Summer Grilling

Chef Damian Alvarado has some hot takes when it comes to grilling fundamentals.

Welcome to Clubhouse at ALGCC Eats, where we celebrate the game’s most delectable food and drink. Hope you brought your appetites.
With summer underway and the Fourth of July just under our belts, we asked Damian for an overview of grilling fundamentals. Here are seven of his hottest takes.

1. Fire it up
As with golf, a proper warmup is essential. A lot of home cooks overlook this step. “They’ll throw stuff on the grill before it’s hot enough,” Damian explains.  The right way to go, he says, is to pre-heat your grill to a temperature of 450 to 500 degrees before you start cooking. Getting things nice and hot not only makes it easier to scrape grates clean, it also prevents items from sticking to the grill.
 
2. Gas or coals? 
Both have benefits. While gas is often more convenient and makes it easier to control temperatures, coal imparts an appealing smokey flavor, all the more so if you add wood chips to the mix. While Damian has a gas grill at home for ease of use, he’s generally ambivalent about the choice. His only hard-set rule is to stay away entirely from lighter fluid, which he says gives food a “chemical flavor.” He recommends using a charcoal chimney.

3. Keep it covered
Whenever possible, keep the grill covered. It helps maintain desired temperatures, prevents flareups, and limits the chances of the grilled items drying out.

4. Different meat, different heat
Unlike barbecuing, which happens low and slow, grilling involves cooking at high heat; but not all of that heat is created equal. When you’re grilling smaller, individual items that cook relatively quickly, such as a burger, a chicken breast, or a tuna steak, you want that heat to be direct, with the item placed immediately above the fire.  For larger items, though, say, a honking cut of beef or a whole chicken, direct heat is apt to scorch the outside of the protein before the insides are entirely cooked through. Indirect heat is the better way to go. If you’re using coals, separate them into two piles on the side, and set the large cut of protein over the cooler spot in the middle. If you’re using gas, the same rule applies; keep the side burners blazing but the center ones turned low or off. As a general rule, anything that takes longer than 20 minutes to cook is better off grilled over indirect heat.
5. Don’t flip out
 
Or, better yet, try not to flip whatever you’re cooking more than once. That will help ensure a nice, caramelized sear on both sides.

6. And for the veggies …
Onions. Potatoes. Eggplant. Squash. When it comes to grilling veggies, Damian recommends brushing them with olive oil first (but not too much, just a light coat). Go too heavy, and the excess oil will drip down and spark flareups (the same is true of marinated meat proteins; you want them to be seasoned, not soaked). Some vegetables involve more effort than others. Take corn on the cob, a summer grilling favorite. Damian’s preferred method goes like this: he shucks the corn, removes the silk, brushes the kernels with oil or butter, seasons them with salt and pepper, then wraps them back in the husks before putting them on the grill. “It’s a bit of extra effort,” he says, “but it pays off in the results.”

7. What cut of meat is picanha?
Picanha is a cut of beef taken from the top of the rump. You might also know it as a rump cover, rump cap, sirloin cap, or even culotte steak.

It is triangular and surrounded by a thick layer of fat called a fat cap. Because it is not an overused muscle, this cut remains beautifully tender and juicy, producing an amazing flavor when cooked.

When buying picanha, the three things to look out for are size, fat content, and excess liquid. Generally smaller cuts are best – around 1kg to 1.5kg in size. Anything larger is likely to contain parts of other cuts as well, including the tougher outer thigh region that runs below the rump. A good picanha will never be too big. You also want at least a 1.5cm fat cap, and not too much visible liquid in the packaging.

With these seven grilling tips from Alto Executive Chef Damian Alvarado in mind, you can’t go wrong, whether you’re setting out to entertain a summer party on the patio, or throwing together a campfire soirèe!