If you want to get into grilling and make delicious grilled dishes then you need to know the terminology that comes with the craft. You have to make sure that you are learning this along the way to have a steady progress and growth of grill knowledge. Today we are taking about medium heat on a grill. It does not refer to any particular temperature but a range of temperature. It should be somewhere between the range if 300 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. You can cook a variety of classic foods with a lot of flavor in this grill.
Definition Of Medium Heat
The range of temperature anywhere between 300 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit is known as the medium heat but you can say that 350 degrees Fahrenheit is the real medium heat of the grill.
Grilling : Medium Temperature Settings
When you are cooking on a grill you can get three different sets of medium settings. Each one is used for the different kind of food. They all fall under the medium setting range but the way you choose to cook the food and the slight temperature difference can cause a lot of variations. It can break or make the good food. You need to know the difference between them before you set 350 degrees Fahrenheit for every recipe that calls for a medium setting.
Medium Low
The range starts from a medium low setting. This is a low setting where many classic slow cooked food are made at. There are a few others that are cooked in an even lower temperature but we are not going to talk about them since they don't fall under the medium range. The temperature range us between 300 and 325 degrees Fahrenheit. This is perfect for meats and foods that need to be baked or roasted. It is going to take a longer period of time but that is not going to be problem since you will get the best results after some time.
This is used to cook food items that can burst at high heat. Such items include brats, sausages, and hot dogs. The food does not dry out. It remains juicy and you can get that good smoky flavor from the food. When you are setting it at a low range you can use the temperature to smoker certain kinds of meat too. You can choose this setting to smoke your food but many grillers will go even lower in the setting list to smoke food. The choice is up to you. We are just saying that you are going to have the option.
Medium
The medium range can go up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit but you can go a bit higher too. The setting is used to cook food that needs to be cook a bit longer since they are thicker cuts. Cooking at an higher temperature is going to allow the inside to cook faster which would prevent you from leaving the good food on the grill for too long. This can make the food hard and dry. This is not suitable. It is better to go for medium heat. It is generally used to cook steaks, full chickens, whole birds, and thick or tough fish.
Bone-in chicken is one of the best that you can cook in this temperature. It allow the food to be nice and crispy on the outside and it is moist and soft on the inside. The combination makes for a good food item. You also want a thermometer at your side to make sure that you are getting the perfect temperature for the food.
Medium High
This is the highest temperature setting of the medium range and it should be around 375 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature setting is perfect for cooking the good food faster and it should be enough to cook food that is medium-rare. This can be the perfect temperature to cook burgers, steaks, and skewers. It is good for a party where you can cook them fast and feed everyone.
What Foods Are a Good Fit for Medium Heat Cooking?
There are certain foods that are cooked at certain temperatures. Medium heat cooking is also perfect for a few food items. Take a look.
- Steak - It is one of the best meat cuts that you can cook at medium heat. This gives it a texture of the crisp outside and the steak is juicy on the inside. It is perfect to make the steak medium-rare and this temperature is perfect
- Burgers and Hot Dogs - Burgers need to be juicy so they can be the juiciest part of the steak. Grilling them to medium heat can help bring out the best flavor of the food. Hot Dogs are also perfect for this temperature because they can split open in high heat.
- Kebabs and Skewers - Medium heat is perfect for cooking kebabs and skewers. This is perfect for them because it means that you can cook these foods fast but they are still going to retain the juices. Pineapples and bell peppers with pieces of beef or steak are fan favorites.
How to Gauge Medium Heat Without a Thermometer
It can be a hassle if you do not have a thermometer at hand. If you find out at the last moment that the thermometer that you had is broken then how are you doing to check the heat? A consistent temperature is very important when it comes to cooking or grilling food so when it comes to checking whether the temperature of the grill is medium or not without a thermometer, you need to make use of your hand. It should be measured by how long you can keep your hard four inches from the grill. Put your flat palm on top of the grill and check for how many minutes you can hold it.
If you can not keep the hand for even a second and immediately have to take it away then the temperature is high and you need to take it down. If you can handle the heat but only for 2 or 3 seconds then also you need to turn it down. If you can keep it over the grill for 5 seconds then you are in the right temperature range. It should be around medium high for 5 seconds. The perfect medium heat should allow you to keep your hand over the grill for 7 seconds. If it is around 10 seconds then your grill is in medium low temperature.
Conclusion
That's all that we have for this article. We do hope that you are successful in getting the tips and tricks for grilling in this article. Now you can go ahead and cook some delicious food on medium heat. Thank you so much for giving this article a read. We are happy that we could be of any help. The only goal was to help people learn about grilling. We tried our best to keep it simple and straightforward so that it can be easy for everyone to understand. Have a good day. Take care of yourself. Happy grilling!
