BBQ Tip 1 – Temperature
Temperature
One of the biggest mistakes cooks make is overcooking meat. Meadowbrook Meat Market owner Margie Lamb suggests buying a digital meat thermometer to make sure it is cooked through and safe to eat, but still flavourful. Here are some general tips to help you achieve perfect BBQ:
- Grilling vs. Roasting – Grilling means direct contact with high heat. This is best for searing a steak or carmelizing the skin on BBQ chicken. Roasting means cooking meat low and slow, over indirect heat. This is best for pork or fish which tend to stick to too hot grills and large cuts of meat that you want to cook through.
- Can I get a hand? – This useful trick, to gauge the doneness of steak is the most useful of all life-hacks.
- How hot is hot? Back before electric grills, man had to rely on his senses to gauge the temperature of his grill. Holding your hand 6 inches off the grill, use this chart to figure out your grill’s temperature:
| High Heat | 3 seconds or 500 F (260 C) |
| Medium High Heat | 5 seconds or 400 F (205 C) |
| Medium Heat | 7 seconds or 350 F (175 C) |
| Medium Low Heat | 10 seconds or 325 F (165 C) |
| Low Heat | 12 seconds or 300 F (150 C) |