Improve your grill game. Part 2
Taking the guesswork out of grilling and cooking can really improve your confidence and keep things fun and light in the world of outdoor cooking. Have you ever wondered if that piece of chicken was done or not? Poking it with the tongs isn’t going to tell you what’s going on in there, there’s only one surefire way to tell if it’s done. Our next item in our series of 3 must-haves is a digital thermometer.
#2 Digital Thermometer
I have both heard and read about so many tricks to determine meat temperature. I’ve tried the steak “trick” that claims the tightness of the skin under your thumb can tell you if the meat is medium rare, medium or burnt. You may have noticed that I skipped “well done”. Umm, no I didn't! Burnt and well done is the same thing. Ok, I will turn down the meat snob in me and continue with my thoughts. Well the trick said something to the effect of if you pinch the skin between your index finger and your thumb you it’s same the texture of a “medium rare” or 135℉ steak, and If you connect your thumb and the next digit then your steak is cooked more and more until finally your thumb and pinkie is “burnt”.
This is an interesting concept and if you have nothing else, I could see how this can help you create some repeatability when you cook. But let's be honest with ourselves, this is witchcraft right? So I will confess, I practiced this beef witchcraft for a while. How do I teach that to someone? What if you have sausage fingers like me? Does that change the texture of the flesh under my thumb? Experiment, ask your neighbor to pinch their finger and thumb so you can compare thumb flesh! Take notes and share your findings.
I was able to get a lot of my cooks right with “guessing”, but I got a lot of them wrong too. When I got it wrong it was time to do what we do to figure out how to save our protein. Saving that protein could include putting a steak that you cut in half back on the grill and hopefully you still have enough fire left at that point. Or microwaving chicken after you pull it off the grill to make sure it is done. Gulp! I only wrote it because I saw it happen before. We want to make sure that the food we serve to our family and friends are cooked to a safe temperature. Nobody wants to get everyone sick because we guessed that it was safe. What we need is a meat thermometer.
A meat thermometer takes out all the guesswork and provides you that assurance. There are enough things to be concerned about when we decide to grill and BBQ, let's not make it harder. At The Grill Coach we will always reference temperature to make your life easier in anything we do.
So I encourage you to get on Amazon right now to purchase a digital thermometer. When you start cooking with one, don't be afraid to temp your meat throughout the process to learn the protein you are cooking and how your cooker is operating. I ordered a good thermometer for less than $30 and it's dependable, reads fast, easy to clean and does well with neglect when I leave it outside. There are so many things to worry about with grilling or barbecuing, don't make things more complicated by not taking the right tools with you.
