Day Seven: Grillin' & Roastin'

What we did: Grilling and Roasting

Today we cooked a lot of meat (as you can see to the left there). The idea behind today's lesson was two-fold. First, we learned about grilling and roasting foods. And second, we had the experience of what it is like to be a line chef in a restaurant.

Our charge was the following:

First, prepare the foods for the grill (cut them, trim them, flatten them, season them and so forth).

Then, we had to grill a steak, a hamburger, a salmon steak and a chicken breast while roasting a piece of flounder and a tomato. Oh, and the hamburger bun needed to be toasted. All of the foods had to be ready at the same time, as if they were ordered by one table.

We have been told again and again that cooking is about managing heat and at no time was this truer than today. Timing and judgment were the order of the day: when do should I start the chicken breast? Is the steak done enough? Should I rotate it or flip it over? Is the flame under the salmon too high? Why is the tomato burning in spots? Etc.

Know your food and know your equipment. Manage the heat!

The best part was, after we were done, we got to eat what we cooked. Mmmm, steak!

Coolest Thing I Learned Today: The system for classifying meat in the US.

The meat we eat in America is graded based on its quality (marbling, tenderness, age, ratio of fat to meat, grain, etc). I think most of us have heard terms like, prime, choice and select. But I'm not sure these terms mean much to most of us. So, here is the breakdown:

Prime is the top of the line. It should be tender and nicely marbled. Only about 2-5% of the meat produced is classified as prime. This means that you and I almost never see prime beef unless we can get it at a top restaurant. Even then, we are going to pay a steep price for it.

Choice is the next classification and constitutes the largest percentage of consumer meat (around 35%). Most of the meat we buy in fancier markets and most of the meat we are served at better restaurants is choice. There is such a thing as "hand-picked" choice which can be just as good prime. But how can this be? Well, it seems that on any given day, only a certain percentage of the meat processes at any one facility can be labeled prime. So, even if seven percent of the meat is of prime quality, only five percent of it gets labeled as such. The rest is labeled as choice. But, a good purveyor of meat will often "hand-pick" the best of the choice and give it to his/her best customers. Be nice to your butcher.

Select is the next classification and is the grade of meat found at most grocery stores and fast food joints.

Standard is the next grade and is mainly used as institutional food (yes this what they are feeding to our prisoners and our kids and grandparents.)

Then comes a grade called Canner which is used in canned meats and the like. Mmmm, Spam.

The final classification is called Cutter, but is not for human consumption, instead we feed it to Fido and Mittens.