Kristine M. Kierzek
From his home in Brookfield, Illinois, Meathead Goldwin has made the world’s most popular barbecue and grill location: amazingribs.com.
Lesson number 1 he learned? Success in grilling and barbecue all comes down to science.
A member of the Hall of Fame, he is also the author of the book “Meathead: The Science of the Great Grill and Barbecue”. On June 25, he brings his best advice and breaks some popular myths about barbecue with a presentation at 11 a.m. and signing books at a public market in Milwaukee. Tickets for the event cost $ 25. Autograph books are an additional $ 20. To order tickets, go to milvaukeepublicmarket.org.
Goldwin is working on his next book, The Meathead Method, which is expected to be published in 2024.
Which brings him to Milwaukee
The book we published in May 2016, “Meathead: The Science of the Great Grill and Grilling” is still expanding and has surpassed 250,000 copies. … The book is divided into two parts. The first part is a science book. I explain the science and theory of what happens on the grill or smokers. The other half are recipes that use techniques.
Defining barbecue and grilling
The line is very blurry, and anyone who tries to give me a definition can destroy it in 30 seconds. They overlap. I see the barbecue as a large umbrella that encompasses many cooking styles from around the world. This is not an entirely American technique, as some people mistakenly believe. People are grilling all over the world, and under that umbrella there is a barbecue. They all include smoke and flames.
It goes global
Barbecue and grilling, which I collect, are practiced all over the world, but it seems that the love for cooking outdoors in this country is greater than anywhere else … Besides, there are still regional styles.
Sauce styles are spreading
In exactly the same way that we have become a global society, regional styles transcend regional boundaries. Barbecue sauce for most of the country is ketchup on steroids, red sauce with molasses, liquid smoke and all sorts of things. We generally call this style Kansas because it mostly originated in Kansas City.
If you go to parts of South Carolina, you will see that the barbecue sauce is yellow and made from mustard as a base. Go to North Carolina, it’s neither ketchup nor mustard, it’s vinegar. If you go barbecue in Milwaukee or anywhere, you can probably find all this.
If you only do one thing, do this
What message do I want to convey to readers who want to improve their game and become better at cooking outdoors? If you have one of those thermometers in the trash can in the kitchen, go outside, put it in the driveway and return the car over it. Incorrect. It is a technology that was invented in the 1800s. … This is 2022 and for less than $ 30 you can get a digital thermometer that is accurate in less than 5 seconds.
The science of steak
The middle row steak is the most tender and juicy. How do I get to the middle line? It is easy, a variant from 130 to 135 degrees. It’s not four minutes on one side or anything. That’s the temperature. This is the most important.
Control and cooking
Cooking is all about temperature control. Unfortunately, most barbecues and smokers do not have good temperature control. My oven has a thermostat, I set it to 375 and it gets pretty close. Not my barbecue.
Now there are some outdoor stoves that have digital controls, a new pellet smoker. There were no such people 20 years ago. Joe Traeger invented the first one. It is now in the house of famous barbecues. He was the first, and is the most popular to date, but there are 30 to 40 different brands and these are precise temperature control. You can even control them from your smartphone.
Trend over time
One of the things that is happening today, and frustrating, is that the world of barbecue is becoming a bit snobbish. … Before my deep dive into barbecue, a career that began in 2001, I was a wine critic for the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune. I know about snobbery. I recognize him when I see him, and he’s already deep in the grill …
Major publications have revealed barbecue and grill. They would never have covered it before. Just yesterday, Helen Rosner from the New Yorker interviewed me.
One tool can improve your cooking
We preach thermometers wherever we go. It’s all about temperature control. That is one message I would like to convey to everyone who bakes their steak, which is really expensive these days. … You won’t have that problem with gray, overcooked steaks if you have a $ 30 digital thermometer.
I think it’s so important that I hired an electrical engineer and buy every thermometer I can. He tests them, beats them. We have about 200 thermometers in our database. Someone who buys can see what grade he got from our engineer. Even those rated poorly are better than dial thermometers. You will never get sick and you will not overcook the chicken again.
Account maintenance
I don’t know how many barbecues I had. My wife told me that one goes in and the other goes out or you go out. That’s the rule.
I try to have one of the main types of stoves, so if I test the recipe, I can try it on green egg, charcoal, gas grill, pellet smokers.
Testing and monitoring
The manufacturers send us models to try out in the hope that we will say good things about them. amazingribs.com has a full-time barbecue tester, Mac Good. … When the grills come out, he puts them through the steps. If readers are buying a new grill that will replace the old rust bucket, it is a searchable database.
What to expect when visiting the public market of Milwaukee
My presentation is “Stories of Old Husbands: Barbecue Myths That Deserve to Die.” The world of barbecue is full of mythology that is wrong.
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