What is your favourite summer backyard BBQ grilling trick?

Question

Do you have fail-safe tips and tricks to ensure a perfect barbecue, every time? Maybe you swear by a certain set of utensils, or fire up the grill at a certain temperature for a specific length of time before adding your food. Perhaps you're a pro at using wood chips to add flavour, or insist on gas over charcoal (or vice-versa). Or maybe your secret has to do with certain marinades, sauces, oils, glazes or rubs. Whatever your best barbecue tip is, let me know!

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Answer 1

I really like to BBQ thick pieces of prime meat. 1 to 1.5 inches thick.

The problem is cooking them all the way through. I have learned to "warm" them in the oven before grilling them on the Q.

I set my over to 80 F for steaks and 90 for chops and place the meat in there for about 15 min before transferring them to the grill.

I sear them on high heat (Mailard reaction time!) and then finish them off on medium indirect heat.

Four flips on the searing to get those cool criss-cross sear marks and two flips on the indirect side.

If I do this right, I get a very moist steak with none of that "grey" meat between the seared exterior and the moist red interior.

Answer 2

We love to grill and do so all year long and in Ontario, that's a feat! My best grill tips are:

1- When making homemade BBQ sauce I always add liquid smoke. Available in Mesquite or Hickory, it adds just the right touch.

2- Always cook chicken over indirect heat. After heating the BBQ, have one side on high heat and one on low heat. Place the chicken on the low side on the top rack and let it be- don't be flipping it every few minutes! This prevents the charred on the outside, not quite done on the inside problem!

3- For homemade burgers (which are a must!) when you're mixing up the meat, along with the regular additions (bread crumbs, egg etc....) I like to add salsa and the result is an extremely tasty burger!

4- Don't be afraid to branch out! Pizza on the grill is amazing! Grill some chicken and set aside. Pat the pizza dough into a pan and top with BBQ sauce. Cut the chicken into thin strips and top the pizza with your favourite cheese, chicken, red pepper strips and red onion. Place pan on top rack and grill with the lid down till the crust is done. Makes a very tasty and unique meal on the grill!

Answer 3

As I child I thoroughly enjoyed that charcoal flavoured burger/steak that would come off the barbecue. Looking to rekindle that flavour, I searched the Web for a Gas/Charcoal barbecue combo unit and came up empty handed. So, I went to the SUPERSTORE in Canada, purchased an heavy grade steel insert for my "Natural Gas" barbecue where I could place the charcoal and use my "Natural Gas" to kick start the charcoal. Well, the combo is just awesome! I place the charcoal in the insert, start the gas barbecue, let the charcoal that is "auto start" pre-heat and simply squirt one dose of barbecue fluid on the charcoal and within 10 minutes I have white charcoal coals to barbecue my favourite steak/burger/sausage. The beauty is that I get the heat of the charcoal for searing the meat, the taste which is just awesome, and when I am done the charcoal burns clean so that I spread it over the lawn/flowerbeds as fertilizer! What a solution -- it is just great and the insert at SUPERSTORE only cost twelve bucks!!!

Answer 4

My secret is not so much with the marinade as how I use it and it came purely by chance. Recently I bought a pkg of pork ribs with a marinade recipe on the back. What I didn't realize was, it was for a rub and it only made about a tablespoon -- not much for 2 lbs of meat I thought after rolling the ribs around in it. So I tossed them in a pot of boiling water like I usually do and then thought, what the heck, there's already marinade in there, I might as well toss some more in. So I threw in some Worc. sauce, Dijon, ketchup, br. sugar and whatever and boiled them, then tossed them on the grill with my favourite BBQ sauce. Mmmmm, they were good. The flavours of the marinade went all through the meat. The meat was so tender a lot of it fell off the bones before I could even get it on the grill so we saved it and had BBQ pork on a bun the next day!

Answer 5

I insist on charcoal when I cook steak or burgers.

I also like to cook corn right on the grill, but I leave the leaves on the cob. I peel back the leaves before I grill, remove the silk, spread butter on the corn, sprinkle some salt and pepper on the corn, then wrap the leaves back onto the corn. I grill them on the edge of the grill, where the fire is not so intense. Turn often. Sometimes the leaves will catch on fire, but since there are several layers, its no big deal. The corn comes ou tender and tasty.

My favorite steak to grill is Porterhouse. Really nice and tender and juicy. Sometimes I will marinade beforehand, sometimes I'll just cook the steak plain and put butter and a dash of salt on it when I serve it. If I marinade, I'll put the steak in the marinade 24 hours before. The marinade I like to use is a mix of soy sauce, vegetable oil, honey, garlic, ginger and cooking sherry.

Also, can't forget the Idaho baking potatoes. For those, I'll wrap them in aluminum foil and put them right on the coals, as soon as the coals start turning gray. You have to turn them occasionally, using a stick or a skewer, but they come out good too, nice and dry.

Answer 6

When using charcoal set a side or your grill as the cool side to have indirect heat. the side where all the charcoal is the coals should be white if you were to place your hand above the coals you should be only to handle the heat for 3 seconds. This is for direct cooking, now for indirect cooking like a brisket or a slab of ribs your indirect heat should be around 250 a brisket should cook in indirect heat for about 5-7 hours constantly wetting with your marinade ( nothing thick very wet and with some vinegar to break down meat fibers) To smoke while slow cooking you must soak the wood chips and add slowly though out your cooking. I love cooking pizza over a smokey indirect heat. You should try it, it's so yummy.
You could also do vegetables over direct heat. You will need olive oil and some balsamic vinegar and your favorite spices I like tarragon or rosemary finely diced mix ingredients in a bowl. Cut up some Zucchini and large Bermuda onions mushrooms and thinly sliced carrots. As you would cook hardest veggies to softest in stir fry, so will you cook these. in a bowl place veggies and coat lighly with oil mix.(not too much or you will have flare ups) You will need to make a wire large basket from heavy gauged wire fence (perferably pig fence cause the holes are about a centimeter so the food does not fall through) Place wire basket on the grill adding your veggies hardest to softest toasting them some will brown a bit but make sure not to burn. This is such a tasty way of cooking veggies over a flame and you will impress your friend with this technique.

Answer 7

When making BBQ chicken, I boil the chicken parts first, putting seasoning, esp. some red pepper flakes, in the water. After boiling, the chicken is not only fully cooked but has absorbed the seasoning in the water. Now I can just take the pieces, cover them with BBQ sauce, and put them on a hot grill to crisp the skin and caramelize the sauce.

The grilling time is so much quicker this way, and the chicken is more tender and flavorful. You can even boil a day ahead of time, a great time saver if you are having a big outdoor party.

P.S. Don't throw out the contents of your pot when you are done boiling - it makes a great stock for soups or other dishes.

Answer 8

I heard a story once, about this bar-b-q where an entire calf was roasted in a pit. It was an all-day process, and a huge undertaking with hundreds of people.

I did go to an outdoor wedding where they bar-b-q'd an entire pig. It was an interesting set up. Can't recall as to how it tasted though. I remember I had brought this excellent potato salad. Unfortunately no one in my family eats potato salad, (and I don't think I ever got that container back come to think of it), but when I DO make potato salad, I do alot of tasting as I go along, since it is a dish that can mistakenly be served a bit too bland.

Any meat we grill just has to be a good cut. It doesn't matter about seasonings if the cut is tough. Just ruins the occasion and you're glad the wasps are at least the only ones happy.

Answer 9

Pre-heat the grill for 5 minutes. Clean it with a brush/scrapper. Soak a cloth, paper towel in an oil. Turn the heat down and place the cloth with oil under the brush and place it on the grill and use the same motion you would when you clean your grill, ensuring all the grill gets greased up. Turn the grill up agian for another minute or so and your ready to put the fusiest of items on there without worrying about them sticking. The oil cleans the grill, and is great for leaving the perfect X marks on your favorite cuts. This is great for placing fish, chicken, wings etc... on there as well. Love the boiled ribs on the grill with lots of sauce. High heat allows the sauce to caramalize adding the grill marks as well. Wings are great this way as well. Bake em, deep fry em, sauce em up and on the grill for 2-4 minutes depending on your grills heat. For propane, turn the tank off first, then the burners. This allows the lines to be free of any access gas.

Answer 10

Thank you for the question.
Once every few years I'll give meat to Vietnamese in the Little Saigon District who will do their usual magic. On next day some Hebrew National and all-beef patty is grilled. Then I'll trot out French silver tray I'm famous for. Everybody gums it. I don't invite the people who could not be bothered to muzzle their barking / howling pet from from summer to summer. BBQ that wafts in open windows on summer nights is swell.