Gavin Jones and Richard Holden

BBQ Head-To-Head - Glorious Grilling

Posted Jun 6th, 2016
by Richard Holden Ali Durnford

Like many others I love to be in the great outdoors as much as possible, particularly when it comes to cooking and dining outside. Although you won’t starve with my cooking, my BBQ skills are definitely fairly basic, so I challenged the professional BBQ chef Richard Holden to teach me how to cook the ultimate BBQ meal – a grilled steak.

Ali: OK Richard – where do I start?

Richard: For me it begins with a trip to my local butcher. I’m fortunate that as I travel quite a bit with work I get to enjoy meats from across the country but I always take the time to seek out a good local butcher with quality produce. When we do events at Clifton Nurseries Surrey I go to James of Shepperton and the old adage remains true, you get what you pay for.

Great meat is well sourced, it comes from locally traceable sources, it’s aged and matured with close supervision and when you tell the butcher what you want they know exactly what they’re giving you. They’ll help you understand how to cook certain cuts of meat and help you get the cut that’s just right for the meal you’re trying to create.

Ali: Makes sense. And then what? Are you a marinade man? Do I need to do anything to prepare the meat?

Richard: It depends how much time you have. For best results a marinade requires time for the meat to infuse with the flavours you’re combined, whereas something like a rub can be applied to a steak and then cooked soon afterwards. There can be a tendency to load in the flavours but when you start with great tasting meat it can be a case that less is definitely more.

I always remove steaks and roasts from the fridge a good 30-40 minutes ahead of them going near the grill. 

Richard Holden

I always remove steaks and roasts from the fridge a good 30-40 minutes ahead of them going near the grill. This allows them to come up to room temperature, the muscle to become more relaxed and this means that when the meat hits the grill, the heat will permeate much easier, it won’t suffer a heat shock, and it will cook quickly and more evenly.

Ali: I’m starting to get hungry! I’m keen to get going. What temperature should I heat the BBQ to?

Richard: We cook on the BBQ at similar temperatures to cooking indoors, so to roast we set the BBQ at between 180 and 200c, to grill we’re going to get it up towards the 250c mark, and to cook low and slow for ribs and pulled pork it’s down in the 110-120c range.

It’s important to let your BBQ preheat for around 10-15 minutes before putting your food on as this will allow everything to heat through properly giving you grill marks where needed, and a more stable cook for larger joints of meat. It will also help burn off the cooking grate from the previous cook so you can then clean it with a grill brush.

Ali: Great tips – thanks Richard. So, now I’m ready to put the steak on. I never know whether to grill the steak for a while before turning it? Does that stop it drying out?

Richard: When grilling there are a few things I always recommend. Firstly, clean the grill so it’s smooth and then apply a vegetable or rapeseed oil to help prevent items from sticking. If you’re cooking steaks you can also apply a little oil to the steak before it goes on, but once it’s on the grill close the lid and leave it to BBQ for 2-3 minutes depending on thickness.

Once a steak has been on the grill between 2 and 3 minutes, use a pair of tongs to see if it has released from the cooking grate. A key tip to knowing when your meats are ready to turn over is they don’t stick to the grate. Flip the steak and close the lid for another 2-3 minutes, or until the internal temperature has reached the ideal level.

BBQ Head-To-Head - Glorious Grilling

Ali: How do I know how long to cook it for? I like mine Medium Rare but to be honest I don’t really know the difference between Rare, Medium Rare and Medium? And how do I know when it’s cooked?

Richard: The most failsafe way to know your food is cooked is to use a digital temperature probe. The Traegers come with these as standard but a steak cooked to rare should be 47c, medium rare 53c, medium 60c and medium well 67c. Well done is 72c and this is also the target temperature for any foods that require cooking through such as chicken and minced items like burgers, sausages or kebabs. When the food reaches the target temperature don’t forget to let it rest, somewhere warm, and covered on a warmed serving plate.

Ali: Sorry, what do you mean by rest?

Richard: Resting the meat is often overlooked because when we’ve taken the time to buy it, flavour it and cook it, all we want to do it sit down and eat it. Resting allows the meat fibres to relax after being on a high heat, and by doing this the juices will have a chance to redistribute and overall the texture of the meat will be much more tender.

Richard - this is seriously good - I can't believe we made it on a BBQ! 

Ali Durnford

Ali: Richard – this is seriously good – I can’t believe I made it on a BBQ! Thanks for the excellent masterclass. One last question – why does food taste better cooked outdoors?

Richard: I think there are many factors that contribute to food tasting better when cooked outdoors, but for me people eat first with their eyes so the theatre of cooking outdoors heightens the senses and the anticipation. There’s also the fresh air that the BBQ draws in that keeps it juicy and when you combine that with the smoky flavour of the grill it’s just a killer combination.

Ali: I can vouch for that - this is delicious - thank you Richard. 

BBQ tuition by Richard Holden BBQ

 

About the author

Richard Holden BBQ is an outdoor cooking specialist - Ali Durnford is a professional horticulturist and writer.