Here are Chef Jan’s tips for grilling the perfect steak.

1. Don’t cook cold meat.

Always allow meats to rest at room temperature for up to two hours, depending on the size of the meat. Meat directly out of a refrigerator is typically about 38°F.

For best results, let it warm up a bit and put meat on the grill when it reaches an internal temperature of 50°-55°F degrees. Tempered meat produces a more desirable even-cooked color and texture, whether your goal is rare or medium.

2. Sear first; then cook low, slow, and even.

It’s best to start a steak over higher heat: The surface caramelizes and provides a better mouth feel and visual appearance, as well as a more assertive flavor. Then lower the heat so it will penetrate deeper, thus improving the chew and creating a more lush texture.

Consider removing the meat from the heat altogether midway in cooking, and then return the it to the high direct heat to complete the cooking.

3. Always rest the meat after grilling, before cutting and serving.

The hot juices need to settle back into the flesh. Slice into hot meat and they’ll dribble out.

Food continues to cook after it has been removed from heat. Once the meat is off the heat it may continue to rise in temperature another 10%. This process is known as endothermic energy.

From the most tender (filet mignon) to the most chewy cut (sirloin, for example), the tenderness and depth of flavor tend to be inverse to the texture of the meat. This is a function of how the animal used the particular muscle.

Muscles that get more exercise produce meat that is less tender but with more depth of flavor. Cook these meats at hotter temperatures; rest them for less time and slice them thin. Muscles that are load bearing are more tender but less flavorful.

5. Live fire is best.

The smokey nuances of live fire are delicious on meat. The combination of wood flame and a coal bed enhances the complexity of the eating experience. Building the fire is key to achieve this effect. Chef Jan likes a combination of walnut, oak and a bit of mesquite charcoal.

 
6. Choose the proper tools.

Chef Jan prefers a professional meat fork instead of tongs; it offers more control. This fork, from Taylor, has a built-in digital thermometer. Use the tip of the fork and pierce the meat as little as possible (the juices will run out of pierced meat).

Fish spatulas are good for small delicate items like fish and vegetables. The bigger, heavier jobs are best for a steel hamburger spatula.
MORE GRILLING TIPS

Don’t freestyle it; learn the skills.
  

This recipe from Betty Crocker has a prep time of 20 minutes and a total cook time of 1 hour, 20 minutes. The recipe serves 12.
COOKIE FRUIT PIZZA RECIPE

Ingredients

1. PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Lightly spray 14-inch pizza pan or 15×10-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

2. STIR cookie mix, melted butter and egg in a medium bowl until a soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom of pan. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely, about 45 minutes.

3. BEAT whipping cream in a chilled medium bowl with electric mixer on high speed, until soft peaks form. Gently stir frosting into whipped cream. Spread over cookie pizza. Arrange fruit on top.

4. TO SERVE, cut with a knife or pizza cutter.
 
FIND MORE OF OUR FAVORITE COOKIE RECIPES.

This recipe is from Andrew Zimmern, host of the Travel Channel series Bizarre Foods. There’s nothing bizarre about this recipe, though.

“Roadside eateries in Cambodia serve little skewered dishes from morning to closing time, and this simple beef and lemongrass version of mine is the type of recipe that grill freaks will turn to all year long,” says Zimmern. “I also use the same recipe for chicken parts, pork chops, etc., with equal success.”

BEEF & LEMONGRASS SKEWERS

Ingredients

Cambodian-style beef skewers with spicy peanut sauce. Photo courtesy Andrew Zimmern.

Preparation

1. SLICE beef into long thin strips, 1/8 inch x 1 inch x 5 inches long.

2. COMBINE the garlic, lemongrass, coriander, sugar and fish sauce in a mortar and pestle until mixture is a paste. Use a blender or food processor if you have to.

3. MARINATE meat for 12 to 24 hours in this mixture.

4. THREAD beef onto skewers, grill briefly to medium rare over high direct heat and serve with spicy peanut sauce for dipping, garnishing with the nuts.

SPICY PEANUT SAUCE RECIPE

Ingredients

1. HEAT the oil in a small pan and add the garlic, chili paste and tomato paste.

2. FRY until the garlic turns light golden brown.

3. ADD the broth, peanut butter, hoisin and sugar, and simmer for 3 minutes.

4. COOL and add the peanuts and chilies.
  

Celery doesn’t get a lot of respect. In most recipes, it’s an also-ran.

But great American cheese maker Paula Lambert shows how it can be a main ingredient, in her Shaved Fennel and Celery Heart Salad.

You can eat this salad as an appetizer or side, as a base for a poached chicken breast or salmon fillet, or as cheese course with a pungent washed rind cheese. The hazelnut oil is an inspired touch.

The recipe is from Lambert’s cookbook, Cheese Glorious Cheese: More Than 75 Tempting Recipes for Cheese Lovers Everywhere.

If you can’t find fennel, use 6 ribs of celery. And use this recipe as a jumping-off point to create your own celery salads.

Photo © Ulterior Epicure, all rights reserved.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

Preparation

1. REMOVE the strings on the outsides of the ribs of celery and fennel using a vegetable peeler. Cut the ribs on the diagonal, into slices about 1/4 inch thick.

2. PLACE the celery and fennel in a medium-sized bowl.

3. CUT the cheese into thin slices and then cut again into small pieces about 1 inch square; add to the bowl.

4. CHOP the pecans coarsely and add to the bowl. Add the onions.

5. MAKE the vinaigrette: In a small bowl, combine the oils, vinegar, salt and pepper. Whisk the ingredients until the vinaigrette is emulsified.

6. POUR the vinaigrette over the salad ingredients. Toss well to coat the salad. The salad can be served immediately or set aside for up to an hour to marinate. Plate, garnish and serve.

BIANCA BIANCA WASHED RIND CHEESE

Blanca Bianca was inspired by French washed rind cheeses: soft in texture and very flavorful. The Mozzarella Company makes it in a six-inch wheel.

As a washed rind cheese, it has a pungent aroma that comes from the bacteria Brevibacterium linens (B. linens) that develops on the exterior of the cheese.The rind is tender and delicious, and the interior paste is pale and creamy.

“The flavor is assertive but not too strong,” says Lambert. “To make Blanca Bianca we heat farm-fresh cow’s milk and then add cultures and rennet. Once the milk coagulates, we cut the curds and gently stir them as they mature. Finally the curds are poured into molds to drain. The cheeses are salted in a brine and then placed on racks to dry.

“During the next two months, while the wheels of cheeses are maturing, they are massaged daily with white wine. The USA laws governing raw milk cheeses mandate that all raw-milk cheeses must be aged for a minimum of 60 days before they are sold. So, after 60 days, Blanca Bianca is ready to sell.

“However, we have found that additional aging allows the flavor to intensify and the texture to soften, so we age our Blanca Bianca for three or four months. We have a limited quantity of Blanca Bianca because we produce only 20 wheels at a time. It is wonderful with both red and white wines, and it pairs very nicely with late harvest dessert wines. It is good with fruits such as pears and apples. It’s also great with toasted nuts and dried fruits as well as fruit pastes, jams and chutneys. It is especially good in salads.”

Check your local cheese store or purchase Bianca Bianca online directly from MozzCo.com, Mozzarella Company’s website.

Connoisseurs worldwide prize the exquisite jams of Christine Ferber, who is called the “queen of confitures”* by strangers and “the jam fairy” by her friends. The jams are served in such posh places as the Connaught in London, the Crillon and George V in Paris and the Four Seasons in Hong Kong.

Mlle Ferber makes jam in the Alsace region of France, in her ancestral village of Niedermorschwihr. There, her family has a food shop, Au Relais des Trois Epis,† which sells bread, house-made cakes and confections, household products, newspapers and fresh vegetables. Her father opened the business in 1959.

But behind the shop is a commercial kitchen where the jam magic happens: After attending culinary school in Paris, Mlle Ferber decided to focus on jam. Her father was doubted the demand, but today she sells some $2.6 million of jam annually. The company make almost 120,000 pots of jam a year, and each is filled by hand.

Mlle Ferber uses seasonal fruit from small local growers, cooking it in small batches to create her gourmet artisan jams and jellies. She prides herself in hand-picking the freshest ingredients and truly, truly, cooking the jam with love.

The jams are not easy to come by. You can order them online from OriolBalaguer.com.

A perfect Father’s Day gift for a jam-loving dad who appreciates the best, a new shipment of Christine Ferber Jams is arriving on these shores just in time to celebrate. Even at $20 a jar it will sell out quickly, so don’t dally. The jam is available for pre-order now, with delivery after June 10th.

CHRISTINE FERBER JAM FLAVORS

One thing Dad may never have had: rhubarb jam. Mlle Ferber has created two varieties of rhubarb jam, hand-selected from spring rhubarb in Alsace, France and sweetened with sugar, simple and fresh:

 
Other flavores include Griottes Alsace (morello cherries, one of Mlle Ferber’s personal favorites), Confiture Pour Madame (cherries and rose petals, Eglantines d’Alsace et Oranges Maltaises (maltese oranges and wild rose petals), Forêt-Noire (black cherries, kirsch), Fraises d’Alsace (Alsatian strawberry), Gelée de Pamplemousses Jaunes (grapefruit), Mangues (mango), Marmelade d’Oranges Ameres (bitter orange), Oranges Maltaises (Maltese orange), Oranges Sanguine (blood orange) and Quetsches d’Alsace (Damson plum).

For a memorable jam experience, get some jars for yourself, too!

DO YOU KNOW YOUR JAM?

What’s the difference between jam, jelly, marmalade, preserves and other sweet spreads? Check out all the different types of jam in our Jam & Jelly Glossary.
 
*Confiture (cawn-fee-TEER) is the French word for jam.

†As close as we can translate this, it’s The Inn of Three Ears of Corn.