Choosing Your Steaks: The best choices for grilled steak include New York strip, T-bone, porterhouse, sirloin, filet mignon and rib-eye.
Size Matters Here: Choose cuts that are 1- to 1-1/4 inch thick. Pay special attention to bone-in cuts of meat: make sure the steak is an even thickness. Meat near the bone will take longer to cook, however is generally the most flavorful.
Using & Over-using Marinades: Over-marinating can result in tough or mushy meat. Limit marinating to 24 hours or less. However, for full flavor meats should marinate for at least 2 hrs. For additional ways to flavor-up a steak, try a dry rub or top cooked steaks with herbed butter.
How Hot Is Hot Enough?
STEAKS Sear steaks over direct heat, and then move them to indirect heat to finish cooking. For a 1-inch thick steak, a general guide is 5 to 7 minutes per side for medium-rare (145 degrees F). For an accurate reading--and to avoid cutting into that sublime steak--use a meat thermometer to test for doneness.
CHICKEN may be one of the trickier foods to grill, especially the ever-popular boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The grill's high heat tends to dry out the meat before it's cooked through. One way to avoid this is to lightly pound boneless chicken breasts to a uniform thickness, helping the breast cook evenly. Another is to quickly sear the chicken over a high heat and then transfer it to the side of the grill that does NOT have heat burning under it—otherwise known as Indirect Grilling. Just don’t overcook it—there’s few things more disappointing than dried out chicken.
SKEWERS, KABOBS, etc.
Whatever you call them, skewers of meat, vegetables and even fruit are ideal for the grill. For kickin' kabobs: Cut meats and veggies to the same size. One- to 1½-inch inch cubes work well. Group foods with similar cooking times together. While a skewer of bell peppers, cherry tomatoes and chicken looks appetizing, those tomatoes may turn to mush--or worse, slither off the skewer--by the time the chicken is done. Usually it’s easier to cook your meats and veggies on separate skewers—that way you won’t risk overcooking/undercooking either.
