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On a lark, I tossed on even more charcoal, then cut another steak crosswise into 1½-by- 1½-by-4-inch rectangles. I mounted these on steel skewers, 2 per skewer, then salted them rather heavily and let them sit at room temp for 10 minutes. I grilled them on the near-nuclear fire for 1 minute on each side, slid them off the skewers while they were still hot, and rested them for 3 minutes. I sliced them into cubes (again: a great contrast between mahogany exterior and almost rare interior), sprinkled them with balsamic vinegar, ground on some pepper, and served.

The tasters devoured these the fastest despite the fact that they had already gorged themselves on the earlier tests. Turns out that the added surface area allowed for more crust development. And that was a good thing.

SO WHAT WAS LEARNED?

Ice cubes can be used to gauge the heat at the grate level. Using widely spaced bars, arrange the charcoal so that a standard ice cube melts in 30 seconds; cook your meat for 2 minutes, then rotate 90 degrees and cook for another 2. Flip and repeat. Rest for 5 minutes, slice, and serve. If you like more char, consider the narrow bars and coals that will melt the ice in 20 seconds, then cook 1-1, 1-1. Or you can grab your own bucket of ice and figure out what you like. The next time you grill steaks for company they may chuckle when you start grilling ice, but with practice you’ll be able to hit your desired doneness every time. Finally, all other things being equal, meat on widely spaced, dense grates will cook faster than on small, wiry grates.

Despite America’s fascination with hunkin’ hunks of meat, I no longer serve steaks in their whole state. And boy do I have reasons:

• Nine times out of ten, a 12- to 16-ounce steak is too darned much for one person. By slicing a grilled steak, you still get the illusion of “a lot” without plopping half a cow on your plate. Two people can suddenly feel full on what would normally feed one.

• Slices are easier to eat. By controlling the thickness of the slices, you prevent your guest from cutting off more than he or she can comfortably chew. The meat will also seem more tender, regardless of the temperature to which it was cooked.

• Don’t be afraid to cut a steak before you cook it. The kabob experiment taught me that. Also, the 4-by-4-inch blocks used in the test were trimmed of most of their perimeter fat, and that prevented flare-ups.

HAMBURGER SUCCESS

There are six or seven ground meat options, not counting pork, lamb, and veal. Successful meat cookery depends on knowing the nature of the cut. Ground round and ground sirloin come from the round and sirloin primals, respectively. They’re lean and, if cooked to recommended hamburger temperature, will be overcooked and dry. Chuck comes from the chuck primal. It has a bit of connective tissue and contains about 30 percent fat. When ground, chuck is exceptional for hamburger making. Hamburger or ground beef is made from leftover meat trimmings. That’s likely to include filet and rib—good stuff. So when buying hamburger or ground beef, it’s likely to be better than buying ground round.

• Keep seasonings to a minimum—a little kosher salt is all you need.

• Don’t make mega-burgers, a 5-ounce patty works great.

• Make sure your grill is hot before adding the meat in order to get that great crust.

• Don’t apply pressure to burgers when they’re cooking. It only serves to push the juice out of the meat. Plus, using a spatula on the raw meat can lead to cross contamination.

• Flip burgers only once.

• For a burger that’s medium-rare (130° F), cook 4 minutes per side. For a burger that’s medium (150° F), cook 5 minutes per side. Anything beyond medium just ain’t worth cooking.

FAVORITE GRILLABLE FRUITS

It used to be that once my steaks, chops, ribs, whatever, had come off the fire, I felt a little guilty—seemed like such a waste to let the fire just die without putting anything else on it. Now whenever I grill I make sure I have some fruit prepped to take