KW's Blog

Grilling Tips for the Aspiring Barbecue Master

Spring and summer are almost at hand. It is time to clean up the patio and get the yard ready for entertaining friends and family. Regardless of the age of your old barbeque grill known the some basic grilling tips goes a long way towards helping you get the neighborhood reputation as a grilling master. Here are some grilling tips and tricks to help you get off the right start this year.

Getting Ready — Cleaning the Barbeque Grill

It is always a good idea to start out with a clean grill, unless you are fortunate to have new barbeque grill, here are some tips to get your old grill ready.

If you have a gas barbeque grill, cover the grilling racks with aluminum foil that you lay, shiny side down, on top of the racks or grates. Make sure you cover, or wrap, any gas hoses under the grill during the cleaning. Leave vents open on the grill top, close the top and turn up the gas fired heat. When smoke stops coming out of the vents, about fifteen minutes, the grilling grates will be clean. Remove any remaining dust with a soft brush. This is the same way you will quickly, and easily, clean your grill after each time you use it to barbeque.

Grilling Tips for a Great Barbeque Experience

These tips with help you cook the best possible barbeque.

  • Use thin pieces of meat until you get more experience with how long your grill takes to cook thicker pieces.
  • Keep turning the meat every few minutes and put barbeque sauce on the meat after the first turn on both sides of the meat.
  • The best grilling will be done with your grilling racks 5 inches from the source of the heat. One inch on either side of that distance will work as well. You will gain experience with your grill quickly. It is a good idea to do some sample grilling before you cook for guests.
  • If you have a flame flare-up close the top to the grill and close the vents, top and bottom. This will extinguish the flame quickly and safely.
  • You can prepare meat for your grill by marinating it in any number of special sauces. You can also tenderize meat with a commercial meat tenderizer. As long as the main ingredient is pappin you can be assured it is a natural way to tenderize. If you live in the tropics, warm enough for papaya trees to grow, you can take a papaya leaf, which is where pappin comes from, and wrap your meat in the leaf for no more than three minutes.
  • Smaller pieces of meat can be cooked on wooden skewers. This method allows you to cook all of the meat. The skewers can be saved for later eating if they are left over after the meal.
  • Cook the meat to taste but understand that health officials now recommend not eating any type of meat or seafood that has not been fully cooked.

The use of these grilling tips for cleaning and cooking your food should ensure some great spring and summer cookout experiences.