Grilling should be relaxed and easy. But when doing large slabs of meat, you need to make sure they don’t char on the outside while the food probe temperature on the inside is far too low. Top tip: pre-warm your meat!
Those who dare to grill large slabs of meat, which don’t exactly come cheap, can either be at it for hours or they can use one of the hacks I learned from the pros: prepare the meat at a very low temperature in the oven before grilling.
I’ve seen food scout Richard Kägi and others do this. Richard has an open fire in his kitchen, where he expertly grills his meats. When I paid him a visit, he told me to always warm large cuts of meat in the oven. Heat the oven to 60 or 80 degrees, insert a food probe in the meat and place in the oven. Just before the desired temperature is reached (e.g. around 55 degrees for medium), place the meat on the grill, then just wait until a nice crust has formed.
You can also use this kitchen hack to make pulled pork. I once tried to keep my grill at a consistent temperature for 12 hours, but I struggled with it. At night, everything got far too hot, and the pork leg turned black rather than the crispy golden brown I had hoped for. Now that I know I can pre-warm it in the oven, it takes just 2 hours on the grill to achieve the crust and the smoky taste.