Up your grilling game with tips from bestselling author Meathead Goldwyn

Passionate about your barbecue and grilling game? Odds are you're familiar with the website AmazingRibs.com and its creator, Meathead Goldwyn. Author of of the best-selling book “Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling” and just nominated to the BBQ Hall of Fame, the self-professed "barbecue whisperer" and "hedonism evangelist" started the site back in 2005, and it's consistently ranked one of the top food websites on the interwebs. And yeah, in case you were wondering, he goes by the nickname "Meathead" with everyone except his wife. “I prefer to be just plain ol’ Meathead without the Goldwyn. One name like Cher and Madonna. Just more facial hair,” he says. A longtime fan of Meathead’s, I’ve interviewed him a number of times, most notably for a story debunking the mythology surrounding beer can chicken. (Want to know how to do it right? Here’s the recipe.)

With grilling season just around the corner, I recently caught up with Meathead to discuss handy grilling tips ranging from prepping your grill for the season, to advice for beginning grillers, must-have gadgets, and common grilling mistakes to avoid.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Noelle Carter: Memorial Day is just around the corner, and for many of us, the weekend marks the unofficial kickoff to the summer grilling season. Do you have any good advice for prepping your grill before its first use of the year?

Meathead Goldwyn: The first thing is to clean your grill, most importantly, the cooking surface — the grates. There are people who actually think the gunk and grease on your grates, and the carbon build-up on the inside of your dome, act as seasoning, improving the flavor. This is a myth. This is wrong.

Grease is unsightly and unpalatable. You wouldn’t eat at a restaurant that doesn’t clean its grill. You absolutely must clean the cooking surface, number one. Top and bottom — you want the bottom of the grate clean, too. Number two, don’t put [the grates] in the dishwasher, or you’ll be sleeping on the couch for a month.

NC: [Laughs] You’re right. And they can make a mess of your kitchen sink if you try to clean them there, too. What do you recommend?

MG: There are a lot of companies out there that sell cooking sprays and other things that are supposed to eat away at all of that stuff. But you can just heat up the grill and scrape everything off. I’m a fan of elbow grease. I’ve never messed with sprays; I’m just not keen on the idea of putting chemicals on my cooking surface.

Now, there are a couple gadgets out there that do help. Two of the best tools are just a plain old paint scraper and a stainless steel wire brush. One of the problems with wire brushes is occasionally the bristles come loose and they stick to the surface, and they can easily get in your food. It’s not a common problem, but it happens. You don’t want to spend Memorial Day in the waiting room room of the hospital because grandma got a bristle stuck in her throat after eating a hamburger. Watch for bristles. The best way to do this is to wad up some paper towels, put them on the grill grate, and run them back and forth over the grate a few times on both sides after brushing. This should get any bristles off. But always watch for them, and keep alert.

“I’m here to tell you that grilling snobs who tell you gas is bad don’t know anything.” — Meathead Goldwyn

If you want to scrub your grill down, the best thing is to line the trunk of your car with garbage bags and throw everything in the back and head to the carwash — one of those carwashes where you put quarters in the machine and just spray the grill down. All the top barbecue competitors keep their rigs clean and a lot of them use the carwash. You can also use a power washer if you’ve got one at home, or even just lay the thing on your lawn and hit it with the hose and scrub it really good.

NC: Just keep it clean.

MG: Yeah. Another thing: If you’re using coals, you always want to empty out the ash from the bottom. Ash absorbs heat, and will actually reduce the amount of energy you can produce.

NC: Ash actually affects the amount of heat your grill puts out?

MG: It’s like goose down. It absorbs it. Oh, and if you’ve got a drip container, empty it after every use. Grease buildup can catch fire. I have a brother-in-law who that once happened to — he was grilling in his garage because it was raining and, um, you always want to clean the grease out of the bottom of a gas grill.

NC: Keep everything clean, folks. Now, what if you’re a beginner? You’ve got friends coming over and you want to grill. Any tips for beginners? Oh, and what should they look for in a starter grill?

MG: Well, there’s how much you want to spend. And then there’s that age old question of: charcoal or gas? I’m here to tell you that grilling snobs who tell you gas is bad don’t know anything.

NC: Gas is definitely easier to master, especially if you’re just starting out.

MG: Ignore the snobs. There’s nothing wrong with a gas grill and they’re really easy to use. You turn the knob, and 10 minutes later the grill’s up to temp. You can start cooking. Now some snobs say you might as well be cooking indoors if you’re using gas. But cooking over flame is what imparts flavor, and you have the grilling grates, which give you the Maillard Reaction on the surface. So grilling is much different than cooking indoors.

The only problem with gas grills is they don’t get hot enough to really give you a good sear on a steak or burger. They’re great for chicken and stuff like that, but if you want a perfect steak, one with a good dark mahogany sear edge to them, there’s no substitute for charcoal.

If you want the convenience of a gas grill, get it. But when you want a steakhouse steak, get yourself a $30 hibachi and burn coals. [Note: Amazing Ribs has a handy guide to grills with ratings, reviews and a buying guide.]

NC: OK. So what are some common mistakes you see that people make? For me, the mere sight of lighter fluid by someone’s grill makes me question their skills. It’s just wrong, because anything you cook tastes like lighter fluid.

MG: Same thing with [easy-lighting] charcoal. The coal is saturated with mineral spirits and has that lighter fluid built into it. And it smells. I can tell when a neighbor fires up that stuff from a block away. And it really gets into your food. If you’re using charcoal, use a chimney starter. Nothing works better.

“Nothing on the face of this earth will improve your cooking outdoors or indoors more than a digital thermometer.” — Meathead

One other thing: You don’t have to spend top dollar on lump charcoal. In fact, I prefer briquettes. They’re uniform in size, which means each provides the same amount of energy. Lump charcoal are these odd shapes, they’re different kinds of wood, and you don’t know what they are.

NC: Do coals matter when it comes to flavor?

MG: Charcoal is not for flavor. Charcoal is for heat. If you want flavor, you get chunks of wood, or wood chips or even sawdust. Pure wood flavor is delicious.

NC: And you’ve said it’s not necessary to soak the wood before adding it.

MG: No. First of all, wood doesn’t soak in water. That’s why they build boats out of it. We’ve done tests. It’s just the surface that holds water, and you throw it on the charcoal and and the temperature only goes to 212 degrees [water evaporates at 212 degrees] until the water evaporates. That and you’re putting wet wood on your charcoal, so you’ve just cooled your fire down.

NC: Don’t soak your chips. What are some other tips you can give?

MG: One of the most important things is to go out and buy a quality digital thermometer. Nothing on the face of this earth will improve your cooking outdoors or indoors more than a digital thermometer. A steak is medium-rare at 130- to 135 degrees. When you’re grilling, color can’t be relied on, and you definitely don’t want to monkey around when it comes to poultry. Have a good thermometer and use a temperature guide.

NC: I totally agree. In all of my experience, nothing beats the accuracy of a thermometer, whether in the kitchen or on the grill. What about temperature? Can you talk about regulating temperature and temperature zones?

MG: This is a basic core concept. Always divide your grill into sides, a hot side [direct heat] and a not hot [indirect heat] side. When using charcoal, push all your coals off to one side and leave the other side void. On a gas grill, you turn one burner up and the other off, fiddling with them if you have more than two burners. You’re creating zones.

How many picnics and garden parties have you gone to where the chicken skin is black but the meat’s not done? By creating zones, you have a searing side and a safe side. On the indirect side, [you’re heating] but you’ll never burn. You’re safe.

“If you’re adding [barbecue] sauce, you put it on right at the last minute.“ — Meathead

I’m a big fan of reverse searing, something your cohort Russ Parsons advocated long before me. I use it for everything. The concept is you cook the inside and outside of your food separately; you start by cooking the inside of the food — you warm your steak or potato or turkey gently — so it’s properly cooked in the center. This is with the grill lid on — think of your grill as an outdoor oven.

Then you move it to the hot side, with the lid off, and you get that surface hot and you flip, and flip, and flip. Every time you flip, you’re pounding the bottom side with energy, and you’re darkening the surface — the Maillard Reaction — and then you flip again. And that’s reverse searing.

Oh, and if you’re saucing, don’t add it until the last possible minute.

NC: So many cooks slather on the barbecue sauce way too soon, before the meat is done. And that sauce is mostly all sugar, and it burns so easily, making the food taste bad.

MG: Right. If you’re doing reverse searing, you cook [the food] on the indirect side with your instant read thermometer [until it’s almost done], and then you move it over to the hot side and flip, flip flip. If you’re adding sauce, you put it on right at the last minute. One coat is all you need, two at the most. The sugar will caramelize.

And once you add the sauce, stay there. Don’t go to get a new beer. Don’t go to the bathroom. Don’t leave that grill. Flip, flip, flip and bring it off the grill.

NC: One last question: Fork or tongs?

MG: Tongs are better than a fork, no question, but it’s not the end of the world. We’re told not to stab with a fork because we’ll lose moisture. People think a thermometer will do the same thing. Meat is 70- to 75 percent water, but it’s not a balloon. It won’t explode when you stab it with a fork or a thermometer. Say you’ve got an eight-ounce filet mignon, six ounces of which is water. If you stand there with a fork and flip it, how much water is going to come out? One-half or one-quarter of a teaspoon. That’s it. I There’s six ounces of water in there. When you grill, you lose 20-percent or so just to evaporation and drip loss.

So if you have to stab your meat a lot, you’re not going to lose a lot of water. You’re not going to dry it out. It’s better to use tongs; you’ll save a little water. High temperature is what will dry out your meat.