• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 985 0

Tough cuts, like brisket or chuck, are finished cooking when (and only when) the collagen in the connective tissue has melted enough to make the meat tender enough so that you can pierce it easily with fork. For that reason you don’t need to take the temperature of a tough meat to test its doneness; if it is tender, it is ready. Since collagen starts to dissolve at around 160°F, tough meats will not show signs of tenderness until they are in the medium-well to well-done stage. The other element necessary to tenderize collagen is moisture, which is why tough meats are grilled slowly and basted frequently with a mopping liquid.

Grinding tough meat automatically tenderizes it by breaking the connective tissue into small pieces, but that doesn’t mean you can cook it less than its tougher whole-muscle counterpart. 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, which is why it is not advisable to eat any ground meat that is not cooked to a temperature of at least 145°F. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (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 the cooking of beef burgers at an internal temperature of 150°F; the meat will be slightly pink in the center and still relatively juicy. If you have any reason to doubt the safety of the ground beef you are using, you are welcome to cook your burgers a bit longer, but as long as the interior is above 140°F all harmful bacteria should be neutralized.

* * *

MEAT DONENESS

02. Judging Produce Doneness

Grilled vegetables and fruits develop wonderful flavor due to their high sugar content. The sugar quickly caramelizes on the grill, creating complex flavors that are impossible to achieve by moist-heat cooking methods such as boiling or steaming. Judging produce doneness, however, is primarily a matter of texture. Most fruits and vegetables are done grilling when they are hot, crisp-tender, and lightly grill-marked. By crisp-tender, we mean that the plant tissues have retained enough cellular structure and moisture to be somewhat crisp, yet the cell walls are weak enough to be tender and palatable. When a plant is heated, its cell walls begin to break down and lose structure and moisture, becoming increasingly soft. As the internal temperature rises, the texture of grilled produce goes from firm and crisp to crisp-tender to soft and mushy and finally to dry and carbonized. That middle stage of crisp-tenderness is often the best-tasting for grilled produce.

Most fruits and ripe vegetables taste crisp-tender when raw, so take care not to overcook these delicate foods on the grill. Tender vegetables can quickly go from juicy and nicely grill-marked to limp and overly charred. When in doubt, err on the side of undercooking produce. Brief grilling over medium-high or high heat is usually all it takes to soften plant tissues to the crisp-tender stage. Denser vegetables with tough fibers, particularly root vegetables such as beets, should be cooked until fully tender when tested with a fork.

Like other ingredients, fruits and vegetables can be grilled to tenderness using a variety of methods: Direct heat, indirect heat, in the coals, or wrapped in foil. See the Vegetable-Grilling Guide on page 260 and the Fruit-Grilling Guide on page 306 for detailed information on how to grill specific types of produce.

03. Judging Doughs’ Doneness

Flatbreads like those for pizza and naan grill up beautifully. The doughs for these thin breads cook quickly (1 to 3 minutes) and develop a wide area of crisp crust. We prefer to grill flatbreads directly on a hot grill grate to expose the dough to as much flame as possible. But you can also use a perforated grill rack, which acts more like a baking sheet. To grill topped flatbreads like pizza, you grill the dough on one side before adding the toppings. Then you flip the dough, put