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heat the grate for deep char marks, raise the coals to brown, then lower to finish. The high heat sears the
outside, gives great flavor and seals the juiciness inside. With this grill, you are controlling a lot of heat
and the interior temperature of a steak can rise more than 10 degrees per minute. So the difference
between a perfect, rare steak, and shoe leather, is less than three minutes.
Barbecuing.
Indirect heat, thicker meat, less attention.
To barbecue, you want medium-high heat, but
not directly under the food; and you want the cover closed to get smoky, convective cooking. Your grill
is engineered for this. Use less charcoal than when you are grilling (lighting chamber roughly half full)
or the temperature under the hood will shoot up to 700 degrees when you close the cover. After the
light, you leave the coals stacked on the left. The grill automatically creates an indirect cooking zone on
the right side. You should barbecue meats that have to cook longer because they are thicker such as
chicken, sausage, filets, small turkeys and roasts. These cuts are also usually "messier" in that they drip
fats down into the grill and make a mess inside. We always place an aluminum foil drip pan under the
food. It fits nicely into the rear of the coal basket.
Smoking.
Lowest heat, cheaper meats, low maintenance.
You can "smoke" on the German grill. We use
a technique where we light one end of a chain of charcoal and it burns at a low smoky rate for up to
three hours like a cigar. (For the light, only put paper in one end of the chimney. After a few coals are
lit.) You can also use a modified Minion method that burns from the top of the stack down. (Light a
small load, move it back, add fresh charcoal and rake the lit on top.) But either way, you have to add
wood chips to generate the smoke, and more charcoal through the front access door to keep the heat
going long enough. (Remember that you can do this without opening the cover and losing more heat.)
You will generate a passable "smoke ring" on brisket, ribs and roasts, but you can't get the tenderness of
a true smoker without one additional step. You must wrap the meats in aluminum foil for an hour or
more with some liquid inside the package and put them in the oven or back on the grill. Do this in order
to get the meat hot enough (for long enough) to get to the "melting" point of the collagens. This can
only be done using moist heat. The melting point occurs around 170 degrees F and it has to stay there
for an hour or more without drying out. Use a foil drip pan on the indirect side. Throw the meat over
direct coals for a few minutes after it comes out of the foil to dry it out and char the crust again.
Broiling.
Broiling is the same as grilling, except the fire is over the food instead of under it. Don't try to
broil on the German grill
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