let them sit in a marinade for longer than one hour. Once your veggies are marinated, you don't need to brush them with oil before grilling.
Stick a fork in it—it's done!
If you’re an experienced griller, you can test the doneness of a piece of meat by eye or by prodding the meat to check its firmness. If you’re inexperienced, use an instant-read thermometer. To use this type of thermometer, pierce a fleshy part of the meat with the tip of the probe and insert it into the center. Don’t let the probe touch any bones—this will give you a false reading.
Type of Meat Final Temperature
Beef (steaks, roasts, tenderloins) Medium rare: 140º F
Medium: 150º F
Well done: 160°F
Hamburgers Medium rare: 145º F
Medium: 155º F
Well done: 165º F
Fish 140º F
Ground Turkey 170º F
Pork (chops, roast, tenderloin) 155º F
Pork Sausage 160º F
Poultry 165º F
Lamb (leg, roast) Medium rare: 145º F
Medium: 155º F
Well done: 165º F
Happy Labor Day...and happy grilling!
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