How 'Tapping' Your Grilled Meat Gives It A Ton Of Extra Charcoal Flavor

If you've spent any time watching pitmasters work a grill, you've probably noticed it: The tongs, holding the meat, are used to gently tap it against the hot grates over and over. Each time, an impressive-looking spurt of flame flashes up around the meat. It looks like pure showmanship, but Guga, of the popular YouTube channel Guga Foods, has an explanation for these "love taps" — you can get incredible depth of charcoal flavor with this technique. 

By tapping the meat repeatedly against the hot grates, you're "shaking loose" the liquid fat which, when it drips down onto the hot charcoal, ignites and creates small, controlled flare-ups.  And, as the old saying goes (kind of), where there's fire, there's smoke — the smoke here is extremely aromatic and packed with the classic charcoal-grilled flavor that every grill-master loves. When it wafts up from the firebox and into your food, it coats the grilled meat in all that mouthwatering goodness. The effect isn't dramatic, but you'll taste the difference between a steak, for instance, that's been "tapped" versus one that hasn't.

The "tapping" trick works especially well for fattier cuts of steak, like New York strips or porterhouses. You need the extra fat to render in the heat to really get the flare-ups going. Once the temperature is high and the meat has started cooking, carefully pick it up with your tongs and gently tap it against the grates. Alternatively, you can use the tips of your tongs to press the meat lightly against the grates (if juice starts bubbling out, ease up, you're overdoing it). You'll know you've pulled it off correctly when you see small flames coming up and around the sides of the meat. But keep in mind that too much flame for too long is also bad news. 

If the flames climb higher than a few inches off the surface, move the meat to the cool zone — hopefully you're using the 2-zone grilling method — to let things settle. Once it looks safe, rotate to a fresh section on the hot side and repeat. Admittedly, it'll take a while to nail the balance: Just enough flare-ups to build flavor without charring the outside before the inside cooks through. But it should be easier to gauge as you go along. You only need two or three rounds of tapping before you can taste the difference too. Ideally, it should create a savory, smoky depth as though it came straight from a smokehouse and not a backyard grill.