Portable Charcoal Grilling by a Master

Tips to Grill the Perfect Steak

jocobo — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 21:10:28 +0000

Here are a few other tips that should help you when grilling.
- If you are using a portable charcoal grill, make sure to use lots of charcoal, don´t be stingy. You need the charcoal to completely cover the base of the grill, if not, you could get uneven heating. And if it’s a portable grill, it is probably small, meaning you can´t move your meat around much.
- If you want to put on BBQ sauce, don´t do so until the end. The flavor will not seep into the meat, as people suspect, and will affect the cooking. Same goes for steak spices.
- Before putting meat on the grill, it is a good idea to wipe the grill with a piece of fat from the meat. This will help sear the meat quickly when it touches the grill.
- After cooking the steaks to the desired amount, remember they will still cook a little longer even after you remove them from heat. For that reason, remove them a bit before they are at the desired doneness. Also, make sure you let the steaks sit 5 minutes after taking them off the barbeque. This will ensure the juices come to the top of the meat.
- Practice makes perfect. Learn how to know when the steak is done by touching it with a fork

Enjoy! Look for next week’s post on grilling the perfect corn on the cob, which makes a great accompaniment to steaks!

Cooking with Gas

jocobo — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:08:27 +0000

If you are cooking the steak with a portable gas grill instead of a portable charcoal grill, you only have to change a couple of things. First of all, the level of the grill doesn´t matter. You have to change the temperature. Warm the grill up till its really hot. Place the steak on the grill, sear each side, and lower the temperature. Cook slowly until the meat is finished. If the barbeque starts to flair up, try to let it do so for a few minutes. With a gas grill, you don´t get the great smoky taste you get from charcoal, and can only get a similar taste from flair ups.

Cooking the Perfect Steak

jocobo — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:07:13 +0000

When you are cooking meat on a portable charcoal grill, you usually don´t have a lot of space. So that means if your steaks are different size, try to put the thickest ones in the middle, and make sure there is more charcoal under the middle of the bbq. That way, the steaks will finish cooking at the same time. If you have a very large grill, this is not such a big deal, because once one steak is finished, you can just place it on the edge where it will stay warm, and cook slowly.

So, first of all, your steak must be room temperature. It should not still be cold. Do not salt the meat first. This is always an argument, but believe me, your steaks will dry out if you salt them first. The salt draws the juice to the surface, and it burns off. You want the juices to stay INSIDE the meat.

Once this is done, place the steaks on the grill. If it is an adjustable portable grill, lower the grill so it is about ½ inch from the charcoal. Leave it for about 3 min, until it is sealed. Next, flip the steak. Leave it for about 3 min, then raise the grill to about 1 inch above the coals. Cook like this until finished. The reason you lower the grill to increase the temperature, to sear the meat, keeping the juices in. But you don´t want to cook the entire steak like that, because it will cook to fast and dry it out.

Getting the Charcoal Going

jocobo — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:57:30 +0000

The most important thing to know about lighting up a portable charcoal grill is to get the charcoal burning, but leave it until the coals are red hot embers. You should never cook on charcoal before this happens, because the temperature won´t be right and you will end up burning the meat. To get the coals going, all you need to do is scrunch up a bunch of paper, put charcoal on top, and light the paper. This should get it going pretty good. NEVER use gas to start the charcoal, unless you are willing to wait at least an hour to burn off all of the fuels. It lends an awful taste to the meat.

Welcome to Portable Charcoal Grilling

jocobo — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:51:29 +0000

Welcome to my blog about portable grilling aka grilling outside, at the park, while camping, wherever it may be. I think of myself as somewhat of a master griller. I have lived in Australia and Argentina, which are two places known for barbequing. Both places claim to have some of the best meat in the world, and both produce and export a ton of meat. The countries both cook their meat in slightly different styles, and I have combined the styles from both of those countries along with my American origins, and now I can make a meeeeeaaaan steak. I tend to use charcoal all the time, because charcoal grilling gives a much better flavor to the meat. However, I will certainly talk a bit about gas grills as well. I hope you like the site, be sure to comment if you have any questions or suggestions.