How To Use Your Grill Like A Stovetop And Get All Your Cooking Done At Once

There's nothing like dusting off the grill in order to do a cook-out for the whole family. The only issue can be the timing — after all, the last thing you want is your perfectly grilled vegetables to go cold waiting for the steak and burgers to finish cooking. To obtain the secret to this delicate dance, Food Republic spoke to chef and author Sean Martin for guidance on how to treat your grill like a stove and make sure the entire meal is ready at the same time.

The key, Chef Martin explained, lies in your hardware. "Invest in a good cast iron flat top griddle versus a standard skillet that can reach over two burners, ideally one with a flat top versus grill ridges." While it may be painful to give up those dazzling crosshatch grill marks on your meat, Martin considers them to be more for show than flavor and said that the enhanced Maillard reaction created by the flat top is more important when it comes to cooking the best steak. 

"More flavor comes from more crust, even on a grill," he noted. To get a perfect sear, make sure to preheat the pan properly before putting the meat down. "We like the temperature of the griddle to stay around 375 degrees Fahrenheit for best results," Martin said, adding that typically that means applying medium heat. He also noted that a flat top also allows for perfectly-seared smash burgers, as they lose some of their unique, seared deliciousness when cooked on the grill.

But how do you ensure everything is done and ready at the same time? Use technology to help understand when your food is really done, and plan in some rest time for your meat into the overall cooking process.

When it comes to ensuring that every individual piece of your meal comes off the grill properly cooked, chef Sean Martin says a two-pronged approach of technology and technique is required. For the technology, Martin insisted an instant-read meat thermometer is key. "Ditch your old-school dial thermometer. Using an instant-read thermometer, like the Thermoworks Thermapen, makes sure you will never overcook your meat again," he recommended.

As for technique, Martin explained that the most important thing is understanding how and when to rest your meats, so they come up to the perfect temperature. "The meat will continue cooking from the outside, even after being removed from the heating element," Martin said. "So if you want your steak cooked to a perfect 135 [degrees Fahrenheit], you need to remove it from the grill when the internal temperature is five to seven degrees lower, like 127 to 130, than your target temperature." 

This process, called carry-over cooking, is influenced by the thickness of the meat and the temperature it was cooked, as well as the cut in question. For example, chicken breast should be cooked to 155 degrees Fahrenheit before allowing for carryover, while chicken thighs should reach 175 degrees Fahrenheit.