Grill Tips

Mark Miller's Top 5 Tips for Successful Grilling

1.) Choose the best:
Start with only high-quality meat or fish and other ingredients. Grill meat or fish on the bone for added taste.

2.) Experiment for Flavor:
Use hardwood to impart meats with an earthy flavor. Try soaking hickory or mesquite chips and adding them to charcoal.  When gas grilling, put wood chips drizzled with orange or pineapple juice on a small tray under the element to impart smokiness. Toss dried grapevines and herbs on the coals or put them in the smoker box of your gas grill for more complex flavor

3.) Use the Right Tools:
For a firm, no-slip grip use spring-loaded tongs which allow for maximum control without puncturing flesh so juices escape. Prevent sticking by brushing the grate with a long handled brass bristled brush after the grill is hot, but before you start cooking. Baste away from the flame to avoid charring your meat, and protect your hands and arms from flying sparks with gloves.

4.) Take Your Temperature:
Consider the different heat surfaces when grilling.  Remove chicken to the upper level of the grill to finish cooking. Pork, bred lean, tends to dry out if you cook too fast or too long. Vegetables, such as onions, eggplant, zucchini and peppers should be thickly cut so as not to lose texture. Finally, use intense heat to sear the outside of steak and seal the juices within. Above all, don’t overcook fish.

5.) Explore different marinades:
Use a light mayonnaise glaze to impart a crispy crust to everything from hamburger to soft-shell crabs. Grill steak with Cuban spices for a Latin sizzle. Sear tuna with teriyaki for a Japanese influence. Miller advises that fresh tuna should be rosy, almost purplish when uncooked. It should be firm to the touch without visible traces of fat, which appear as white lines.

Mark Miller's Seared Tuna:
One of Miller’s favorite ways to prepare tuna or swordfish for the grill is to marinate it in high quality olive oil for a couple of minute, adding fresh herbs for two minutes; “The product is so good you don’t want to add too much outside flavor.”

Just before the fish hits the grill, sprinkle with kosher salt and white pepper to taste. On a high fire, 1-1/2” to 2” from red-hot coals, cook 8-10 oz portions, which should be about one-inch thick, for 3-4 minutes on each side. To see if it is cooked sufficiently, press on the fish with tongs: the more firm, the more it’s cooked. Rare or medium rare tuna springs back to the touch. He recommends keeping the lid off,   “With fish you want to keep your eye on it.”