Quadrillage is a French term for the grid pattern left on the surface of food when cooked on a grill. The appearance is desirable but overcooking should be avoided. Creating quadrillage can be simple or complex depending on the grill’s perforation arrangement.
In culinary applications, quadrillage refers to the creation of a grid pattern on the surface of a prepared food or dish. Most often, quadrillage refers to the square or rectangular marks that are left on the surface of the meat when it is prepared on a grill. The term is based on the quadrille, a French word that translates as being marked by squares or rectangles.
When cooking on an open grill, burn marks are left on the surface of the food where the flush cooking surface touches the food. Unlike pan-fried food preparation, the cooking surface on a grill is usually a perforated design that allows heat to envelop the meat during the cooking process. The slightly higher temperature that is captured by the cooking surface causes burn marks or chars to be created on the meat. Far from being considered unappealing, these charred marks are often considered highly desirable for grilled foods.
Depending on the arrangement of the perforations in the cooking surface of the grill, creating quadrillage can be a simple or complex task. If the perforations are arranged in a grid that is more or less a series of squares or rectangles, all that needs to be done is lay the meat flat on the surface and turn it once to get an even quadrillage appearance on each side.
However, if your cooking surface is a series of straight lines with perforations between the lines, the process of creating the quadrillage will be slightly more complicated. In this case, the cook must take care to turn the meat at ninety-degree angles. This action must occur at least twice for the bottom and top of the meat in order to create the desired pattern of rectangles or squares.
While the look of quadrillage on grilled meats is considered desirable, it’s important to remember that a deeper sear isn’t the best way to achieve the effect. Allowing the meat to sit on the grill for too long will simply dry out the juices within the meat and leave the food tough and less tasty. Ideally, the quadrillage appearance will be a brown hue that is only slightly darker than the rest of the surface of the meat. If you let the meat sit on the grill until the quadrillage is nearly black, there’s a good chance the meat is overcooked.
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