Fire It Up - Andrew Schloss [33]
Grinding beef automatically tenderizes it by breaking the connective tissue into small pieces. Since tough meat is flavorful and grinding tenderizes meat, the best cuts for flavorful ground beef are tough cuts like chuck. Take care when cooking ground beef. During grinding, the surface and interior of a piece of meat are mixed together, causing bacteria on the surface to become dispersed throughout the batch. It is not advisable to eat any ground beef that is not cooked to a temperature of at least 145°F. The USDA recommends 160°F to ensure that all areas of the food have reached a temperature of 140°F or higher, but we have found that at that temperature, all of the moisture is gone as well. We prefer to stop cooking beef burgers at an internal temperature of 150°F; the meat will be slightly pink in the center, and still relatively juicy.
Grill tender steaks and ground beef over direct medium-high to high heat, determining the heat level by how much you want your steaks or burgers cooked. An intense fire will give you a great crust while leaving the interior of the meat relatively rare. If you like your beef more cooked, a medium fire will give a steak time to cook through without scorching the surface. For the best of both worlds, brown the beef over high heat, and then move it to medium-low heat to finish cooking the interior without burning the outside.
While most grilling is done over direct heat, beef roasts thicker than 2 inches need to cook over indirect heat to give them time to reach the desired internal temperature before the surface burns.
BRISKET/BRISKET
Espresso-Powered Barbecued Brisket
MAKES 6 SERVINGS
Brisket is a large, tough cut, which takes hours of cooking over a low, slow fire to reach tenderness. The extended grilling time (at least an hour per pound) allows incredible flavor to permeate deep into the meat. We start by massaging the beef with a rub of hot pepper and dark-roast coffee. If you’re new to coffee on beef, the combination is fantastic. It works because all roasted ingredients share a common browned flavor, regardless of whether the browning is on dark-roasted coffee or fire-flecked beef. Roasted or browned flavors are what we’ve come to love about barbecued meat, which is why roasted coffee beans have the surprising effect of making beef taste meatier. We enhance the phenomenon by drizzling a coffee-infused mop over the roasting brisket with enough frequency to help soften its tough fibers, as the flavor of dark-roast coffee pervades the meat. The finished brisket is sliced and served with a bittersweet barbecue sauce for dipping.
INGREDIENTS:
Juice of 2 lemons
2 cups strong brewed coffee, preferably espresso roast
¼ cup molasses
2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons coarse salt
¾ cup Espresso Rub
1 flat or center-cut beef brisket (3 to 4 pounds), trimmed, with ¼ inch of fat on one side
1 cup Espresso Grilling Sauce
DIRECTIONS:
Mix the lemon juice, coffee, molasses, balsamic vinegar, salt, and 1 tablespoon of the rub in a small bowl. Set aside.
Rub the remaining spice rub all over the brisket. Cover tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.
Rest the meat at room temperature before grilling, about 1 hour. Light a grill for indirect medium-low heat, about 250°F. Brush the grill grate and coat with oil.
Put the brisket, fatty-side up, on the grill away from the heat, and cover the grill. Cook until severely browned and blackened in spots or very well-done (about 170°F on an instant read thermometer), 4 to 6 hours total. Mop or drizzle the brisket with the espresso mop on both sides whenever the surface looks