BBQ and Cooking Tips

Are the coals hot enough?

One key to successful grilling is determining when the charcoal or gas grill is hot enough.No matter what type of grill, you can judge the temperature the same way.
Hold your hand, palm side down, at cooking level and time how long you can comfortable keep it there.
* A hot fire allows a 2 second count.
* A medium hot fire is considered a 3 second count.
* A medium fire equals a count of 4 seconds.
* And finally a low fire is considered a 5 second or more count.
When grilling indirectly, hot coals will provide medium hot heat and medium hot coals will provide a medium heat.

Clean it up!

You wouldn’t use pots and pans that weren’t washed after the last time they were used, would you? The same holds true for your grill. Before placing your meat or veggies on your grill, use a wire brush to clean your cooking surface. This is best done when the grill is hot, but be careful. Wear gloves and take every precaution you can. Don’t have a wire brush? Just take some aluminum and crumple it into a ball, it works better than you might guess.

To make your next trip to the flames easier, after you finish cooking, open up your vents (charcoal or wood grill) or turn up the gas and close the lid for a few minutes. This will help burn off residual sauce and grease and make it easier to clean. Just don’t forget to shut of the grill if you’re using gas!

Lube it up!

You will probably have much greater success in your grilling endeavors if you lubricate your grill before you start cooking your meats and veggies. I use non-stick spray right before I put the food on the grill. Another option is to take a clean cloth, pour olive oil on it and rub the oil directly on the hot grill. Be careful and watch for flame-ups, cooking is much less fun with charred fingers!

Please, Be Gentle!

The goal of cooking meat is to provide a satisfying meal and not too many people like to eat meat that is dried out and devoid of juicy goodness. Give yourself an extra chance at success by using Tongs to turn and move the meat. Using a fork creates more opportunity for juices to run out. Call me selfish, but I would rather have the juices on my plate than in the charcoal.

Stuff your Stuff! Or Wrap it Up!

Mix it up and add variety by stuffing your meats. You can use almost anything from a simple mix of garlic and olive oil to using pesto, aromatic herbs and even other types of meats or cheeses. Keep in mind that if you stuff with foods that can’t be eaten raw, you may need to adjust cooking times to make sure that not only is the meat done, but so is the stuffing. An alternative to this is to wrap your food with something flavorful. Wrap steaks with bacon or rosemary. Try chicken wrapped in prosciutto ham. How about a finish topping of blue cheese over a garlic steak? Sounds good to me.

Is my meat done?

The surest way to tell if meats are done is with a meat thermometer and this is still the best way to check roasts and whole poultry. When cooking steak, you can usually use your hand. The area between your thumb and fore-finger is very similar to the firmness of various doneness of steak. The feeling of this area with your hand relaxed is about the same as a rare steak. Touch your thumb to your index finger and the feel is consistent with medium rare. Use the middle finger for medium, your ring finger for medium well and your pinky or a closed fist for well-done and extra well