Grilling Ideas

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

by Rob Zwemmer

Grilling Ideas

Grilling and eating al fresco is one of our favorite pastimes in the desert. Keep your
experience fun and hassle-free by following the right steps for great grilling.

Make sure your grill is clean, and nice and hot well before you start. You might want to spray the grill with a little vegetable oil to prevent food from sticking. Preheat a gas or charcoal grill at least 15 to 30 minutes before cooking. Always keep a spray water bottle handy in case of a flare-up during the cooking process. Make sure you have all of your grilling tools right at hand: tongs, spatula, basting brush, etc.

Marinade your meats to tenderize and add delicious flavor. Use approximately 1 to 2 cups of marinade for every 11/2 to 2 lbs. of food. The marinade should completely immerse the meat… and only before it is grilled, never place cooked meat back into a marinade mixture.

For cooking on a charcoal grill, make sure the charcoal briquettes extend in a single layer one to 2 inches beyond the area of the food atop the grill. Stack the briquettes into a pyramid for easier lighting. For indirect grilling, place the food over a drip pan and have briquettes banked to one or both sides of the pan.

Always use tongs to turn the meat, never poke with a fork and punch holes that can cause natural juices to escape and toughen the meat. Turn it only once while grilling and use the lid to assist in cooking the meat to a medium or greater doneness. It helps decrease the cooking time by applying heat to all sides of the meat. BBQ sauces should only be added at the end of the process. Sauces can promote burning and flare-ups if
applied too soon.

Proper cooking times for basic flank steaks of about 11/2 lbs. of thickness is 15-19 minutes; New York strip steak about 1 inch thick can cook in 8-10 minutes.
Pork steak or pork chops ½ to 2 inch in thickness can cook between 10 and 14 minutes.
Chicken breast, skinned and bones at 4-5 oz. can cook from 10-12 minutes. When grilling hamburger patties, form them ½-inch larger in diameter than the buns, this allows for shrinkage. They should be grilled about 5 minutes per side. Hot dogs can be cooked until slightly blistered on all sides.