The Meathead Method: Flame-kiss your food

Serve a plate of BBQ and eaters are happy for a meal, teach them to grill and they can invite you over for dinner. Meathead – yes, he goes by one name a la Cher or Madonna – is on a mission to bring the science of cooking to the open-flame masses with his new book The Meathead Method.

“It’s focused on outdoor cooking, but it’s the same principles for indoor cooking,” Meathead said. “A grill is really just an oven with a lousy thermostat.”

The Brookfield-based pitmaster, best-selling writer, and BBQ Hall of Famer has long been an advocate for both the art and science of cooking. He labels his outlook as “nerdist.”

“I try to explain in detail why we’re doing things – and also things you can do that will veer from the path that will not result in disaster,” he said. “I feel it’s really important in both my books to explain the basic core principles. What is fire? What is smoke? What is meat? What are vegetables? What are they made from? What happens when heat meets meat and so on.”

Meathead’s first cookbook, Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling, covered the backyard basics. His second cookbook digs deeper into methodology.

“I introduced some really interesting new concepts and techniques, like there’s a chapter on how to use koji. Koji is a mold. It’s used for making miso and soy sauce, and you can use it on food. There’s a section on MSG and how to use it,” he said.

One technique that he features in the book came to him as a happy observation while lighting charcoal for his grill.

“The best way to start charcoal is to use a device called the charcoal chimney,” Meathead said. “I get all the charcoal lit. It was around dusk and I looked at the thing and there was this blue flame coming out of that charcoal chimney. And I went and got a infrared thermometer and holy cow, it’s like over 1000°. It’s like the back end of an F35 fighter. I was planning on just grilling some steaks, but I ran inside and started chopping, slicing, dicing, and I brought my wok out and put it on top of the chimney.”

Typically, it’s hard, if not impossible to get a wok hot enough on a regular stovetop to effectively cook Chinese favorites.

“When you take those strips of beef or chicken and throw them in some oil in your frying pan. The first thing that happens is all the water comes out, and so you end up steaming or braising the meat,” he said.

With his wok perched on top of the thousand-degree charcoal chimney, something transformative happened.

“Boom, it was fantastic. That’s the kind of heat that you get in a Chinese restaurant. If you love Chinese food, that’s the best way to do it,” according to Meathead.

His book includes BBQ standards, but it goes beyond into recipes and techniques that include Asian, Italian, Spanish and Indian flavors.

“We do chicken tandoori, Indian style and talk about what happens when you marinate chicken with yogurt. It’s a combination of the geek stuff with some fun food and all of it is cooked on the grill with the exception of a couple of things like coleslaw,” he said.

“Anyone can use it and cook from it. It’s perfectly fine for beginners. But if you’re at the intermediate or advanced stage of your cooking experiences, this is a good book, because it’s a bit of a challenge.”

Meathead’s second opus goes on sale May 13. If, once you’ve taken in all it has to offer, you want more myth busting, tips and recipes, you can find it at Meathead’s website, AmazingRibs.com