Grill power

Challenge: Burgers
Grill guy: Albert Gonzalez, Weber Grill (539 N State St, 312-467-9696)
Solution: Gonzalez says the key to grilling a good burger starts in the grocery store. “I’m a big fan of using ground chuck,” he says. “You want 80 percent lean, 20 percent fat.” Once you’ve bought your meat, though, the quality of the burger is in your hands. First, “you want to make all of your burgers as close as possible to the same size,” Gonzalez says—this ensures even cooking. Start the burger on the direct heat, cooking until grill marks form on both sides (but only flip it once). Then, when it’s perfectly charred, move it to the indirect side of the grill, cover, and cook to your desired temperature. (Juices pooling at the top of the burger indicate that it’s moving from rare to medium-rare.) Finally, take your burger off and open a beer.

Challenge: Vegetables
Grill guy: Joseph Toulabi, Reza’s (432 W Ontario St, 312-664-4500)
Solution: As if vegetables weren’t healthy enough, Toulabi—chef, owner and kebab king at Reza’s—says grilling is the healthiest way to cook them. He doesn’t marinate his veggies; he just cuts them into pieces, threads them onto skewers and throws them on the grill. “You don’t want to rush it,” he says—just cook them slowly over low heat and rotate it every minute, cooking each side twice. Vegetables usually take about three minutes to fully cook, but you can taste one to see if it’s done. When they are, Toulabi suggests you brush them with a mixture of olive oil, pomegranate juice and garlic. “You want sauciness to it,” he says.

Challenge: Steaks
Grill guy: Andres Martinez, David Burke’s Primehouse (616 N Rush St, 312-660-6000)
Solution: At Primehouse, Martinez (pictured, above left) works with high-quality meat but says anybody can get a good steak by opting for fresh, not frozen; the brightest red of the lot, with plenty of marbling for juiciness; and smaller rib eyes to ensure the center makes it to medium-rare before the exterior is too charred. Martinez marinates the meat in olive oil and smashed garlic cloves overnight in the fridge, then brings it to room temp and seasons with only salt and pepper before tossing it on the grill. And how to get perfect medium rare? “Keep turning it so you don’t burn the outside,” Martinez says. “And then press your finger into the center. Very, very soft like it is between your thumb and pointer finger is rare. Make a circle with thumb and pointer, medium-rare. Loose fist, medium. Tight fist, medium-well.” And well? Kick the guest out for asking for a well-done steak.

Challenge: Desserts
Grill girl: Elizabeth Dahl, Boka (1729 N Halsted St, 312-337-6070)
Solution: Pastry chef Dahl has been known to scoot the guys off the line to make room for her to grill fruits for her desserts. “Charcoal grills are fine, but wood-fired grills are really great,” Dahl says. “I like a little bit of flame, I like a little bit of char.... I know it’s probably bad for you, but I like it.” To keep the juicy fruits from burning, Dahl recommends using relatively high heat with some flame so you can get in and out quickly. With figs, peaches and pineapple, Dahl halves the fruits (she slices the pineapple into inch-thick slabs), marinates them in olive oil and orange juice for 20 minutes, then slathers butter on the underside before it hits the grill, flesh-side down. For baked desserts, from cobblers to pies, Dahl says use your grill like an oven—just achieve a baking temp of 350°F (check with a thermometer), place the sweet on the rack and close the lid.

Challenge: Seafood
Grill guy: Seth Siegel-Gardner, C-House (166 E Superior St, 312-523-0923)
Solution: After working with Marcus Samuelsson at Aquavit in New York and coming to Chicago to help open and run Samuelsson’s C-House, Siegel-Gardner (pictured, above right) knows you can’t skimp on quality with seafood. “For whole fish, look for clarity in the eyes, red around the gills and that the skin isn’t drying out. Leave the head on, have it gutted, and make sure it’s scaled,” Siegel-Gardner says. Once you get the fish home, score incisions on each side so the skin doesn’t curl up and peel off as it’s grilling, and to make sure the rub (olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon zest) gets into the flesh. To keep the skin from sticking, Siegel-Gardner recommends using nonstick cooking spray on clean grill grates, or wrapping the fish in leeks, which get nice and charred. Whole fish should be cooked over indirect heat, with the grill closed, for six to seven minutes per pound. For a New England–style boil, put mussels or clams into a cast-iron Dutch oven with olive oil, white wine and fresh herbs; cover, and check in 15 or 20 minutes. If the mollusks have opened, they’re done. For shrimp, Siegel-Gardner says use shell-on to ensure juiciness and skewer so you don’t lose them to the grill. Likewise, keep lobster in its shell, but steam it first for five minutes, halve it, brush on your favorite spices with a touch of olive oil and grill flesh side down over medium-high heat until grill marks appear.