Pretty neat, I thought; I like fast-cooked beef, seared outside, nice
and rare inside. But I have a gas grill, with "lava rocks".

Can I put the skirt steak right on them?

Isaac

On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 04:09:02 +0000, Isaac Wingfield wrote:

> Pretty neat, I thought; I like fast-cooked beef, seared outside, nice
> and rare inside. But I have a gas grill, with "lava rocks".
>
> Can I put the skirt steak right on them?

i'd think not. the lump charcoal he used was burning down to a brand new
(and "clean") ash. it hadn't been used in multiple barbecues and picked
up all their juices.

just crank your gas grill to maximum power - let it reach its highest
temperature (closed), and then cook the steak quickly on the grill (open
or closed, whatever works best for you).

(or buy an inexpensive charcoal grill for doing steaks)

Hark! I heard Isaac Wingfield > say:

> Pretty neat, I thought; I like fast-cooked beef, seared outside, nice
> and rare inside. But I have a gas grill, with "lava rocks".
>
> Can I put the skirt steak right on them?

I wouldn't -- those lava rocks get pretty dirty after a grilling
or two...


--
J.J. in WA (Change COLD to HOT for e-mail)
~ mom, vid gamer, novice cook ~
...fish heads, fish heads, eat them up, yum!

Isaac Wingfield wrote:
>
> Pretty neat, I thought; I like fast-cooked beef, seared outside, nice
> and rare inside. But I have a gas grill, with "lava rocks".
>
> Can I put the skirt steak right on them?
>
> Isaac


I wouldn't. You'd get the residue of everything else you've
ever grilled previously on the steak. Ugh.

gloria p

Gloria and others answered Isaac:

> > Can I put the skirt steak right on them?
<snip>
> I wouldn't. You'd get the residue of everything else you've
> ever grilled previously on the steak. Ugh.

There are two other things to consider:

1. Before putting the steak on the coals, Alton used a hair dryer to get the
coals burning fiercely. I don't think a gas grill could get the lava rocks
that hot.

2. Alton made a big deal out of mentioning that the coals no longer had
oxygen, so flare-ups couldn't occur. In a gas grill, wouldn't that mean
you'd have gas bubbling up under the steaks, and wouldn't that affect the
flavor? (Unless you shut the gas off, I suppose...but that kind of defeats
the purpose.)

Bob

> 1. Before putting the steak on the coals, Alton used a hair dryer to get the
> coals burning fiercely. I don't think a gas grill could get the lava rocks
> that hot.
>

i think he was using the hair dryer to remove the excess ash before
placing the meat on the coals.

A.C. replied:

>> 1. Before putting the steak on the coals, Alton used a hair dryer to get
>> the coals burning fiercely. I don't think a gas grill could get the lava
>> rocks that hot.
> >
>
> i think he was using the hair dryer to remove the excess ash before
> placing the meat on the coals.

I'm pretty sure he stated outright that he was using the hair dryer to get
the coals to their peak hotness. I've got his book _I'm Just Here for the
Food_, which talks about the same thing, even giving a diagram for hooking a
hair dryer to a kettle grill to keep the coals hot continuously.

(I'm at work as I write this. I see that the episode in question is just
about to start, so I won't be able to verify what I just wrote. Oh well,
it'll be on again tomorrow.)

Of course, excess ash is *also* removed by the breeze.

Bob

In article >,
Socks > wrote:

> On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 04:09:02 +0000, Isaac Wingfield wrote:
>
> > Pretty neat, I thought; I like fast-cooked beef, seared outside, nice
> > and rare inside. But I have a gas grill, with "lava rocks".
> >
> > Can I put the skirt steak right on them?
>
> i'd think not. the lump charcoal he used was burning down to a brand new
> (and "clean") ash. it hadn't been used in multiple barbecues and picked
> up all their juices.

(There were several comments about the "crud" on the rocks).

I don't know about yours, but my lava rocks get RED HOT. There's no
"juice" on there, and certainly no organic matter of any sort worth
caring about.

Flavor problems? Maybe. Grit from crumbling lava? Same answer. But
"unhygenic" in any way that matters? I don't think so.

I was wondering if anybody had ever tried it, curious about grit or
flavor. I guess not.

Isaac

Bob > wrote:
>I'm pretty sure he stated outright that he was using the hair dryer to get
>the coals to their peak hotness.
>I've got his book _I'm Just Here for the
>Food_, which talks about the same thing, even giving a diagram for hooking a
>hair dryer to a kettle grill to keep the coals hot continuously.

I just watched that episode for the second time, and
he called it "ash management." No mention of using it
to peak the heat.

Now, he has the right to revise and extend his remarks in
his books, but the videotape don't lie.

BTW, using a hair dryer continuously would tend to cool the
meat, even if it gets it more radiant heat, because radiant
heat isn't the only effect of a grill.

--Blair
"Then again, there's this place
called Pittsburgh..."

Blair wrote:

> BTW, using a hair dryer continuously would tend to cool the
> meat, even if it gets it more radiant heat, because radiant
> heat isn't the only effect of a grill.

Er...you mean the way a bellows cools a forge?

Bob

Bob > wrote:
>Blair wrote:
>
>> BTW, using a hair dryer continuously would tend to cool the
>> meat, even if it gets it more radiant heat, because radiant
>> heat isn't the only effect of a grill.
>
>Er...you mean the way a bellows cools a forge?

No, the way blowing air through a convection cell pushes
the heat out the other side. You're increasing radiant
heat (didn't I just say that?) by increasing oxygen flow
to the combusting surface but pushing heat that would have
been convected to the food over to the exhaust.

If the hair dryer weren't a cooling device in that system,
you might as well just cook the food with the hair dryer.

--Blair
"It's called a convection oven."

> Blair P. Houghton
>Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
>References: >
>
>
>
>Organization: -
>Lines: 20
>Message-ID: >
>X-Complaints-To:
>X-Complaints-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers otherwise
>we will be unable to process your complaint properly.
>Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 01:27:24 GMT
>
>
>
>Bob > wrote:
>>Blair wrote:
>>
>>> BTW, using a hair dryer continuously would tend to cool the
>>> meat, even if it gets it more radiant heat, because radiant
>>> heat isn't the only effect of a grill.
>>
>>Er...you mean the way a bellows cools a forge?
>
>No, the way blowing air through a convection cell pushes
>the heat out the other side. You're increasing radiant
>heat (didn't I just say that?) by increasing oxygen flow
>to the combusting surface but pushing heat that would have
>been convected to the food over to the exhaust.
>
>If the hair dryer weren't a cooling device in that system,
>you might as well just cook the food with the hair dryer.


But a hair drier is a *heating* device (unless set on "air only")... and then
there are super hair dryers:
http://www.diydata.com/tool/heat_gun/heat_gun.htm


---= BOYCOTT FRANCE (belgium) GERMANY--SPAIN =---
---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
*********
"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."
Sheldon
````````````

Blair wrote:

>>> BTW, using a hair dryer continuously would tend to cool the
>>> meat, even if it gets it more radiant heat, because radiant
>>> heat isn't the only effect of a grill.
>>
>> Er...you mean the way a bellows cools a forge?
>
> No, the way blowing air through a convection cell pushes
> the heat out the other side. You're increasing radiant
> heat (didn't I just say that?) by increasing oxygen flow
> to the combusting surface but pushing heat that would have
> been convected to the food over to the exhaust.
>
> If the hair dryer weren't a cooling device in that system,
> you might as well just cook the food with the hair dryer.
>
> --Blair
> "It's called a convection oven."

Sorry, I didn't go into depth on AB's grill setup with the hair dryer. The
hair dryer is mounted in such a way that it doesn't blow air across the
food, it blows air across the coals. Yes, that increases radiant energy. And
since the convection currents aren't sent across the food, convection
cooling of the food isn't an issue. That's why the setup is more akin to a
forge than a convection oven.

--Bob
"NOW do you understand?"

Bob > wrote:
>Blair wrote:
>
>>>> BTW, using a hair dryer continuously would tend to cool the
>>>> meat, even if it gets it more radiant heat, because radiant
>>>> heat isn't the only effect of a grill.
>>>
>>> Er...you mean the way a bellows cools a forge?
>>
>> No, the way blowing air through a convection cell pushes
>> the heat out the other side. You're increasing radiant
>> heat (didn't I just say that?) by increasing oxygen flow
>> to the combusting surface but pushing heat that would have
>> been convected to the food over to the exhaust.
>>
>> If the hair dryer weren't a cooling device in that system,
>> you might as well just cook the food with the hair dryer.
>>
>> "It's called a convection oven."
>
>Sorry, I didn't go into depth on AB's grill setup with the hair dryer. The
>hair dryer is mounted in such a way that it doesn't blow air across the
>food, it blows air across the coals. Yes, that increases radiant energy. And
>since the convection currents aren't sent across the food, convection
>cooling of the food isn't an issue. That's why the setup is more akin to a
>forge than a convection oven.
>
> "NOW do you understand?"

Yes, because I always understood, and I understand that
you're not understanding.

You're not "convection cooling" the food so much as blowing
away all the convection-borne energy that would have gone from
the coals to the food.

Now, if the setup was designed merely to recirculate the
air in the enclosed grill space while still managing to
increase oxygen flow to the coal surface, you'd have
invented a means of creating oxygen from combusted
material...so it wouldn't work.

You necessarily must blow hot air out of the grill to get
more oxygen to the coals.

So your best bet is to duct the air leaving the coals so
it at flows directly onto the food before it leaves
the grill.

Is this what AB's setup did?

--Blair
"Are you making fun of my quotes?"

Blair wrote:

> So your best bet is to duct the air leaving the coals so
> it at flows directly onto the food before it leaves
> the grill.
>
> Is this what AB's setup did?
>
> --Blair
> "Are you making fun of my quotes?"

No, that wasn't AB's setup at all. If you like, I can e-mail you a diagram.
(Unlike some, I respect the text-only nature of this group.)

Of course, you'd have to disclose your e-mail address, and I'll understand
if you don't want to. In that case, hunt down the book and look on page 47.

Bob

"I love to go down to the schoolyard and watch all the little children jump
up and down and run around yelling and screaming...They don't know I'm only
using blanks." -- Emo Phillips