How to Cook the Ultimate Flat-Top Burger

Know what you're trying to find. Even heat distribution is key, and it's accomplished by changing the vents to let oxygen in and out and stacking the coals to develop indirect and direct cooking zones. You also want a blazing-hot fire. Charcoal does not consist of water, enabling it to reach those white-coal temperatures that produce the ideal sear on a steak or char on a cob of corn.

Sure, there are many types of charcoal grills, from barrel formed to flat-tops. Even a standard Weber Original Kettle grill (top-rated in Customer Reports' "Finest Charcoal Grills of 2020") can surpass the others simply based on its traditional shape, which is optimum for heat flow.

If you want the highest-performing, most heat-efficient charcoal-burning grill on the market and cost isn't a deterrent, consider a Kamado, whose designs consist of The Big Green Egg (see opposite page). Pick lump charcoal over briquettes.

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This hollow metal cylinder with a bottom grate holds the charcoal. You use paper and matches or an air-driven lighter to assist the charcoal catch fire and never have food that tastes like lighter fluid.

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One failsafe strategy is to choose for thigh meat, which has more fat and for that reason higher juiciness and flavor. Purchase bone-in, skin-on breasts and cook them thoroughly over indirect heat.

The method you cook this lean white meat makes a difference, too. To keep it from losing its precious juices, "I would scorch it and move it to the cold side of the grill" to prepare gradually, he says. He also purchases entire chickens, cuts them up and has parts he can cook differently grilled thighs, poached (in liquid on the range) breasts for ramen.

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Season your meat with salt and let it come to room temperature. (You can even season it up to eight hours before cooking and let it being in the fridge.) Position the steak on the most popular part of the grate and scorch it for 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

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Move the meat to the cooler part of the grill to complete it off to whatever temperature you like. "I'll put a half-cabbage on the 'cold' side of the grill, get a great char on it, and it softens and becomes something else" something terrific, he says.

"The crust it forms will likewise help it different" from the grate without falling apart, he states. Before using it each time, Zerkel scrapes the grate and wipes it down with oil.

Weber Original Kettle 26," $329 at Village Ace Hardware (2170 N. Prospect Ave.) Proponents claim the huge benefit is the taste it imparts to food that tantalizing smoky taste. But Zerkel, a professional chef who's accustomed to using a range's knobs and temperature controls with precision, likes this approach of cooking for its unpredictability.

Photo by Aliza Baran The Big Green Egg can bake, slow-smoke, saut and sear. If price is no object, this grill just may be for you. Image courtesy of Didriks You may have heard of this gizmo a green, egg-shaped ceramic grill that can prepare a pizza at 700 degrees in minutes and smoke a beef brisket at 220 degrees for 14 hours.

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The Big Green Egg is a grilling investment that may make sense if you plan to utilize it a lot. The Fein Brothers co-owner keeps his Egg in regular rotation in summer.

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It likewise needs "virtually no maintenance," he says. "It's clearing out the ashes." The Egg doesn't need much charcoal, and for those who hate cleansing grills, this one is low-maintenance. That's another reason Minkin likes his Egg: He only requires to clean it once a season. To buy: Particularly fantastic for steaks, ground meat and pork ribs, bone-in roasts, chops.