for this grilling gift basket and more. Just type in "grilling" under search.
Grilling Gift Basket
for this grilling gift basket and more. Just type in "grilling" under search.
Tips for First Time Grill Owners
Grilling, or Barbequing is a true American tradition. Many Americans are finding themselves with a grill for the first time. Good experiences with your grill will surely lead to using your grill more and more.
Planning Ahead
Barbequing has been around since early cavemen figured out that food tasted great after being cooked on an open fire. Perhaps one of the main memories attached to a family barbeque is what was on the menu that day. Barbequing opens a whole array of types of foods available. The type of foods you serve should largely depend on your crowd and the event in which you are celebrating. With the wide range of possibilities, you are sure to find at least a few items that will please your crowd.
Another potential issue when barbequing is the weather. While you will not be able to guarantee that the weather stays nice your barbeque event, a certain amount of planning will help you avoid the days in which barbequing is just simply out of the picture. Watch the weather channel or check online for your weekly forecast. If rain or cold weather is likely on the day you were thinking about having your barbeque, it may be a good idea to wait for a better forecast.
Make sure that you prepare ahead for your barbeque. 12 to 24 hours before you plan on beginning the party, make sure to thaw, prepare, and marinate the meat you will be cooking. Once you have the meat stored away, soaking up the marinate, then you must start thinking about what types of side dishes you will be having. If you want a completely tradition barbeque, you may want to stick with traditional sizes. Traditional barbeque sides include potatoes, potato salad, baked beans, and coleslaw.
Maintenance
You will need some common household items on hand when it comes
time to clean your barbeque grill.
time to clean your barbeque grill.
Brass wire grill brush
Steel wool pads, preferably that contains soap already.
Mild dish soap
Sponge or dishcloth
Spray cooking oil
Dry baking soda
Aluminum foil
The first thing that should always be done to your grill is a routine brushing. Using your brass wire grill brush (or other brush suitable to your type of grill) you should brush off all the surfaces. By routinely brushing your barbeque grill, you will prevent any type of buildup. If buildup from food is left to long, it can become increasingly difficult to remove. Once you have cleaned the surfaces of your grill, then you must focus on its racks. The racks in your grill are especially important as this is where the food touches when it is cooking. You will have to use the wire brush to remove as much buildup as possible. Once you remove as much as possible, start washing the racks with dish soap. If the racks are really dirty, you may also want to use the steel wool pads. Be sure to completely rinse off all soap and residue before cooking on these racks again.
This process should be completed each and every time you cook on your barbeque grill. If these steps are not taken, you may find it increasingly difficult to clean your grill, and may find that damage will occur.
The majority of problems that arise from barbeque grills comes from lack of cleaning and maintenance. That means if you notice something does not seem quite right with your barbeque grill, chances are it can be fixed with just a simple cleaning. Even if you clean it, and still find that it is having problems, at least you saved yourself the potential embarrassment of taking it to a professional only to find out all it needed was to be cleaned.
Finally, one method of preventing problems with your barbeque grill is protecting it from the outdoors. Covers are available for grills in all shapes and sizes, so chances are, you will find one that fits your grill. If you have a cover for your barbeque grill, then all you will ever need to do is do the regular maintenance listed above.
Wading Through Various Grill Features
When looking into different grills features, you may be faced with what seems like a foreign language. How are you suppose to pick the grill that is best for you if you do not understand what you are reading? While the language used when describing grills will not get any easier to read, understanding what the majority if what it means will help you make an informed decision.
Perhaps one of the most important things you should consider is the fuel type. Charcoal grills are one of the most used types of grills. Charcoal grills utilize charcoal and lighter fluid to heat up and cook your food. Charcoal grills come in all shapes and sizes, and vary in cost. Charcoal requires you to buy charcoal and lighter fluid each time you cook with it. It must also be cleaned out each time. Charcoal grills come in small sizes, which are ideal for apartment dwellers or people with small homes. Once you have used your charcoal grill, you can clean it, and store it away. Propane grills are also useful for someone in small areas, since they can come in smaller sizes. Propane grills use propane gas to cook your food. If you want to quickly cook foods while still maintaining a grilled flavor, you may want to consider Propane grills. Natural gas grills are a little more complicated then smaller grills, so they require more room. Natural gas grills are meant to hook up directly to your home’s natural gas line, and can cook meat in record time. Smoker Grills are used when flavor is the number one priority. Smoker grills use wood to slow cook your meat. Flavor can be controlled by using different types of woods.
BTU is the measure of the amount of cooking power the barbeque grill as. Simple math will be needed in determining the amount of heat that your grill produces. Take the amount of space available for cooking (typically measured by square inch) and divide it by the total amount of BTU’s. Ideally you will want at least 95 to 100 BTU’s per square inch of cooking space. So for example, if you have a grill with 50,000 BTU’s and 450 square inches of cooking space, then you will be receiving about 111 BTU’s of cooking power per square inch. Anything less, and you may want to consider a different grill.
The next thing you will want to consider is the cooking surfaces. How much space does it have? Will you be able to cook for just yourself, or you entire family? Depending on your situation, you may want to consider a larger or smaller grill.
What about cleaning? Does your grill have anything type of features that allow you to clean it easier? Some grills offer such things as a cleaning door, which allows you to easier remove the used fuels. This is handy if you decide on a charcoal and smoker grill. Some grills have a none stick surface, which allows you to cook without food sticking, and allows for very easy cleanup.
Another feature some grills offer the ability to control different areas of your grill with different temperatures. This is typically controlled by knobs on the front, similar to an oven. This allows you to cook different types of foods at the same time. If you want to cook a whole meal on the grill, this can be possible.
Starting your grill changed drastically with each type of grill. Smokers and Charcoal burners require you to light the media, the wait for it to burn out and turn to embers before cooking. This can take anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes. Natural gas and propane gar grills can be started instantly, wither by lighting the burners with a lighter, or by a knob on the front, which is attached to a small hammer that slams into a crystal, causing enough spark to ignite the fuel.
BBQ Beef Short Ribs
Ingredients
- 10 pounds short ribs of beef, 2 inches thick
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon garlic
- 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon ancho powder ( pablano pepper/chili powder)
Directions
Mix all seasoning in a large bowl. Add short ribs and coat evenly. Allow to sit for two hours before smoking. Build a hickory fire in grill on one side only. Place the beef ribs on the grill on the opposite side of the fire and close off the air so the fire goes down. Maintain a temperature of 275 degrees for 3 hours, basting with mop every 15 minutes for the last 45 minutes.
Short Rib Mop:
- 3 tablespoons mustard
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cup apple cider
Mix all ingredients together.
The Good One Open Range Smoker (Model 30-P)
Chris Marks and his Three Little Pigs barbecue team are one of the top teams in competition barbecue (8 time grand champion of the American Royal BBQ Competition). The Good One Open Range smoker is the smallest version of the smoker Chris takes to competitions. What makes this smoker different than other big, black smokers is the precision of air flow control. The Good One uses rotating vents called spinners that can be turned open with a very fine level of control.
With many heavy steel smokers you get a great deal of smoke leakage around the doors and connections. This smoker fits together with incredible accuracy so the air flows through the vents and not through the doors. Add to that the precision of the vents and you can shut this smoker down, put out the fire, and save your remaining charcoal for your next cook.
This unit comes standard with a 360 square inch smoking grate and similar grilling grate. You can purchase an additional smoking grate or half grate to give you as much as 720 square inches of smoking space. That is more than enough to smoke 4 full size briskets.
The nearly $1,000 price tag makes this an expensive smoker, but the durable construction, excellent cooking abilities, and efficient design make it a perfect smoker for the person who is serious about barbecue. But more than just a great smoker, this unit is amazingly versatile. You can use the fire box area for direct grilling of the smoking chamber as a roasting or baking oven. This is one cooker that really can do it all.
Traeger Pellet Lil' Tex
Wood pellets are a byproduct of the wood industry that can be used to heat or for cooking. Traeger has taken high quality, hardwood pellets and used them to make great barbecue. It works something like this:
Wood pellets, held in a small hopper are moved into the cooking chamber by a mechanical auger. In the center of the cooking chamber is a small fire-pot with a small electric heating element. The heat element ignites the pellets to create the cooking heat and the smoke. During the ignition period (4 minutes) the unit uses 300 watts. After that the unit uses 50 watts. This means that the electric usage is low and won't drive up your power bills.
Years of design improvements and practical testing have improved the Traeger grills and smokers to the point of being some of the best outdoor cooking equipment on the market. If you are serious about barbecue and want a unit that will grill a steak and smoke a brisket, then this is a unit for you to seriously consider.
The Lil' Tex smoker is Traeger's smallest unit, but at 418 square inches of cooking space you will have plenty of room for any family cookout. This unit will run you about $700, but I would recommend the thermostatic control unit as a necessarily accessory. This will put the price at closer to $900.
The wood pellets that this unit runs on are specialized fuel and you will need a good source of these to run your smoker. You can purchase them online. There are several companies that supply these pellets, including Traeger.
Char-Broil Electric H2O Smoker
Of the vertical water smokers on the market for around or under $100USD this one of the easiest to operate. Basically a big can (sometimes referred to as a trash can smoker) with a large electric heating element in the bottom. The 1650 watt (120 volt) heating element can produce enough heat to grill over so it can heat this smoker quickly and easily. The control lets you set the temperature but remember that this unit is not thermostatically controlled.
Above the heating element of this unit is a pan for wood chips to produce the smoker for true barbecue. Above this is a large porcelain coated water pan that serves to catch drippings, produce moisture for the smoking chamber, and to help keep the heat even and consistent. Above the water pan are the two chrome plated cooking grates to hold up to 50 pounds of food. The whole unit is topped off with the lid.
This is a good unit that is perfect for the person just starting out in barbecue or the person who wants good barbecue without spending a lot of money or doing a lot of work.
I consider the Old Smokey Electric Smoker as a similar but superior smoker. However the Char-Broil is generally easier to find.
Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5 Inch Smoker
You've probably seen pictures of the incredible smokers that hit this barbecue competition circuit every year. Custom smokers costing tens of thousands of dollars (or more) that are the pride of serious barbecue cooks. Well for every one of these on the road there are probably a dozen Weber Smokey Mountains (WSMs). These easy to use smokers produce fantastic barbecue, hold temperatures for very long periods of time cost a whole lot less (list price is $499 but can be found for $399).
With this kind of popularity Weber has finally come up with a larger version of this smoker. With 726 square inches of cooking space divided between two cooking surfaces, the 22.5 inch Smokey Mountain is perfect for the person who wants to produce a lot of barbecue. What is particularly good about this size is that it more easily holds whole racks of spare ribs in addition to giving you enough space for 60 pound of pork butts or perhaps 4 large turkeys.
Added to the WSM with this model is a lid mounted thermometer which is a necessarily addition. Previously people had been drilling holes in this smokers to put in a thermometer so they could determine the cooking temperature without having to open the lid. The large thermometer mounted in this unit is accurate and divided at the 5 degree mark giving it a high level of accuracy. Also added is a bottom heat shield to help protect any surface that the smoker is put on. This heat shield also seems to have the affect of reflecting heat upwards making the smoker more efficient.
On the one down side, the front access door is a little flimsy so you should be careful not to bend it out of shape. The upside of this is that you can "custom" fit it so that it holds in the smoke better.
Or try the: Weber Smokey Mountain 18.5 Inch Smoker.
Smoker: Fast Eddy's by Cookshack FEC100
They say that nothing succeeds like success, and the FEC (Fast Eddy Cooker) line of competition smokers have proven it. In the last decade this smoker has become the cooker of choice for competition cooks who want to win. More and more you see grand championships going to teams using FEC smokers including two the last three Jack Daniel's Invitational.
The secret is in the simplicity, simplicity of use. The basic design of this smoker is a dual layer of thick 304 stainless steel separated by high temperature insulation to hold in heat. Heat is provided by an electronically controlled 36,000 BTU pellet burner fed from an external hopper (you can add more pellets without opening the smoker). The computer controlled system maintains the smoker temperature with a high degree of precision so you don't have to deal with fluctuations. With the optional (definitely a must) temperature probe you can put your meat in the smoker, set the desired target temperature and the FEC will take it from there. Once the target temperature is reached the smoker temperature will drop into a holding position until you are ready to remove your barbecue.
This smoker is expertly constructed by Cookshack, makers of some of the best electric smokers on the market, from Ed Maurin's design. The attention to detail is amazing. This smoker is not only perfect for competitions but a perfect unit for anyone serious about barbecue who has the cash and the need for a lot of great food. The FEC 100 is the smallest of the FEC smokers and you will find many of the larger units being used in some of the best barbecue joints in the world.
Classic Barbecue Sauce
If you like a rich, thick barbecue sauce on your ribs, then this is the perfect one for you. By using tomato sauce and tomato paste instead of ketchup you get a richer flavor in your barbecue sauce.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
- 4 tablespoons minced onion
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon cayenne
- fresh ground pepper to taste
Preparation:
Cook minced onion and garlic in olive oil until onions turns opaque. Add remaining ingredients, mix thoroughly and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes. Makes about 1 1/2 cups of barbecue sauce.Carolina Style Sauce
Big Daddy says, "This is Carolina style barbecue sauce." This means that it is vinegar and mustard based, as opposed to the ketchup and molasses based sauces of the mid and southwest. The combination of sweet and tangy flavors brings out the absolute best in grilled or smoked pork or chicken.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 cup prepared yellow mustard
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon liquid smoke (hickory flavoring)
Preparation:
Mix all except soy, butter and smoke. Simmer 30 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 more minutes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)