What Temperature is Low, Medium or High?


 
P

PMillen

New member
I apologize if this question has been answered—when I searched I either had too many irrelevant hits or no hits.

Many recipes I read address temperatures as low, medium or high. I would be more comfortable with more specificity.

I’m assuming that they mean temperature as measured with an oven thermometer sitting on the grill grate. So what temperatures do you consider low, medium and high?
 
Thanks, Dave. Do you find it odd that a poster on a recipe site, who doesn't know if the reader is grilling on a charcoal grill, a gasser or a ceramic pot, posts something that vague rather than a grate temmperature?
 
I do.

Not to put too fine a point on this (and I've no idea if recipe writers at all relate to the low-medium-high of oven cooking - or the slow, moderate and hot of days of yore) but the temps are, or were when this was rather common:

Low (slow)- 275-335

Medium (moderate)- 350-400

High (hot)- 425+

There were further before and after and in-between gradations, e.g., 'very slow' or 'very low' would be 200-260, 'moderately slow' or 'warm', 320-335, etc. Recipes used to be written this way.
 
In the Weber's Way to Grill book, Jamie indicates the following if you don't have a therm handy (you hand is above the cooking grate about the height of a soda can)...

Heat - High, 450-550, 2-4 seconds when you will need to pull your hand away.

Heat - Medium, 350-450, 5-7 seconds when you will need to pull your hand away.

Heat - Low, 250-350, 8-10 seconds when you will need to pull your hand away.
 
I too do the hand test method as most of my grills do not have a thermometer (my smoker does). This method works pretty good IMO
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by PMillen:
Thanks, Dave. Do you find it odd that a poster on a recipe site, who doesn't know if the reader is grilling on a charcoal grill, a gasser or a ceramic pot, posts something that vague rather than a grate temmperature? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes, I'd say so. At least give a recommended temp range. I have two Weber books and the recipes all give the method (direct or indirect), heat level (low,medium, high) and a temp range.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jack Bordeaux:
In the Weber's Way to Grill book, Jamie indicates the following... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for the reference, Jack. It's very helpful to know what Jamie Purviance means when he says, "Medium" in his videos at webernation.com.
 
Thank you to all who took the time to get me on the right track.

Here's what I'll be thinking when I read low, medium or high temperature when the grill type and temperature isn't specified—

Medium is 350° to 450° measured with an oven thermometer sitting on the grate. Low temperature is, well...lower than that. High is higher.

If the author specifically addresses another type of grill, i.e. infrared, ceramic or smoker, I'll try to adjust accordingly.

I doubt that I'll use the "hot hand" method. At least 'till I move from science to art.
 
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