By Chris Brown

Make it flipping good

Great grilling: Tips for the best barbecue possible

Jul 2, 2021 | 4:54 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – People will turn up the heat on the barbecues this weekend, and this summer, so we turned to a local expert for some tips on how to make your backyard party a success.

Mike Steiner at Mike’s Meats says any time someone buys something at the store he and the staff like to make sure they know their way around a barbecue.

“Meat’s expensive right now. You don’t want to ruin it so you gotta cook it right,” Steiner says. “It’s important to me when you leave the door here when you leave the shop you know what you’re doing.”

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For cooking a simple hamburger, Steiner says it’s important to thaw it under refrigeration and cook it from semi-frozen and flip it often.

“The whole science behind cooking anything on a barbecue with your heat source on the bottom is water goes up, fat goes down,” Steiner explains. “You want to keep those two components rotating inside the meat.”

That will lead to a juicier, more flavourful burger, he says.

Steiner says steak also needs to be flipped often and says to use the touch method.

“Take your hand and touch your finger, your pointer finger, to your thumb and feel this muscle (the base of your thumb) on your hand. It’s a little soft And as I touch the next finger it gets harder and more firm and more firm. Well done. So when you feel that steak with your finger and you feel that backpressure, start thinking about getting ready to eat.”

Steiner adds barbecues today are getting better and better, making it easier for even a novice griller to get it right.

And for smokers, Steiner says it comes down to trial and error.

“Smokers today, combination barbecue smokers, that’s an art form in itself,” he says. “Being about to work with time and temperature and getting the right flavour on there with the right amount of smoke, that’s important There’s little tricks to that but a lot of it is just experimentation.”

More BBQ tips

• Thicker steaks need a lower temperature but still need to be flipped often
• The longer, slower you can thaw meat, the better. In a sink filled with cold water or in the fridge is best
• Steaks should be completely thawed before you barbecue them; burgers should be semi-frozen.