Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows Times
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Outdoor grilling
A25
Tongs beat forks with lid open
T
o round off my Whenever I do a cookprevious column ing class with an outdoor on Five Golden gas grill, many people Rules of grilling on are amazed that I do 99 an outdoor gas barbecue, per cent of the cooking I want to focus on using with the lid open. When a thermometer and tongs, they ask why, I ask them, and also address the age“Why do you close it?” old question: “lid open or Some say the manual closed?” tells them to, but most A thermometer is essendon’t have an answer. tial for meat-cooking of Mostly, save closed-lid by Chef Dez any sort, but especially cooking for larger cuts of Chef Dez is a food columnist and culinary on an outdoor grill. It is meat, when you want your instructor in the Fraser Valley. Visit him crucial to make sure the gas grill to perform more at www.chefdez.com. Send questions to dez@chefdez.com or to P.O. Box 2674, meat is cooked enough, like an oven, to cook the Abbotsford, B.C. V2T 6R4 but not cooked too much. meat without burning the Poultry, for example, must outside. be cooked thoroughly to be safe to eat, Mostly for small pieces of meat like but chicken breast is often overcooked chicken breasts, steaks, pork chops, etc, and dry, because people become afraid of I grill with the lid open to achieve better serving meat under-done. crusting (grill marks) on both sides. The It is wonderful you won’t be poisoned main reason we grill meat (instead of by salmonella bacteria, but it would be boiling it, for instance) is for the flavour even more wonderful if your dinner was from browning the outer crust. Better still juicy and cooked to perfection. crusting happens when raw meat hits Spot-checking with an instant-read the hot grates of the gas grill. Closing the thermometer will help achieve those perlid cooks both sides at the same time. fect results. But do not insert the thermIdeally, when we turn the piece of meat ometer too many times, as each puncture over, we want the topside to still be raw, will result in lost juices. so we can achieve that same degree of Instant-read thermometers can be pursearing and crusting of the meat. chased from a variety of food and kitchen Finally, your outdoor gas grill is an retailers. Digital ones are easiest to read appliance. It needs regular cleaning and and operate, and usually, the more you maintenance to perform its best for many spend, the better the quality. years. For example, burners should be Next: use tongs, not a fork, to turn your inspected at least at the beginning of meat on the grill. Although barbecue each grilling season. Look for corrosion forks usually come with grilling utensil and carbon buildup that may block the sets, frequent use will cause more puncburner gas ports, and clear them with a tures in the meat than necessary, and will paper clip. If you have never performed a result in an excess of lost juices. Tongs burner inspection on your grill, chances (or a flipper for burgers) will help to keep are your grill is due for maintenance, or precious juices in the meat. perhaps even a complete overhaul.
On Cooking
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70 minutes
$110 p.p.**
Flight 3.
Pitt Meadows – Maple Ridge Local
30 minutes
$80 p.p.**
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