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Grilling For Geeks
A lot of us are going to be standing over a grill today cooking for friends and family. Here's an article that lists some of the best gadgets to help you grill like a geek. Whether you want some high-tech tongs, thermometers you can monitor from your phone, or a complete grilling station with wi-fi, there is bound to be a tool here that will make your day easier and a lot more fun.
Do it online instead!
Loved the list! There's even some iGrill apps for your iPhone. It's always a great idea to have your smartphone close to the grill when you are cooking. Why didn't I think of this before?
I grill my food using a Prescott P4 with the heatsink off.
Slashdot, please have some journalistic integrity and label these advertisements for what they truly are. Don't insult our intelligence by trying to pass them off as true stories.
chepati.
Not very innovative and geeky. Let's see a gyroscopic pig roasting spit or a hack for my parabolic Weber turning it into antenna.
Some iPhone apps and a couple of gimmicky products ... Where's the Arduino based TC4C with LCD readout to use programming and thermocouples to tell you when your food is done. Where's the PID controlled BBQ smoker from a couple of flower pots and electric stove heating element? These are just the things from the top of my head! I'm probably burning some karma with this post, but I'm very disappointed.
Get the heaviest BBQ you can afford (and fits into you space).
Pay attention first hand - don't use an app.
Beer.
Success.
.. there was not even one mention of an Arduino controlled grill with bluetooth temperature sensors that tweets when it's done. I want my click back.
Really guys? Slow news day would be one thing, but this is ridiculous.
At least show some honesty for what this is.
P.S. in case you don't know what this is, I'll remind you that I check off the disable ads button, and use ad block. Still I read this and get upset. Wtf slash dot?
Personally, I think most of these gadgets are worthless. Yes, a thermometer is useful (but I prefer the instant-read kind like the Thermapen for quick checks in multiple locations). Otherwise, you really only need a good pair of extra-long tongs (that 3-in-1 thing in TFA looks clunky as heck) and a spatula.
If you really want to grill like a geek, check out Kenji Alt's Food Lab posts over on Serious Eats. He's got a nice guide up right now on how to grill a steak the right way (complete with explanations based on food science and his own experiments), and he's been doing a series on the best inexpensive steaks (at least, inexpensive compared to porterhouse and tenderloin).
The submission is an ad. True geeks aren't just about gadgets, but rather they focus on being knowledgeable in a particular field.
When it comes to grilling (and real BBQ) this is the ultimate geek reference:
BBQ FAQ
To my fellow geeks, if you've never grilled now's the time to start! If you fail, don't worry. This is how you learn, like learning how much you hate java but don't mine C#. But the secret? The secret is to find a sauce, or make a sauce that's all your own. But grilling in itself? You don't need hightech junk, you need patience and the want to learn.
My personal recipe: All done to taste,
Ketchup, yellow mustard, parmesan cheese (powder or bricked shredded), garlic powder, pepper(varieties are your friend), dried sweet red pepper, sweet dried onion. Dash of milk or cream, dash of sugar(icing, brown or white to sweeten, can also use honey), then 1/3 to 1/2c of your favorite beer or 1 to 2 shots of your favorite hard booze.
Om, nomnomnom...
The only "gadget" that is really necessary is a decent thermometer appropriate to the task at hand. I say it is a gadget because if you really know what you are doing a thermometer is optional. (I'm not that good so I use thermometers heavily when cooking and have a wide variety of them - the most gadgety one I have is an infrared thermometer for non-contact temp readings) A good grill, a fire extinguisher, some tongs and possibly a spatula are pretty much the only requirements. You really shouldn't be walking away from the grill while cooking for safety reasons so I don't really understand the point of remote monitoring except for really low & slow cooking like BBQ. The best "gadget" you can get is a geeky cookbook like the ones Alton Brown writes.
Hamburgers should not be made in a press. If you're going to do that, you might as well use pre-formed patties. They should be carefully formed, with as little pressure as possible from 4 to 5 ounces of beef - 6 at the most. The center should be slightly thinner than the edges - use your thumb to make a small depression on each side. Mashing the burger together in a press will make it harder to break apart on the grill, but a little care and a CLEAN grill will make it unnecessary without sacrificing texture and juiciness. If you want to be really obsessive about it, line up the strands of ground beef vertically in a ring mold and then press them lightly together, but that can be a bit of a pain.
Why not take a day off from hardware/software and computers, regress to your caveman days and grill some meat, take a digital sabbatical.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Real geeks hack their tech. And when it comes to cooking, you can buy something that is half as good as what you can build, for twice the price -- as this ridiculous article handily demonstrates. Food hacking (or Modernist Cuisine, if you prefer) is a very big field these days. Want a great steak? Start with sous vide immersion cooking to get the perfect medium rare, then hit it with a flamethrower for the char. Play with your food.
Immersion Cooker (about $100 all-in):
http://beach.traxel.com/img/hopped-up/whole-rig.jpg
Weedburner Charring (about $35 at Harbor Freight):
http://beach.traxel.com/img/sous-vide/weedburner-char.jpg
Here's some more info on building your own meat jacuzzi:
http://qandabe.com/2011/70-diy-sous-vide-universal-controller/
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
This is low-tech, but it's yielded consistent, good results for me:
Texture and taste are best when it's medium-rare on the inside. Once I accepted this, everything fell into place and everyone now loves the results I get.
And, to get my results:
- Use high heat on the grill.
- Judge done-ness by how much resistance the steak offers when you push on it with tongs or whatever. I'm sure this could be measured, but it only takes a few steaks to developed your own judgment.
- Letting the steak rest for 5 minutes before serving really is a good idea. It's when the final internal cooking occurs (so you can avoid over-cooking the outside), and it seems to reduce how much juices leak out when you cut it.
- It's worthwhile to spend your money on a smaller cut of good steak, than a bigger cut of cheap steak. (If you're serving the steak on its own merits, as opposed to in a chili, stew, etc.)
. . . the grilling is finished.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
These are some pretty piss poor "Geek grilling gadgets"
Those that get their geek on grilling want the best information gathering for the experience. How about this top 5?
1.) A good IR thermometer. I use this for everything from candy, to my grill, to my pizza oven, to my forge, to my fire pit: http://www.amazon.com/Fluke-62-Mini-Infrared-Thermometer/dp/B000MX5Y9C
2.)A meat grinder. I personally prefer a manual one, as I had two electric models burn out on me. I know there are plenty of good electrical ones out there, but I now have a bit of a prejudice... Want the most juicy and tender burger? Grind your meat into a line on saran wrap, and roll it tight, protecting the grain of the grind as one long line. Then slice into patties. No cross grain in these patties, so they are a bit structurally weaker, but it is a fantastic burger grind... That and you can experiment with sausages, fish burgers, mini nut roasts for vegetarians... http://www.amazon.com/Weston-Heavy-Manual-Tinned-Grinder/dp/B000T3ONH4
3.) Build or buy a Sous Vide immersion circulator - Nothing more geeky than this perfection, and it can tie in to some really magical finishing on the grill. http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2010/02/diy-sous-vide-heating-immersion-circulator-for-about-75/
4.) I found this years ago, after watching the smoking episode on Good Eats, and this trashcan build is my smoker of choice since. Though I've since modified it with an entrance hatch so I could change the wood more frequently, and a wrapping of water heater insulation. http://cruftbox.com/cruft/docs/elecsmoker.html . But this leads to more interest in temp. Want a lower temp smoking for magnificent smoked ham this holiday? Lower and slower.... I found a couple refrigerator boxes stacked in the winter could really do some great things.
5.) Last one, not grilling per-say, though the others were not so much as well. This space I would geek out about my knife, but I think the Sodastream (or other similar ideas... I just got an adapter valve so I could refill my CO2 canisters from a standard tank. Super cheap... Playing with CO2 makes BBQing fun for all. Ever carbonate slices of fruit, so it is effervescent on the tongue? Carbonated spirits? Making your own soda syrups?
Well, this is my 2 cents. I'm sure everyone else has an equally passionate top 5 every geek should look into who wants to geek out over the grill.
For those of us in the northern hemisphere, it's summer. It's far too hot and sunny to have a barbecue.
I mean really, who in their right mind wants to go and stand outside on a hot day, cooking hot food on a pile of hot burning charcoal? It's stupid.
Have your barbecue in the winter, when you can stand round a big hot pile of burning charcoal eating hot things and there are no annoying midgies or mosquitos.
Shouldn't be walking away from the grill due to safety reasons? What kind of condition is your grill in?
Doesn't matter. Mine is in excellent condition but I still wouldn't walk away from it for more time than it takes to grab something from my kitchen. Just like I wouldn't leave an active stove or oven unattended inside the house. I'm not saying you can't take your eyes off it for a few minutes if the situation seems reasonably secure but leaving it alone long enough for remote monitoring equipment to become useful is probably a bad idea.
Do you recommend I stand there for hours while something cooks?
In most cases yes. (It's ok if you sit down but don't go far away) Plus if you are cooking something that actually takes hours, you probably are barbequing instead of grilling. It doesn't take hours to cook a steak, or hamburger or chicken. Maybe if you are roasting a whole turkey but you probably aren't doing that on the grill anyway.
http://mhkaufman.blogspot.ca/2009/11/home-made-electric-smoker-with-pid.html
Sorry, these are just "pretend" gadgets for gadget-buyers. Just the kind of overprized gadgets you can get for any hobby. Usually, they say things like "for the serious foo lover", or "for the real foo conoisseur". Bullocks.
And gadget-buyer and geek is not the same thing. Even though gadget-buyers are the kind of people who run around telling everyone that they are real geeks.
This is a geek barbecue
This is a geek barbecue
And so is this