Make your next grilling session your best

 It’s a lot of people’s favorite time of year the weather is warm, you can sit out on the patio, and do some serious grilling. Last week we talked about grills and making sure we have put some thought into the right grill for our needs. This week let’s talk about some things that will help get you back into the swing of grilling.
All BM’s ( bbq masters ) will tell you to keep your grill clean and oiled. Clean the grates before and after cooking with a stiff wire brush or wooden grill scraper. Then rub a tightly folded cloth rag or paper towel dipped in vegetable oil across the grates.  An added advantage is the towel also helps clean the grill grate. Burnt stuff from the last grilling session does not add to the flavor of todays bbq.

Control your fire people! If your whole grill is hot you may be asking for trouble. Create three different cooking temperatures on your grill. A hot zone, a medium zone, and a warm zone. If your food catches fire, or you’d like to keep it warm once it’s cooked, simply move it over to the warm zone. This is quite easy if you are using a gas grill with a raised grill in the back. To do this on a charcoal grill simply Arrange the coals in a thick layer over a third of the grill for the hot zone. Arrange the remainder in a single layer over the second third to create a medium zone and leave the final third of your grill coal-free to create the warm zone.

Another way to control the fire is to use indirect grilling. On a gas grill turn the outside burners on and leave the middle off. For charcoal place your briquets off to the sides and grill in the middle where there is no charcoal or gas burners lit. This method is especially good for a whole chicken, turkey, tri-tip, ribs, and roasts.
Know what you are grilling. Look for words like grass-fed, organic, non-antibiotic, or non-GMO-fed beef. Look for tender meat cuts, like filet mignon, rib eye, rib steak, T-bone, or New York strip. Prime steak cuts have the best marbling and great flavor. Use tongs or a spatula to turn the meat, you don’t want to lose all the juices and dry out the meat!
​
For burgers use hamburger with a fat content of 15 to 18 percent. For an even richer flavor, use a blend of ground sirloin & chuck, ask your butcher, I am sure he will do it for you. A greta trick for burgers is to dimple the center of your burgers. By dimpling the center of a burger, you’ll help it plump more evenly. Do not, I repeat, do not press your burgers with the back of a spatula to get them to cook faster—you’ll squeeze out the delicious juices. Finally when your burgers are cooked to perfection and you are getting ready to build your burger if you use lettuce, place it under the burger and it will help prevent the dreaded soggy bun:(               
Happy grillin’ people!

See you next week