Grilling and Chilling

[The KSB]

Post your best grilling secrets here. Here's mine. I much prefer the taste of food grilled off of charcoal as opposed to gas. But charcoal can be a pain in the ass. My solution, use a chimney stlye charcoal lighter. It's basically a section of pipe with a grate at the bottem. You put a couple pieces of newspaper in the bottem section, pour the charcoal in the top section. Next you light the newspaper in the bottem. Fifteen minutes later you have about 4 pounds of charcoal ready to cook on. The charcoal is lit evenly every time and there is no lighter fluid involved. I just got done cooking five pounds of chicken and some hotdogs and sausages on one batch of charcoal. You can make your own but they're real easy to find anymore. I saw them at Wal~Mart for about $8.00. The thing I like most about them is that you can use the cheap ass Sam's Choice charcoal and it works just as good as the Kingsford so I can get the better flavor at a fraction of the cost. Here's a picture of one.

 

[BuckBackHome]

I think I finally threw my charcoal starter like that out. We bought a gas grill a couple of years ago and I have not used my charcoal grill since. The charcoal tastes better, but we like to cook year round and charcoal in the winter sucks. Takes forever to get hot and then cools down really quick (Sounds like I girl I used to date).

Don't look to me for advice. I guess I have been grilling more than usual lately as I managed to run out of propane tonight. Oops. Thankfully the stove worked in a pinch.

 

[coastalbuck]

Here's a hint. I take a couple of pieces of charcoal, put them in a smoker box, (small cast iron box about 8in. by 4 in. you can get them at Lowes, Wal-mart ect.) soak them with lighter fluid, and light them off. When they get hot, cover them with soaked wood chips of your choice, and set the box on the lowest level of your gas grill, or on the lava rock if you have it, and proceed to grill as normal with gas, best of both worlds!

 

[DEBuckeye]

Another good thing to use is a cedar plank. Soak it in water for about 20 min. and then put it on the grill grates. Then put your food on the plank. I usually do this with salmon, but have also used chicken and pork chops. With the right marinade, you can't beat it.

The other thing I've learned, although proabably not much of a secret, is to cover everything with a light coat of oil (we use olive oil) before seasoning and grilling. This cuts way down on food sticking to the grill.

 

[BuckeyeInTheBoro]

I'll go with Hank Hill on this one...

She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie... propane.

 

[The KSB]

Another good thing to use is a cedar plank. Soak it in water for about 20 min. and then put it on the grill grates. Then put your food on the plank. I usually do this with salmon, but have also used chicken and pork chops. With the right marinade, you can't beat it.

The other thing I've learned, although proabably not much of a secret, is to cover everything with a light coat of oil (we use olive oil) before seasoning and grilling. This cuts way down on food sticking to the grill.

I'll definately be trying that out. Did you get your cedar plank from anywhere special or can you just use one from a lumber yard?

 

[BuckeyeInTheBoro]

The other thing I've learned, although proabably not much of a secret, is to cover everything with a light coat of oil (we use olive oil) before seasoning and grilling. This cuts way down on food sticking to the grill.

I spray the grill (ceramic grate) with an olive oil spray before each grilling... nothing sticks.

 

[Crump's brother]

My charcoal lighter is a coffee can with some holes drilled through it. I pick it up slowly with pliers and it spreads the charcoal out nicely. I also agree that charcoal grills are superior.

 

[BuckBackHome]

I spray the grill (ceramic grate) with an olive oil spray before each grilling... nothing sticks.

I tried the spraying once and decided to switch to a brush to apply the oil to the grates. Living in michigan must be rubbing off on me. For some reason I wasn't thinking clearly about spraying oil into open flames. One spray and quick flame was a nice reminder.

I received the Beer Can Chicken cookbook over the weekend. It also tips in there about placing wood chips into a gas grill to get that wood taste. I will have to get some chips now.

Here's my recipe contribution.

Marinated flank steak.

1.5 - 2.0 lbs of flank steak
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 T olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 t of ground black pepper
1 T lemon juice

Mix all the ingredients up, place flank steak into a large ziploc bag, pour marinade in, and refrigerate for 24 hours. One minute per side on direct high and then about 7 minutes a side over a medium indirect heat will do it. Let it sit for a few minutes before you cut into it to keep the juices in. A nice medium rare is perfect. Leftovers are good for a steak sandwich.

 

[DEBuckeye]

I'll definately be trying that out. Did you get your cedar plank from anywhere special or can you just use one from a lumber yard?

I actually got them (my wife found them) at Williams Sonoma, but I'm sure any good piece of cedar would work. And would probably be cheaper than Williams Sonoma....

 

[Dryden]

My personal tips/grilling style:

1. Charcoal. Tastes better ... 'nuff said.

2. Use a chimney starter. My practice is to place one sheet of wadded-up newsprint in the underside of the starter, then evenly place about 6 or 7 bricks of Kingsford Match-Light in the starter first, followed by as much regular Kingsford as I expect I'll need. The fluid scent will burn out of the Match-Light very quickly if you only use 6 or 7 bricks, and the entire chimney will setup much faster and more evenly from top to bottom.

3. Clean the grill grates with a wire brush after the grill is hot, immediately prior to cooking, not before while the grill is cold. It'll clean much easier.

4. Never wash the grill grates, just scrub lightly immediately before grilling. I don't oil the grill surface anymore, but have found that lightly brushing both sides of chicken breasts when cooking those with light tasting olive oil will impart a sufficient coating of olive oil to the grill to make it 'non-stick' for 3 or 4 subsequent uses. Really, if every fifth time you use the grill you do either chicken or pork, a little olive oil will give the white meats picture perfect char lines while keeping the grill in good shape for the steaks and burgers you do later.

5. Personal favorites:

Chicken breast w/ Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce.

Steak with Sweet & Sour glaze (mix Sweet & Sour sauce and Worcestershire Sauce at about a 1:2.5 ratio -- or 5 teaspoons of worcestershire to every 2 teaspoons of sweet & sour). Do not marinade overnight or the worcestershire taste will be overwhelming, just baste both sides liberally, and allow the excess to run off while grilling.

 

[sandgk]

Tip 1 -- For gas Grill ...

Make sure you get one of those searing / griddle plates, they sit on top of the normal grid and hold heat really well. They are great for doing things like toasting garlic breads, searing (blackened / cajun style) thick meat sections before placing them on the normal grid so you get the "burn marks" that everyone likes to see.
Plus, you can use the searing plate as a stir-fry area -- for shrimp say, for cooking bacon or flat foods (chicken breast boneless or fish steaks) or for kebabs.

Other designs are available, the above is a good type though.

Tip 2 -- Generally -- Learn to make your own BBQ sauce. Most of the ones you get in stores are crap -- too general purpose.
For example -- for white meats...
All you need is equal volumes of good, juicy tomatoes, brown sugar, olive oil, the juice of one lime or lemon -- add spices to suit your taste (cumin, ginger, black pepper, italian seasoning work well). Blend to a fine puree. Use straight for maximum moistness and tang, or simmer down to a thicker sauce if you want that clinging and thicker sauce.

Works great on boneless chicken breasts or pork chops.