5 Tips How To Cook Better Meat

There are many reasons your meat does not turn out the way you hoped it would. Here you can find 5 of the most effective tips to improve your cooking.

Know Your Temperatures

Sometimes I read the suggestion to use your hand above the grill to determine if it is Hot, Medium or Low heat.
In my opinion, this is not possible.
Use thermometers that give you the following two things.

• The temperature at grill grate. This is important since this is your cooking temperature.
• The temperature in your meat. This will tell you if it is under or overcooked.
• These are the only two temperatures you need to know.

It is important to cook at the right temperature and knowing your internal temperature.

The use of a thermometer is more important than using other expensive tools like knives.

Use a Hot and Cold Zone

Cooking at a high temperature has ruined a lot of good food.
In general, I think we grill at too high temperatures.

Setting up your grill with 2 heat zones will eliminate your meat drying out and or burn while cooking.

Hot is right above the coals and this is all radiant heat. This is only needed to sear and brown the surface.
It is not wise to use this to cook your meat internally. It will dry it out and burn it.

Low is around 225 Fahrenheit and this number you should keep in mind since it id the sweet spot.
This heat is not directly above a flame and it is getting its warmed from convection from the hot fire next to it.

There is one exception I like to make and that is trying to set up a zone at 350 degrees when I cook chicken to crisp up the skin.

Here you can read how to set up your grill with 2 heat zones.

Fat Does Not Make Your Meat Better

There are lots of articles that tell you not to cut off the fat of your meat because it will help make your meat tender.
Here is the real story. The fats that melt at the top of your meat does not penetrate your meat!

Fat will drip off and causes flare-ups.
Cut it off as much as you can to avoid this.

Salt is Good

Many people are scared to use salt because they believe they get to much salt in and it is unhealthy.
Most salt you will get from all the processed and packed food you buy.

Salt on your meat has a lot of advantages and should be your main spice.

Salt will enhance that flavor of everything you cook with it. Another thing is that it will help your meat to hold in moisture.
Another advantage of salting your meat in advance is that it dissolves and also penetrates the meat way below the surface.

Bones Do Not Enhance the Flavor

The myth is that meat with bones in it will taste better on the grill. Although it might look better on a plate is does not taste better than boneless meat.

The walls of bones are made out of calcium and this does not dissolve on the grill.
Bone marrow also does not melt or add any flavor to your food. Unless you boil it slow to make bone broth.

Meat with bones tend to cook more uneven because of the air pockets in the bones. Many times the outer edges are overcooked and the meat near the bone is not done.

If you use these 5 tips you will see a huge improvement in how your grilled meat and even vegetables will taste. One extra tip I like to ad is the use of a high-quality knife to make your life easier.