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The next thing to acknowledge is how important it is to season it well in advance, so that the seasoning penetrates it, which takes time, and to allow the salt to begin to change the cell structure a little to ensure that you have a very juicy cooked piece of meat with great depth of flavor. You almost can’t salt meat too early. I like to salt it eight to twenty-four hours before cooking it, storing it covered in the refrigerator.

And then, cooking it; there are so many ways to cook it. The main question here is simple: Is it a tender piece of meat that doesn’t need some form of tenderizing? If so, it can be cooked quickly over high heat. Or is it a heavily worked muscle and therefore tough? In this case, it requires some form of tenderization, usually by long cooking at a low temperature.

And finally, resting, which is every bit as important as proper cooking. Meat needs to rest, to allow the very hot exterior temperature to equalize with the internal temperature and to let the juices spread out within the meat. Don’t cover it.

Because meat is so rich, because it has this built-in fat and flavor, I spend most of my energy adding enough acidity to the dish to balance that richness, whether with a vinaigrette or with a pickled vegetable or a salad. The greatest example is the salsa verde, which goes very well with pretty much any meat. And that’s all there is to it. Season it in advance, let it come to room temperature, cook it properly, let it rest, and balance its richness with acidity … as all of the following recipes demonstrate.

Roasting and Grilling

Roasting is what we do to larger cuts of meat. It would be difficult to sauté a leg of lamb or a whole chicken. You’ve got to roast the big cuts so that they’re evenly cooked, and, in most cases, this requires using heat high enough for the meat to develop a tasty exterior. But the time and temperature varies from one cut to the next. For some items, you want a very hot oven—400°F and higher for roast chicken, for instance. For a large dense muscle, such as a rib roast, you might want a low temperature to ensure that the interior is cooked before the exterior is overcooked.

You’d never roast fish fillets (these must be sautéed or grilled), but whole fish, on the bone, is excellent roasted at a medium temperature. In some instances you want varying temperatures: with the rib roast or a leg of lamb, you might want to start it in a very hot oven or on a hot grill to develop a delicious exterior, then cook it through slowly with more moderate heat.

Last but not least, vegetables can be delicious roasted. Roasting vegetables at very high temperatures allows them to caramelize (to release some of their sugars and brown) and to develop more complex flavors. Any sturdy vegetable—broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, green beans, Brussels sprouts—can be roasted with excellent results.

Grilling is a great technique that can mirror sautéing, pan-roasting, or roasting. Like those stove preparations, grilling is a “dry-heat” technique, meaning water is not part of the cooking medium, and the same rules apply. For tender cuts—a lamb chop, for instance—high-heat grilling gives a good sear, resulting in a flavorful exterior. Build a hot fire and cook the item directly over the coals—that is, over direct heat. For larger items that you might otherwise roast, grill over indirect heat. Do this by building a fire on one side of your grill; sear a spatchcocked chicken or a roast over direct heat, then move it to the other side of the grill and cover it to finish the cooking.

Let your coals get hot before you start cooking (and yes, cook over wood coals or charcoal; as far as I’m concerned, grilling over gas is like kissing your sister). After spreading the coals out and putting your grill grate on, give the grate time to heat up as well. I often rub the grate with a towel soaked with oil and give the meat I’m cooking a coating of oil as well, which promotes even cooking and prevents