Barbecue tips and techniques to Save Time, Easily Create New Flavors or Take Your BBQ Cooking in a New Direction
This site has a lot of barbecue tips to help you BBQ more easily or get you out of a rut.
If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got. So the saying goes, and that’s great if you’re happy with what you always get.
But you might want to do what you always do – just better, in less time – or try something completely new.
I can help you here, and there is no shortage of shortcuts and ideas old and new to bring inspiration your way.
Click the links below to go straight to the pages
Quick and Easy Barbecue Tips and Techniques – Stuff you can do right now
- Stuck for inspiration? This page on BBQ flavorings and this one listing all our BBQ recipes will extend your repertoire a bit.
- Learn how to cook chicken safely every time. I can’t count the number people I’ve heard say they were ill after eating BBQ food, and poorly cooked chicken is a likely culprit.
- One secret of Barbecue success is simply having a clean barbecue. If nothing else it keeps charred food and gunk from previous grill sessions off your food and makes your grill a whole lot more pleasant to use.
- Lighting charcoal can seem like a dark art sometimes – here are 3 simple tips that prove otherwise!
- Not having the right tools can be a major source of problems at the grill – get the right tools for the job and make life a little easier for yourself!
Grilling Techniques
It is a fact that all of us eat. This includes grilled food. However, there are certain tips or advice that have raised grilling as a culinary art which is not limited to grill masters. It can be learned by anyone. So, read on.
Achieving perfection in grilling– or close to it
Several kinds of food may be grilled. Beef, pork, lamb, patties, sausages, fish, lobsters, shrimp, chicken, turkey and vegetables may be grilled. This variety equates to varying thicknesses. Grilling beef, pork and lamb greatly differs from cooking poultry or vegetables.
Thick meats cook longer than ground or processed meats. Remember that using a high temperature in cooking meat might only sear the outside but leave the inside uncooked.
Therefore, slice meat a bit thinly to ensure that the inside gets cooked through without charring its exterior. Flare-ups due to the fat dripping from the meat could also scorch the meat’s exterior. So it is wise to trim off excess fat from meat, especially lamb meat.
When using a charcoal grill, make sure that there is enough charcoal on hand so that it won’t give enough time for the meat to dry out. Even when using gas, heat should be regulated so that food does not cook too slowly for the juices to dry out. For those using gas grills, adding some wood chips will give the food added flavor.
Maintain cleanliness
This is so true in food and cooking matters. Always clean up the grill after each time you finish cooking. The remaining heat makes it easier to dislodge food or drippings from it.
If you don’t, any stuck food or dripping could start a flare-up the next time you cook. It also shortens the life of your grill, inviting rust and even insects. All you do during your next grilling session is to brush the cooking grates so that food won’t stick.
Strike while the iron is hot
Grilling right entails preheating the grill so that when food lands, it starts to cook, rather than warming it. In the meantime, while waiting for the heat to intensify, make sure that all the needed utensils and ingredients are ready. An unprepared sauce may result in dried meat. It is likewise important to know which area heats up first and where to place food that only needs smoldering coals or heat.
Partial cooking may save you some grilling time
This is because food, like bratwursts, may already be cooked and therefore need only heating. Others, like chicken, can be baked in the microwave oven before it is grilled to brown.
Prepped for flavor
A lot of the time, meats are marinated and sometimes tenderized with a mallet for the flavor to seep through. This also goes with fish fillets where you put them in freezer bags with the marinade so you can shake them once in a while. Ingredients for marinating may be the usual soy sauce, vinegar, garlic powder, and lemon. Nevertheless, you can add more exotic ingredients like herbs and olive oil. They can also mask the smell of fish.
Marinating overnight is best. Marinades can also be used for basting so as not to waste them. Meats or fish should be patted dry first before grilling so that flare-ups can be avoided.
Testing for doneness
The ultimate test for cooking perfection is having a well-cooked food. The food is firm, juicy and delectable. Even while cooking and flipping the food, feel for tenderness. It also allows you to position it right where it needs a little more cooking. When it comes to chicken, the usual rule of thumb is to pierce it with a knife. A clear juice that comes out indicates that the chicken has been cooked through.
More BBQ Tips and Techniques – Need more inspiration?
- Copy the barbecue techniques of another country or continent.
- Hamburgers and chicken wings are great, but do you long for something bigger, meatier? The true way of barbecuing or – indirect grilling is the best way to cook big hunks of meat like ribs, leg of lamb, or a whole turkey. You just need a grill with a lid.
- If you already have a grill with a lid you can take things a bit further and try a form of BBQ smoking using a smoker box – an actual BBQ smoker is an even better option.
- Once you have some means of BBQ smoking try making something more adventurous – search this site for smoker recipes below.