How to Choose the Best Meats for Grilling

In Wisconsin a typical BBQ or grilling session will have some variation of hamburger, sausage or maybe even a steak. While you can pretty much grill anything, we’ll discuss some of the best meats to buy when you are planning your next big cookout / tailgate.
When looking at steak you’ll want to choose something that is going to have some nice fat marbled in with the meat and something that is relatively tender so it can hold up to direct flame heat. Some good examples of this would be Ribeye, Tenderloin (filet), Porterhouse, NY Strip or even a good T-Bone. You’ll want to stay away from tougher and thinner cuts of meat like a Hanger steak, Skirt steak or even a Flank steak. Also meats typically reserved for longer, slower cooking like a Brisket is something you’ll want to stay away from. There is a reason those things take 15 hours to cook in a smoker, 10 minutes on a grill could be a disaster.
Hamburger meat just comes down to quality of meat (no pink slime) and good fat content. Some kind of a blend around 80/20 (80% meat and 20% fat) is going to be the best place to start. Come visit our meat and seafood department and speak with our award winning butcher Chuck to find out about custom hamburger blends and get some good recommendations for what we have available now.