Can anyone help with information on how to grill meats. In the case of lamb cutlets, we were given a recipe in Marche that involved blending garlic, parsley and rosemary. We assume we were to press onto the cutlets and then grill in a grilling frame over charcoal. I can't help suspect that this would only burn the herbs.
Similarly, I suspect that the grilled chicken ( a maryland cut), was marinated in herbs and then wrapped in proscuitto to grill. This I assume would allow the chicken to cook to the bone without burning.
I guess what I'm struggling with, is the idea that very hot coals would burn both lamb and chicken. We noted that Bistecca is cooked over very low coals, and that it was turned every few minutes. Here in Australia, we have a very hot fire and we sear the meat on one side for several minutes, turn and sear the other side. That's it. No poking with a fork or constant turning. We then rest the meat for 5 minutes.
Could it be that the grilling of chicken and lamb is the same as the bistecca. A low coals fire with constant turning so that it cooks through but doesn't burn, with a wrapping of proscuitto to both baste and protect the meat from burning?
Posts: 893 | Location: Sydney, Australia | Registered: 20 January 2002
you got it... you get the fires going and then let them cook slowly over the hot embers. Italians like their meat cooked ( except of course the bistecca alla fiorentina). so a long slow cook is more appealing to them.
Judy Divina Cucina Florence Everyone should try being Italian at least once a day!!
Hmmm, Gavin, you have created many questions in my mind. First, I lived in Maryland for years, but have no idea what a Maryland cut is? Second, was this an ordinary restaurant or one that specializes in grilling? Third, how would lean meat like prosciutto baste the chicken? Not that it sounds bad, it just sounds unItalian to me. Now, pancetta, maybe. Here's how my local grill does it. The meat is marinated in the cooler, a glass one that you see into and pick your meat from. The stuff is slapped on and allowed to flavor whatever is being offered. Then they shovel wood coals from the woodfired pizza oven onto a stone slab, and the meat is in one of those folding gadgets with legs and sits over it. No poking, turning once. If it's a big piece, they may add some more coals. Fez seems to know just how much it is going to take, however, and he cuts the Fiorentina according to the weight you requested, so occasionally it is a 3" thick steak. Also on offer are pork chops, filet, spiedini of pork and sausages, sometimes other things, including chicken. Having watched him a lot, I do the same thing in my fireplace. There's a dip in the hearth where the coals sit from the centuries of scooping and cooking. I've cooked everything imaginable there, from mutton to shrimp. Maybe it is the meat juices, but the rosemary, whatever, never seems to burn, but it wouldn't bother me if it did. I think this is a much hotter fire. I wear a tiny necklace all the time, and when working on grilling, it heats up so much when I lean forward that when I straighten it burns my neck.
Posts: 2787 | Location: Umbria | Registered: 13 September 2001
For grilling, you want to use hot coals, not a fire. It is the fire / flames that will burn your meats, not the coals.
Start with a good wood charcoal - don't use a petroleum based starter. Let the charcoal burn burn down until there is a light coating of grey ash over the coals. Now the coals are ready.
How fast your meat cooks is solely dependent on the distance between your grill and the coals. Turning / not turning is always debated - either works just fine.
Always let your meat rest a few minutes after cooking - it allows the juices in the center of the meat to move back throughout the entire cut of meat.
This works well with any cut of meat you want. Other than wild game, very little meats are marinated here.
Now good bar-b-que - that's a whole new subject, but that is not done here in Italy that I know of.
Also, here is a fun article written in the June 2002 Travel and Leisure magazine.
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