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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!
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.
It's always a great idea to have your smartphone close to the grill when you are cooking.
Right up until you said that, I thought you were serious, and got actually worried there was a large market for the items in the article among slashdot readers :)
Seriously, being a geek isn't about using electronic gadgets. It's about obsessing over a subject and seeking to become very knowledgeable in it, to a fault. If you're a grilling geek, you're going to be very interested in grilling, and wouldn't want to be distracted by smartphones and wi-fi.
And if you're a gadget geek who is forced to grill, the only thing you want is a gadget that will do the grilling for you, without your intervention.
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).
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.)
Since we are generalizing whole societies from a posting on a technology site, I can infer that asians are very judgmental?
. . . the grilling is finished.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I think you are spuriously inserting your own definitions into those terms to meet your own need to feel superior to someone.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face