Page 28 - May 2021 Barbecue News Magazine

bbq flavor
Do You Want A Few Stripes Of Flavor Or An Entire Forkful?
All the Instagram hero
shots, all the grocery store
advertisements, the restau-
rant ads, the grill ads and
most meat ads show beauti-
ful steaks and burgers with
cross hatched grill marks.
Restaurants can even buy
chicken premarked with
grill marks that they can
microwave and serve. Cook-
ing magazines and cook-
books teach readers how to get great grill marks.
Overrated.
Look at the ribeye at the top of this article and the one below, a winning entry at a steak cookoff:
Doesn’t the one with the grill marks create a Pavlovian re-
FORGET GRILL MARKS: HERE'S HOW TO GET A PROPER SEAR ON A STEAK
sponse? Yes, that’s what grill marks do. But I’m here to tell you, the other one will taste the best.
Why grill marks are over- rated (most of the time)
When it comes to meats and many other foods, the goal is to get a golden brown to deep brown color on as much surface as pos- sible. Dark brown crusts on grilled meat are the most flavorful part because dark
brown is the result of changes in the meat's chemistry. Called the Maillard reaction, browning occurs when heat changes the structure of amino acids, proteins, and sugars, creating hundreds of new really tasty compounds. We call that searing and the result is a crust that, for many of us, is the highlight of the meal. When it comes to most foods, brown is beautiful. Black is not. Tan is not.
Meathead, AmazingRibs.com
BarbecueNews.com - 28
MAY 2021