Move Over, Meat! These Recipes Prove There's So Much More to Grilling Than Steak & Burgers (2024)

FAQs

When grilling, it is important to avoid turning the meat too much because? ›

You may have heard the saying, “only flip a steak once.” While not entirely true, handling and flipping your steaks or burgers can result in dry meat. Too much movement could cause a loss of flavorful juices in the meat.

Chemistry of grilling burgers

Grilling sizzle is the water molecules burning off. Myoglobin proteins denature (change shape) during grilling. Maillard reactions create color and flavor of foods; especially meats. Heating amino acids and carbohydrates (sugars) turns meats a rich brown color and imparts rich flavors.

When you throw your steak on the grill, myoglobin starts to transform. At temperatures above 60 degrees Celsius, myoglobin can't hold on to the oxygen anymore and it shifts to a tan color. What's your steaks gets 76 degrees Celsius, myoglobin goes through yet another transformation where it turns a grayish dark brown.

Grilling can create cancer-causing chemicals

Studies show HCAs and PAHs cause changes in DNA that may increase the risk of cancer. HCAs develop in meat when amino acids and creatine (muscle proteins) react to high heat. Time is your enemy: The amount of HCAs increases the longer meat is exposed to the heat.

Pre-heat the meat to reduce the amount of time that it's on the grill. Wrap any meat that you're planning to grill in tin foil to prevent the flames from hitting the meat directly. Don't reuse the same oils you used before: reheating or cooking oil also releases carcinogens.

Ground chuck is a great all-purpose, buy-it-anywhere choice for burger recipes. Whatever you do, look for beef with a fat content of 20%. That 80/20 ratio is the key to a perfect burger that's juicy but not greasy.

The Science of Grilling and the Maillard Reaction

While you could get into the chemical complexities behind the science of grilling, there's a simple answer to why grilled food tastes great — browning, more often than not, enriches the flavor of food.

Any red fluid you see coming out of your steak is likely water and myoglobin, not blood. What happens when you cook meat? – Myoglobin is made of a protein and a heme ring, which contains an iron atom, both of which change when meat is cooked: The protein denatures, and the state of the iron changes.

Well, the liquid you see in those packages isn't blood at all. It is actually a combination of water and a protein called myoglobin. Myoglobin is a protein found in red meat that transports oxygen in the cells. As a piece of meat ages, the muscle tissue breaks down, causing the liquid and myoglobin to leak out.

What is the pink in steak? ›

Blood is removed during the slaughter process and afterwards very little blood remains in the muscle tissue. That red liquid is water mixed a protein called myoglobin. See as meat ages, the muscle tissue breaks down – and it doesn't take long.

The energy source heats one side of the food with intense infrared energy. Just as if you are lying on the beach in the sun, the side facing the heat source browns, collects energy, and cooks much faster than the other sides. So you need to flip.

Recent experiments and noted food scientist and writer Harold McGee indicate that flipping a steak several times while cooking results in a steak that is ready sooner but also yields better overall results than the single flip method. Flipping your meat constantly also minimizes the desiccation zone or the dry area.

But the reality is that flipping a steak repeatedly during cooking—as often as every 30 seconds or so—will produce a crust that is just as good (provided you start with meat with a good, dry surface, as you always should), give you a more evenly cooked interior, and cook in about 30% less time to boot!

Cook all food to a temperature of 75 °C

Heating foods to this temperature kills most food poisoning bacteria. Use a thermometer to check the internal temperature of foods during the cooking process. Cook mince, sausages, whole chickens or stuffed meats right through to the centre.