The Perfect BBQ in Three Simple Steps
BBQ, to a traditionalist, means slow cooking. This generally means using either a smoker or a grill with a large surface and a snug lid. You need to position the food a short distance away from the heat. To achieve this, you could trying moving around some briquettes or lighting the fire on one side only. This produces a section of low heat that lets you implement the first of three steps to a perfect BBQ: infusing.
With infusing, your objective is to get all of the flavorful ingredients into the meat before the surface layer is cooked sufficiently to seal the inside. The rub, sauce, fat and juices mix with the smoke and heat to produce a complex interaction inside the meat. Both the fats throughout the meat and on the surface dissolve and form an exterior layer. Now the stage is set for the movement of the flavor compounds. Some killer BBQ is right around the corner.
During the second step, the actuall cooking happens, and this usually takes a while. As the interior temperature of the meat climbs, proteins break down and become amino acids. Sugars change their composition and spread their sweetness. Salt is ionized and enzymes increase their activity. The outcome of all this chemical activity is the transformation of a hunk of meat into a savory main course.
The smoke from any wood elements in your fire will enhance the flavor of the meat throughout this step. The meat seals itself and internal juices are preserved, heated up and altered. During this phase, the meat will spend the most time cooking. Maintain the temperature at a lower level than what you use for indoor cooking.
Once the meat’s inside temperature reaches 200F, it’s time to take it off the BBQ grill or smoker.
In the third step, the meat continues cooking. As it cools, the internal heat is still high enough to continue to affect the meat. Throughout this stage, meat can become even more tender, creating a most satisfying meal.
You can serve it once the temperature decreases to 165F or lower. Cut off a small piece and check the color. Beef should be dark red in color, while chicken should be white with clear juices. Pork needs to be gray-tinged white. The flavor should be delicate and the texture easy to chew.
And voila, the perfect BBQ.
