The Niman Ranch Cookbook

At Niman Ranch, we’re big fans of grilling meat over live fire. A gas grill, indoors or out, can produce good results, but only coals satisfy that primitive urge to build and nurture a fire and to feast on meat licked by smoke.

For live-fire grilling, you have a choice of fuels. Charcoal briquettes are readily available and easy to use, and they burn evenly. Avoid briquettes that contain lighter fluid. You don’t need that seasoning on your steak. Hardwood charcoal, such as mesquite, comes in chunky, less uniform pieces, so it’s a little harder to manage. Many grillers like hardwood charcoal because it burns especially hot and imparts more smoky flavor, but it can be challenging to control if you’re inexperienced. Some people use a combination of briquettes and mesquite to get the benefits of both. You can also use chunks of hardwood like oak or ash; they take a little longer to burn down to ash-covered coals than charcoal does, but there’s nothing like that whisper of real wood smoke on a steak.

Before you light a gas grill or build a fire, decide whether you need areas for both direct and indirect cooking. Cooking directly over the flame or coals works well for thin cuts that will likely be done by the time they are seared on both sides. But thicker cuts, such as London broil or pork chops, may need a few minutes over slower indirect heat to cook them through after searing. If you tried to cook them directly over coals or gas the entire time, the surface would char before they cooked through. It’s also helpful to have a cooler area where you can move meats when they flare up. And with some larger, long-cooking cuts, such as a butterflied leg of lamb, you may not need direct heat at all. Ming Tsai’s Rib-eye Steaks with Thai Basil and Mint Sauce (page 138) are a straightforward example of grilling over direct heat.

To create an area for indirect cooking on a gas grill, you can simply leave one or more of the burners off. With coals, you will need to do some arranging. For direct-heat cooking only, spread the coals in an even layer a little bigger than the surface area that your meat will cover. To make areas for direct and indirect cooking, mound the hot coals all on one side, clustered under half the cooking grate. If you need only indirect heat, divide the hot coals into two piles, one on each side of the grill, leaving the center with no coals underneath. If you are cooking meat with fat that is likely to drip, such as ribs, position an aluminum-foil roasting pan between the coals.

The easiest, most fail-safe way to light charcoal or wood chunks is with an inexpensive chimney starter, a metal flue with upper and lower chambers. Set the chimney on the fire grate (lower grate) of your grill with vents open. Stack charcoal or wood in the upper chamber. Tuck some crumpled newspaper or a wax cube (available at hardware stores) underneath. Light the newspaper or the wax and the fuel will almost immediately begin to smoke. You should have ash-covered coals within a half hour. Dump them out of the chimney and arrange as needed for direct and/or indirect cooking.

Use the hand test to determine whether your fire is hot enough. If you can hold your hand at the level of the cooking grate for only a couple of seconds, you have a hot fire. If you can hold it there for five seconds or so, you have a moderate fire. If you want it hotter, you may need to mound the coals or add a few. For direct-heat grilling of most meats, a moderate fire is hot enough. A fire that’s too hot will char the exterior of your steaks or chops before the inside is done.

Always clean the cooking grate of any residue with a sturdy grill brush before using it. Then set the grate in place and preheat it for several minutes to prevent the meat from sticking.

It’s a good idea to nick the fat on steaks in a couple of places before grilling. Go just deep enough to reach the membrane under the fat. Without this precaution, your steaks may curl. Rib eyes are especially prone to this behavior and may curl to the point that the eye pops out.
Grill steaks and chops over direct heat until they are well seared on the bottom and beads of juice rise to the surface. Turn with tongs—never pierce with a fork—and cook on the second side until done to your taste. Move meat away from direct heat if the fire flares.

As a general rule, it’s best to keep the lid off for meats that cook quickly so you can monitor doneness. For thicker cuts that will need some or all indirect cooking, like double-cut pork chops, cover the grill when the meat is not directly over the coals.

Our favorite cuts for grilling
Beef: any steak from the rib or loin; hanger steak; flank steak; tri tip; chuck steak; skirt steak
Pork: country-style pork ribs; baby back ribs or St. Louis ribs (braise first)
Lamb: rib, loin, and shoulder chops; butterflied leg; Denver ribs

Toward a Better Burger
Many cooking crimes are committed against burgers when it’s so easy to get it right. If you haven’t been paying attention to the following fine points, you’ll notice a difference when you do.

• Use the freshest available coarse-ground meat, preferably containing about 20 percent fat.

• Form the burgers by hand, pressing them gently into shape. Make them about an inch larger in diameter than your buns,
as they will shrink when cooked. Don’t overwork the meat.

• To grill, cook burgers directly over the fire, five to six inches above the coals.

• To panfry, you should not need additional fat if the ground beef contains at least 20 percent. If the meat is leaner than that, go for bacon burgers. Fry a strip or two of bacon for each burger, then fry the patties in that flavorful fat.

• Never, ever press on your burger with a spatula. That nervous ritual of the amateur grill chef just forces juices out.

• Try not to turn burgers more than once. When juices rise to the surface on the second side, that’s medium rare.