Two-Zone Grilling and Other Grilling Temperature Techniques

Two-zone grilling is the process of setting up your grill, so one side is exposed to the hot coals underneath, while the other side is indirectly over the heat. Many grills do this by only lighting coals or gas on one side of the grill, and leaving the other side empty / turned off.

The benefit of this is that it allows for better temperature control and allows for a wider variety of cooking. It also is how many people are able to use their charcoal grills to smoke their meats. By putting your fire on only one side of the grill and placing your meat / dishes on the opposite side, food can cook slower, allowing it to take on more smoke and heat, without overcooking and drying out. Adding wood chunks or chips to the charcoal, allows you to add smoke to your food and turns any charcoal grill into a smoker.

The Reverse Sear

The reverse sear is one of the best ways to cook any meat on your grill. It actually follows the same principle as sous vide. Sous vide, for those who don’t know, is the process of vacuum sealing food and slowly raising cooking it in temperature controlled water, before removing it and searing the outside to finish it.

Sous vide is done at lower temperatures and allows meats to render their fats more, tenderizing and making it more flavorful. When searing raw meat, the outside cooks significantly faster than the inside of the meat, which means cooking too high runs the risk of charring or burning the meat more than you want. While, too low of a temperature takes too long and may not caramelize the meat to develop the great flavors that you want. It also makes the food look less appealing, and people eat with their eyes first.

The reverse sear combines the concept of sous vide and grilling to make tender, juicy meats that are sure to impress. Steaks, for example, can be slowly smoked at around 225-250 degrees on the indirect side of a two-zone cooking setup. This allows the steak to cook evenly and slowly renders the fat to make it more tender. Then, once the steak is about 10 degrees from the target temperature, you can pull it and let it rest while you increase the temperature on the direct side of the grill. Once the grill reaches a temperature of 500 degrees, you can quickly sear each side of the steak for a minute, caramelizing the outside and locking in the flavors. This gives the steak a beautiful sear, with a consistent temperature throughout the inside.

Why Primo Does This Best

Now, full disclosure, this is my sales pitch for why I personally think Primo grills are the best for this style of cooking.

With the Primo Grill, you have the option to use deflector plates with the grill. These allow for two-zone cooking like described above, but has the added benefit of allowing you to use more charcoal in the grill for longer sessions. This works great for meats like pork tenderloin, which smoke for closer to an hour plus before being ready to sear and pull off the grill.

But the primo can also be setup to be fully indirect. This effectively doubles the space of the grill for smoking meats, but it also allows you to bake bread, desserts, pizza, and more in the grill without the risk of burning it. This versatility isn’t available on smaller grills, especially those with shallow fireboxes.