Sneak Peek: Why Flipping Meat Frequently Is A Good Thing
For years we have been told to not flip meat too often on the grill but that directive defies logic, physics, and math. Find out why in Meathead's newest myth-busting article!
My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
I always enjoy reading Myth Busters from Meathead. Off to click the link now.
And later...Back from reading the article.
Interesting that Meathead recommends 2 to 3 minutes per side before flipping to build a dark crust as opposed to the 30 seconds to 1 minute flip timing recommended on the Modernist Cuisine video.
I would have liked it had they both addressed the temperature of the searing surface and the temperature and thickness of the meat before searing, but that would have gotten complicated. Forward sear vs. reverse sear vs. multiple flips alone (for a thinner piece of meat) might influence the optimal flip timing.
With forward or reverse sear, I've backed off the "screaming hot" skillet/grill recommendation and go with a 500ยฐ surface now. (On my gasser with flipped Grill Grates, "screaming hot" is about 700+ยฐ.)
A 500ยฐ surface gives the steaks a good crust without quite so much char. At that temp, one-minute flips done 2 to 4 times per side seems to do the trick for my family's preferences.
My personal preference for steaks is front-sear and 30-60 sec flips. I agree that a slightly lower heat is good and too much char is not good, but that is all preference.
Excellent read! I actually first heard about this after seeing Jess Pryles promote the method a couple years ago. She calls it the JKF method/ Just Keep Flipping. Here's a link to her YouTube vid which is pretty neat.
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
******************************************** Grills/Smokers/Fryers Big Green Egg (Large) X3
Blackstone 36" Outdoor Griddle 4-Burner
Burch Barrel V-1 Karubeque C-60 Kamado Joe Jr. (Black) Lodge L410 Hibachi Pit Barrel Cooker Pit Barrel Cooker 2.0
Pit Barrel PBX
R&V Works FF2-R-ST 4-Gallon Fryer *******************************************. Thermometers
FireBoard (Base Package)
Thermoworks ThermaPen (Red)
Thermoworks MK4 (Orange)
********************************* Accessories Big Green Egg Plate Setter
Benzomatic TS800 High Temp Torch X 2 Bayou Classic 44 qt Stainless Stock Pot
Bayou Classic 35K BTU Burner Eggspander Kit X2 Finex Cat Iron Line FireBoard Drive Lots and Lots of Griswold Cast Iron Grill Grates Joule Water Circulator
KBQ Fire Grate Kick Ash Basket (KAB) X4 Lots of Lodge Cast Iron Husky 6 Drawer BBQ Equipment Cabinet Large Vortex Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum Marquette Castings No. 13 (First Run) Smithey No. 12 Smokeware Chimney Cap X 3 Stargazer No.10, 12 ******************************** Fuel FOGO Priemium Lump Charcoal Kingsford Blue and White B&B Charcoal Apple, Cherry & Oak Log splits for the C-60 ************************************************* Cutlery Buck 119 Special
Cuda 7' Fillet Knife Dexter 12" Brisket Sword Global Shun Wusthof ********** Next Major Purchase Lone Star Grillz 24 X 48 Offset
Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
About meReal name: Aaron
Location: Farwell, Michigan - near Clare (dead center of lower peninsula).
Occupation:
Healthcare- Licensed & Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at MyMichigan Health, a University of Michigan Health System.
I'm glad Meathead puts effort into disproving many of BBQ's ol' wives' tales. My biggest thing to overcome was not soaking my wood chips, which then led to using chunks instead of chips. Thinking it though after I read Mh's articles made the lightbulb go on! Not flipping meat and pushing on it to see if it feels like the heel of your hand for doneness irritates me when folks insist this way makes any sense. Yeah it still makes a good hunk of meat if you're lucky, or if you stick to a particular method of it all, but it's such flawed advice when you put all the pieces together.
I agree wholeheartedly regarding steaks. Not so much my "Pub Burgers" since I don't pack 'em tight enough to survive a lot of flipping. But maybe it's my technique.
I'm a fan of the Cold Grate Technique as taught by David Parrish . Kind of a combo of flipping often but getting the convective heat from the coals and not the conductive heat from grate. (I hope I got my thermodynamic nomenclature right).
Non-flipping always seemed counterintuitive to me. In strictly layman's observations and thoughts a long stationary sear often leads to overheating and overcooking so I just didn't do it. It's nice to have the science confirm that.
The last steak I did a bit ago, I flipped & flipped til the cow came home, yessir. Cuz there wuz nuthin better to do & I hurt about it somewhere. And, I donโt give a rip about carp tunnel or any other carp fer that matter.
I must say, yaโll donโt know how pleased I wuz to have it displayed in the monthly thing. Then I was even a little embarrassed that it was published, what with the high, high quality of cookin pics routinely presented by excellent members.
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