BBQ Tips

BBQ Tips for the Outdoor Cook in your Home

Cooking outdoors with a grill requires a bit of finesse, so having a few BBQ tips on hand can help. An open flame, whether it is a charcoal or gas grill, can be hard to gauge. Not everyone can parlay their kitchen stove and oven cooking skills into a successful grilling venture.

Preparing your Grill

With a gas grill, the one barbecue tip to remember, other than ensuring you have enough gas in the tank, is to start with a clean grate. If there is remnants of your last BBQ meal on there, turn the fire on high to burn them off. Next, once the fire is out, you can simply scrub the grate with a brush designed for that purpose.

A charcoal grill requires a bit more preparation as you have to stack the charcoal briquettes and then light them with a starter, usually lighter fluid, newspaper or both. Charcoal is ready for grilling when the coals appear to be about 75 percent gray ash. When your food requires a hot grilling temperature, test the heat by holding your hand just over the coals. If you can only hold your hand there for about two seconds, the coals are ready. A medium-hot temperature will likely allow you to hold your hand above the coals for about three to four seconds while a medium temperature would be about five seconds.

Fire Friendly BBQ Tips

Tending your fire, particularly with your charcoal grill, is important for not only your safety but of those around you. What do you do when flare-ups happen? Using tongs, move your food away from the fire flare-up and lightly mist water over the flames. Keep a small spray bottle filled with water near the grill for this purpose. Or, you can smother the flames by closing the grill lid.

If you find the coals are losing some heat, push them together and then add more charcoal briquettes. You can also lower the grill grate closer to the coals or even use a small fan to stir up the ashes from the coals to boost heat. However, if you want to decrease the heat from too hot coals, raise your grilling grate or use the water spray bottle to mist the coals a bit.

Boosting Grilling Flavors

Barbecue sauce is a favorite meat and vegetable topper when grilling. However, many people put it on too early and end up with a burned mess. Do not apply the barbecue sauce or other basting sauces to your grilled food until a few minutes before it is ready. This barbecue tip also applies to other sauces that contain any type of sugar, artificial sweetener or honey.

If you want to impart a smoky flavor to your grilled food, add some wood chips to your charcoal fire. Mesquite, hickory and pecan are barbecue favorites. Soaking the wood chips in water for ten minutes and then draining before you add to the charcoal fire adds extra smokiness. Some gas grills offer wood smoking elements or an attached wood box to impart the same effect.

For grilling vegetables, add a light coat of olive oil or some other cooking spray before sprinkling seasoning on them. This barbecue tip will prevent the vegetables from sticking onto the grilling grate and also offer a lightly roasted texture as well.

When dealing with outdoor cooking such as grilling, there are countless BBQ tips available depending on the method of cooking (gas versus charcoal), the type of food and how to prepare the food for grilling. The basics of starting a fire and achieving the appropriate heating level for cooking are two of the most important barbecue tips. If you are a novice, invest in a meat thermometer to achieve the level of doneness you want for your food.