Log In
Or create an account ->
Imperial Library
Home
About
News
Upload
Forum
Help
Login/SignUp
Index
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Foreword by J. Kenji López-Alt
Welcome
Stay in Touch
1. The Science of Heat
The Magic of Infrared (IR)
How Heat Moves Within Meat
MYTH: Plan on a 5 to 10°F carryover.
How Boiling Temperatures Impact Cooking
MYTH: Meat needs to rest after cooking.
The Two-Zone Setup and Indirect Cooking
When to Put a Lid on It
2. Smoke
How Smoke Flavors Meat
MYTH: Creosote in smoke must be avoided at all costs.
Smoke and Food
The Smoke Ring
MYTH: The more smoke you see, the better.
Buying Wood
MYTH: After an hour or two, meats stop taking on smoke.
MYTH: A smoke ring is caused by billowing smoke.
Which Wood?
The Quest for Blue Smoke
MYTH: It’s important to match the wood to the meat.
MYTH: Soak wood chips and chunks for the most smoke.
Smoke Bombs
Troubleshooting Chips and Chunks
Smoking with Herbs
3. Software
The Makeup of Meat
Slow-Twitch vs Fast-Twitch Muscles
MYTH: The red juice is blood.
Buying Meat
Tenderness of Meat
MYTH: Let meat come to room temperature before cooking.
Juiciness of Meat
MYTH: Searing meat seals in the juices.
What You Need to Know About Salt
Measuring Different Salts
Brining
MYTH: Osmosis is how salt gets into meat during brining.
Briners, Beware: Double-Salt Jeopardy!
Rubs and Spice Blends
MYTH: Massaging in the rub pierces the surface and makes the juices run out.
Injecting: No Wait, No Waste, More Flavor
MYTH: Apply the rub, then wrap the meat in plastic wrap and let it rest overnight for maximum penetration.
The Secrets and Myths of Marinades
MYTH: Marinades penetrate deep into meat.
Why We Love Bark, Crust, Caramelization, and the Maillard Reaction
The Fat Cap: To Trim or Not to Trim
MYTH: The fat cap will melt and make the meat juicier.
When to Cook Hot and Fast, When to Cook Low and Slow, and When to Do Both
Master These Two Temperatures
What Factors Influence Cooking Time?
A Faux Cambro Gives You Breathing Room
Food Temperature Guide
MYTH: Pink pork puts you at risk for trichinosis.
MYTH: Cook chicken until the juices run clear.
How to Get the Perfect Maillard Sear
MYTH: Meat is safe when it is no longer pink.
How Bones Affect the Cooking
MYTH: Grill marks are the sign of a great steak.
What Is That Stuff Oozing Out of My Salmon and Burgers?
The Dreaded Stall
MYTH: Flip your meat as little as possible.
Basting and Spritzing
MYTH: Lookin’ ain’t cookin’.
Strategies for Using Barbecue Sauces
Cooking More Than One Large Hunk of Meat
Cook Today, Serve Tomorrow
A Challenge to Gas Grill Manufacturers
Freezing and Reheating Leftovers
Cooking Vegetables and Fruits
Competition Barbecue Cooking
4. Hardware
Charcoal vs Gas Grill Throwdown
What to Look for in a Grill
How to Get a 50 Percent Discount
About That So-Called Grill “Thermometer”
Buying a Gas Grill
What Are Propane and Natural Gas?
What About Electric Grills?
MYTH: The higher the BTU rating, the hotter the grill.
Buying a Charcoal Grill
Buying a Log-Burning Grill
Buying a Portable Grill
Buying a Smoker
What to Look for in a Smoker
Not All Stainless Steel Is Created Equal
Large-Capacity, Commercial, and Trailer-Mounted Rigs for Restaurants, Caterers, and Competitors
Think Carefully Before Buying Built-In Grills or Smokers
Extension Cords for Pellet Smokers, Electric Smokers, and Electric Grills
The Most Important Tool You Can Buy: A Thermometer
MYTH: You can tell the temperature of your grill by holding your hand over it.
MYTH: You can tell the doneness of meat by poking it and comparing the bounciness of the meat to the flesh between your thumb and forefinger.
MYTH: You can tell doneness by cutting into meat to check the color.
The Best Grill Grates
Grill Toppers
Keeping Food from Sticking
MYTH: Oil the grill grates to keep food from sticking.
Cleaning Your Grill Grates
The Fish Problem
Other Accessories You Really Need
Beware Rib Holders
User’s Guide
Calibrating Your Grill or Smoker with Dry Runs
Using Your Gas Grill
Where to Stick It
Rotisserie and Spit Grilling
Troubleshooting and Cleaning Your Gas Grill
How to Tell When the Gas Tank Is Low
MYTH: The best way to clean the grates on a gas grill is to cover them with foil, turn up the heat, and close the lid. This will carbonize the grease and make it easier to remove.
Be Careful of Extremes
Using Your Charcoal Grill
Check the Weather
MYTH: Lump charcoal burns hotter than briquets.
Setting Up a Charcoal Grill
MYTH: Caveman steaks are the best.
Smoking
MYTH: The parabolic shape of the Weber Kettle acts like a heat reflector.
Don’t Worry If Your Wood Bursts into Flame
Temperature Gradients in a Weber Smokey Mountain
Add a Water Pan or Two
Cleaning the Exterior of Your Grill or Smoker
Cleaning the Interior of the Cooking Chamber
Fighting Mold
MYTH: A thick black seasoning is needed inside a smoker or grill.
Grilling with Wood
MYTH: The best tinder is dry leaves or newspaper.
Smoking with Wood Only
Burn Boxes
Roasting Whole Animals
Griddling and Pan Roasting with Steel, Wood, and Salt Blocks
Tips for Griddling Success
Griddle Surfaces
Cowboy and Chuck-Wagon Cooking
5. Brines, Rubs, and Sauces
About My Recipes
About My Ingredients
About My Methods
Mise en Place
Brines, Marinades, Rubs, Spice Blends, Pastes, and Injections
The Simple Blonder Wet Brine (6.3% Salinity)
Basic Brinerade
How Long to Brine?
Brines for Injection
Lubing Turkey Breasts
Rubs and Blends of Herbs and Spices
No Salt in Rubs
Dalmatian Rub
Big Bad Beef Rub
Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow Crust
Meathead’s Memphis Dust
Simon & Garfunkel Rub
Dolly’s Lamb Rub
Marietta’s Fish Rub
Cajun Seasoning
Citrus Salt and Pepper
Cowboy Java Rub
Smoked Garlic Powder or Onion Powder
Butcher Block Seasoning
Saucing Strategies
Barbecue Sauces
KC Classic
How Long Can You Keep a Barbecue Sauce?
Columbia Gold: A South Carolina Mustard Sauce
East Carolina Mop Sauce
Lexington Dip: The West Carolina Barbecue Sauce
Texas Mop Sauce
Alabama White Sauce
Sunlite Kentucky Black Sauce for Lamb and Mutton
Hawaiian Huli-Huli Teriyaki Sauce and Marinade
Tartar Sauce
Chocolate Chile Barbecue Sauce
Grand Marnier Glaze
Cascabel Mole, Inspired by Chef Rick Bayless
Burger Glop
Board Sauces
Chimichurri Sauce
Pesto
Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Coulis
Japanese Happy Mouth Yakitori Sauce
Greek Ladolemono for Seafood
Grilled Marinara Sauce
Bacon and Onion Jam
D.C. Mumbo Sauce
6. Pork
Perfect Pulled Pork
Butt Basics
Leftover Pulled Pork
Really Loaded Potato Canoes
Pork Ribs: The Holy Grail
The Different Cuts of Ribs
Last-Meal Ribs
60-Minute Ribs Dreamland Style
How to Skin and Trim Ribs
Happy Mouth Yakitori Ribs
Kermit’s Second-Favorite Pork Chops
Don’t Stuff the Chop
Pork Tenderloin with Cowboy Java Rub
Sweet and Sour Pork Tenderloin
Types of Pork Chops
Pesto-Crusted Pork Loin Roast
Stuffed Pork Loin Roast
Wet-Cured Ham
Grand Marnier–Glazed Ham Steaks
Smoked Bone Broth
Momofuku-Inspired Ramen Bowl
Whole Hog Pig Pickin’
Ordering the Hog
Approximate Timetable for Cooking a 75-Pounder
The Pit
Suckling Pig: Small Enough for Your Grill
Suckling Porchetta
Waste Nothing
7. Beef
Steaks
Big, Thick Steakhouse Steaks
Skinny Steaks
Prime Rib and Beef Roast Revolution
The Afterburner Method for Skinny Steaks
Prime Rib
For Those Who Don’t Want Medium-Rare
Santa Maria Tri-Tip: Poor Man’s Prime Rib
Ban the V-Shaped Rack
Chateaubriand with Compound Butter
Beef Butter
Beef Ribs: The Long and the Short of Them
Short Ribs, Texas Style
Short Ribs, Brazilian Steakhouse Style
Brisket Basics
Texas Beef Brisket
Slicing Brisket
Close to Katz’s Pastrami
Steaming Pastrami
8. Ground Meats: Burgers, Hot Dogs, and Sausages
Burger Basics
Flavoring the Burger
The Great American Steakhouse Steakburger
Diner Burgers
The Zen of Cheeseburgers
Hot Dogs
Regional Dogs
A Better Italian Sausage Sandwich
Cooking Sausages
Touchdown Tailgate Brat Tub
Does the Beer Penetrate?
9. Lamb
Wood-Grilled Rack of Lamb
Herbed Lamb Lollipops
Marinated Lamb Loin Chops
Leg o’ Lamb
Choosing a Leg o’ Lamb
Binghamton Spiedie Sandwiches
Sunlite Kentucky Mutton or Lamb
10. Chicken and Turkey
Tips on Cooking Poultry
MYTH: Beer can chicken is the best way to cook a bird.
Simon & Garfunkel Chicken
Cornell Chicken
Hawaiian Huli-Huli Teriyaki Chicken
Sweet Georgia Brown Smoked Yard Bird
Pulled Chicken
Big Bob Gibson’s Chicken in ’Bama White Sauce
Piri Piri Chicken
Blasphemy Buffalo Chicken Wings
Anatomy of a Chicken Wing
Rotisserie Chicken Provençal
The Color of the Pan Matters
Marinated Cornish Game Hens
The Ultimate Smoked Turkey
Choosing Your Turkey
Cooking the Perfect Turkey
How to Carve a Turkey
Turkey Breast Teriyaki
MYTH: If you cook a turkey breast side down, the juices will flow into the breast meat and make it moister.
Grilled Duck Breasts in Cherry-Port Sauce
Tips for Cooking Duck
11. Seafood
Buying Fish
Cooking Fish
To Fillet a Whole Fish
Chef Bonner’s Fish Fillets with Brioni Broth
Fish Oils Permeate Everything
Smoked Trout, Florida Mullet Style
Schmancy Hot-Smoked Salmon
About Other Recipes
Smoked Salmon Mousse Canapés
Smoked Salmon Quiche
Smoked Halibut Salad
Butter-Poached Fillets
Baja Fish Tacos
Grilled Calamari Ladolemono
Clams, Oysters, and Mussels
Choosing and Cleaning Squid
Quick-Smoked Clams, Mussels, or Oysters
MYTH: You can purge bivalves with cornmeal and water.
Clambake with Grilled Crostini
Grilled Oysters with White Wine Sauce
Smoked Oysters
Shrimp
Joe’s Fireproof Grilled Shrimp
Championship Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Shrimp
Lobster
Greg’s Grilled Lobster
12. Sides
Simple Grilled Crostini
Grilled Asparagus
About Balsamic
Grilled Cauliflower
The Ultimate Grilled Corn on the Cob
Chipotle-Lime Corn on the Cob
Grilled Romaine Salad
Fire-Roasted Eggplant Baba Ghanoush
Smoked Potato Salad
Baked Potatoes Are Best on the Grill
How to Gussy Up the Humble Spud
Twice-Baked Potatoes
Grilled Polenta
Boston Barbecue Beans
Sweet-Sour Slaw
Prepping Cabbage for Slaw
Classic Deli Slaw with Sour Cream and Mayo
Special Thanks
Index
About the Author
← Prev
Back
Next →
← Prev
Back
Next →