Should you grill with lid open or closed? A simple question deserves a simple answer and that is: Thinner foods should be grilled with the lid open while when grilling thicker foods the lid should be closed.
Steven Raichlen says that “If the food is thicker than your hand. The grill should be open. Since this is an arbitrary measurement, that varies wildly by the thickness of your hand, we use an inch and half.
The logic to grilling thinner foods with an open lid is simple. Smaller foods grill up quickly so by opening the lid (or hood) you reduce the heat it is exposed to. This give you a greater margin of error to hit the perfect food temperature by increasing the cooking time.
While you could get a similar effect by using indirect heat and a closed lid, you wouldn’t be able to watch it as closely.
Grilling thicker foods with the lid closed allows them to cook all the way through faster than if the lid was open. By doing this it exposes all sides of the food to the heat of the grill.
Grill lid open or closed when grilling steaks?
That would depend on the thickness of your steaks. Thinner cut steaks like Flank steak should be grilled with an open lid. While thicker cuts should be grilled with the lid closed. If you have a really hot fire you can grill thick steaks with an open lid. If you have a weaker fire thinner cuts can be grilled with the lid closed.
Mike
aka Sultan of Sizzle
I have been blogging about and selling grilling tool for over 12 years. A Certified Food Safety Professional, KCBS member, award winning writer and have over 10 years experience in the food service industry.
“I have experienced some of the best food this country has to offer and nothing is better than the food that comes off my own grill!”
Your article makes no sense. You say that steaks thicker than my hand should be done on an open grill, yet you refer to thinner steaks cook faster need an open grill. Is this a misprint. Now to my question. I heat my grill using a surface gauge . I get the grill where I want it (325). As soon as I close the grill, the heat shoots up to 650 or more. At least, that’s what the grill surface gauge tells me. If I want to keep the grilling surface at 325 or 350, I have to leave the grill open , don’t I?