Fire Up The Grill
Fire Up The Grill
Everybody knows that poultry and meat taste great after the barbecue process. A good trick is to keep the grill temperature moderate. When the heat’s too high, you run the chance of charring the outside of the meat, but undercooking the inside. To solve this misfortune, you might be tempted to leave meats over high heat for a long time to make sure they’re cooked all the way through, but that can make them dry and tough.
There are a lot of different manners to cook barbecue, with charcoal, direct heat, with wood chips, indirect heat, with split logs, among others, but one thing that most professionals agree on is that a gas grill isn’t the best idea to go. Use foil packets to cook steam potatoes, roast veggies, grill bread, and fish. This will let you make a whole dinner on the grill.
Try cooking chicken
One technique that works well with chicken pieces is to partially pre-cook them in a microwave. You can remove the skin if you prefer, then rub the pieces with a bit of your favorite seasoning and the oil that you want. While your coals are heating up, microwave some pieces at a time on the highest setting for about 20 minutes. You don’t want to cook the chicken completely, but just get it heated through so it cooks along the edges. Then, transfer the chicken to your heated grill to finish cooking, and turn the pieces frequently. You’ll reduce your cooking time by about half and your chicken will end up tender and juicy.
Safety first
- If you’re planning to use one utensil to handle raw meats, then avoid serving fully cooked meats with it.
- If you’re using a charcoal grill, allow coals to fully cool and turn to ash before disposing of them.
- Keep in mind to move cooked food to a clean plate, not one that has previously held poultry, fish, or raw meat. Bacteria from raw food can cause food poisoning and contaminate the cooked food.
- If you’re thinking to use a gas grill, make sure to turn off the gas at the source when you’re done.
Avoid using light fluid
If you’re planning to use some lighter fluid to get your charcoal fire begun, make absolutely sure that the fire is completely out before you incorporate some meat into the grill. That is because if the fire’s not out, then there’s still a chance that some lighter fluid hasn’t been burned away, and of course that you don’t want that taste on your food. It should take about half an hour to be ready in some scenarios, you’ll know it’s time to cook when the charcoal is almost an ash-gray color with a little bit of glowing red underneath.
Other tips
- Keep the lid closed while you grill, this will trap more smoky flavor and help cook food through.
- Begin cooking the food that will take more time, and then add the quickest-cooking food last. This will help you to cook all at the same time.
- Protein that’s not ready to turn will stick to the grill. So turn proteins at least twice.
- Before cooking is finished and to prevent burning, add brown sugar, molasses, or sauces with honey.
- While thicker foods will need more time over indirect heat with the lid closed to cook completely, thin foods respond well to quick, high-heat searing.
- Maintain one side of the grill warm and one side hot. High-flame “direct heat” helps sear, and moderate flame “indirect heat” helps cook food through. For charcoal grills, just push more coals to one side.
Clean your equipment
This is a good trick for barbecue newbies or those who have just bought in a new smoker. When you’ve finished using the grill for the first time, build the biggest fire you can and let it rage for 45 minutes to an hour. When doing this step, will seal up the pores of the metal and incinerates any remains and by-products, such as metal, grease, oil, metal shavings, and any other gunk of the manufacturing technique. This process is also a good tip to do if you don’t clean it usually and the inside is covered with rancid grease or mold and if you haven’t used your grill in a long time.