When I BBQ meat sometimes meat does not cook completely and evenly. So I came up with an idea why not half boil meat (Chicken, Beef etc), put on my marination and put in fridge to be used for BBQ later. In this way I won't have to burn my meat to be tender from inside. Is this practice safe? Can anyone here shed some light.
Thank you Sally
It's not uncommon to par-cook meat for barbecue, as in these recipes:
The meat is basically cooked before it goes on the grill. The grill is applied at the last minute to add extra flavor and to glaze the barbecue sauce.
There is considerable debate among barbecue aficionados about whether this is really appropriate. Some flavor is lost to the water (unless you use sous vide), and you lose the opportunity to spend hours in smoke. You certainly won't win any barbecue contests this way. But it's definitely one way to get falling-off-the-bone 'cue.
As for safety... the same 2/4 rule applies here as elsewhere. The food should spend no more than four hours in the 40-140F range before eating, and no more than two hours before storage.
The meat will be above that range while being simmered. As long as you cool it quickly (perhaps in a sous vide bag, in an icewater bath), you can put it in the refrigerator with minimal time in the danger zone. If you freeze it, defrost it in the refrigerator before cooking.
You can then let it spend perhaps three hours on the grill before it has spent too much time in the danger zone. Since it is fully cooked at this point, you won't need to spend more time than that.
Boil for BBQ? Think some of my friends in Kansas just fainted away.
Would recommend never boiling for traditional bbq; you will end up with stew meat; Mushy stringy texture; bland flavour.
Now the other post mentioned sous vide; that is very common now (use to be in restaurants only due to cost). Sous vide allows to vacuum seal and water-bath meats at a precise temperature. Added bonus; a cheap water immersion unit can be found on amazon for 100 bucks and cheaper:
note; sous vide wands are better for larger batches
Then you can immersion cook for 36 hours at 145-165 pending on texture you want and still have non-mushy ribs. I usually do a large batch and then fridge/freeze to grill up later.
