BBQ Tips

[smoore]

I love meat. I am a meat eater. The best way to prepare meat is on a BBQ grill. I know purists prefer charcoal but I'm a propane man myself (let the Hank Hill jokes commence). I grill so often that a charcoal grill would break me.

I'm good at BBQ'ing. I have that shiz DOWN. The only thing that gives me a little trouble are chicken leg quarters, due to all the fat in the thighs. I figured I'd start this thread to help along some BBQ newbies and hopefully pick up a few tips for myself.

The NUMBER ONE factor contributing to my success as a BBQ'er is my wire brush. Keep your grill clean! By using the wire brush IMMEDIATELY AFTER cooking you not only remove the excess material but you spread the oil evenly and bake it on creating the oldest known non-stick surface (see: wok cooking). A dirty grill will rust, allow food to stick and carry some pretty heavy-duty carcinogens onto the next meal. I like my prostrate. I keep the grill clean.

You should also do a regular cleaning of all of the interior surfaces of the grill (except the grilling surface itself) with oven cleaner and replace the lava rocks at the same time. You guys with the new weber design don't have rocks and I'm jealous. I *have* to do this type of cleaning once a year on my grill and this year is looking like a bi-annual douching of the thing. All that built-up grease and detrius contains the same heavy-duty carcinogens we're scraping off of the surface with the brush. Do not discount the ability of oven cleaner to poison the ground underneath your grill... get the most nontoxic stuff you can (looking for a hint here).

Chicken tip: Fully cook, THEN sauce. Use a brush to put the sauce on. Double sauce the chicken (sauce, flip sauce. cook. flip, sauce, flip sauce, cook). People will love it.

Burger tip: Either buy frozen patties or make the patties and freeze them. Throw them right on the grill. Flip them once before cheese, when there is a good deal of juice bubbling up through the top. To cook a "medium" burger (barely pink), use the skin next to the tendons on your wrist as a guide. Go ahead and push on that flesh with your finger right now. The thumb side of those tendons in the middle of your wrist is what "medium" feels like, the pinky side is what "medium rare" feels like. You can feel this with the corner of the spatula when pressing on the burgers on the grill. When you get to medium rare, flip and apply cheese.

Bonus burger tip: Get a cast-iron pan of some sort, I have a fajita pan from a mexican restaraunt. Get it well seasoned by leaving it upside down on the top rack of your grill, letting the grease hit it. Clean it with your wire brush. NOW... saute mushrooms and onions on it for your next burgers. MMMMM. Also works well for "smoky bacon". Double MMMMMM.

Here's a typical timeline for me, lots of dishes, up to 20 people:

1. Preheat to nearly lowest temp. Drink beer.
2. Put chicken on lower surface, some salt, lots of black pepper. Wrapped in foil ears of corn spread out on upper deck.
3. Continue drinking beer.
4. First flip of chicken and corn, add bratwurst. Put the brats on the upper deck. Brats want to be flipped a LOT. Don't let them burn.
5. Again, we're back to drinking beer.
6. Flip chicken, corn and brats. DO NOT stab brats, use tongs. Turn heat up in anticipation of the beef.
7. Go get the the steaks and burgers. This is the last sedate thing you'll do, you'll be busy the rest of the time.
8. Group chicken on lower deck to make room. Probably don't flip now.
9. Put 1in thick (marinated) steaks on grill.
10. Another couple sips.
11. Group corn (you can stack it now), start saute of onions/mushrooms in butter.
12. Now you flip your chicken (probably).
13. Add burgers. Flip steaks if ready (I like to flip steaks twice, some only do it once)
14. Frantic gulps of beer. Run to get the regular hotdogs.
15. Now the chicken is usually cooked and ready to upper-deck. Do so, sauce. Upper deck is FULL. Sometimes brats have to go at this point. Store them in the microwave, they won't cool much.
16. Add regular hotdogs (these are quick).
17. Burgers are flipped now, sometimes steak is flipped. Mushrooms and onions are stirred.
18. Scream at someone to get you a fresh beer.
19. Roll dogs, flip chicken (double sauce it now), flip steak, flip and cheese burgers.
20. Go get your serving dishes.
21. You're ready to start pulling things off now, just do it in the order of done-ness. Corn is almost always last, it doesn't care much.
22. Scrub grill.
23. EAT!

I know, tl;dr. But anyone serious about grilling will get a kick out of that list.

[panthershutch15]

Man, I am printing this puppy out!!! Good tips, smoore!

[poislb]

Thanks for sharing, always looking for new grilling tips.

[smoore]

Marinating tip: 2 parts commercial marinating sauce (McCormick makes good ones), 1 part beer. Any kind, it doesn't matter. The alcohol in the beer allows the spices to penetrate the cell structure of the meat.

BBQ sauce is basically:
Ketchup
Brown sugar
Worstershire sauce
Liquid smoke
Season to taste

Making your own is fun and you can come up with some good flavors. Really hard to screw up.

[str8edg]

That is one of my biggest regrets about moving into the arctic... no bbq

[smoore]

Originally Posted by str8edg

That is one of my biggest regrets about moving into the arctic... no bbq

dude... HAS to be done! HAS TO!

Build a shed if you have to... must. char. meat.

[rolandshoffinc]

Sounds like the secret is drinking beer!

lol

[Matthew]

Great tips...

I have a cast iron griddle. Excellent for bacon and dirty eggs. We call it camp breakfast and is a family favorite.

[Dwight87]

Originally Posted by smoore

I love meat. I am a meat eater. The best way to prepare meat is on a BBQ grill. I know purists prefer charcoal but I'm a propane man myself (let the Hank Hill jokes commence). I grill so often that a charcoal grill would break me.

I'm good at BBQ'ing. I have that shiz DOWN. The only thing that gives me a little trouble are chicken leg quarters, due to all the fat in the thighs. I figured I'd start this thread to help along some BBQ newbies and hopefully pick up a few tips for myself.

The NUMBER ONE factor contributing to my success as a BBQ'er is my wire brush. Keep your grill clean! By using the wire brush IMMEDIATELY AFTER cooking you not only remove the excess material but you spread the oil evenly and bake it on creating the oldest known non-stick surface (see: wok cooking). A dirty grill will rust, allow food to stick and carry some pretty heavy-duty carcinogens onto the next meal. I like my prostrate. I keep the grill clean.

You should also do a regular cleaning of all of the interior surfaces of the grill (except the grilling surface itself) with oven cleaner and replace the lava rocks at the same time. You guys with the new weber design don't have rocks and I'm jealous. I *have* to do this type of cleaning once a year on my grill and this year is looking like a bi-annual douching of the thing. All that built-up grease and detrius contains the same heavy-duty carcinogens we're scraping off of the surface with the brush. Do not discount the ability of oven cleaner to poison the ground underneath your grill... get the most nontoxic stuff you can (looking for a hint here).

Chicken tip: Fully cook, THEN sauce. Use a brush to put the sauce on. Double sauce the chicken (sauce, flip sauce. cook. flip, sauce, flip sauce, cook). People will love it.

Burger tip: Either buy frozen patties or make the patties and freeze them. Throw them right on the grill. Flip them once before cheese, when there is a good deal of juice bubbling up through the top. To cook a "medium" burger (barely pink), use the skin next to the tendons on your wrist as a guide. Go ahead and push on that flesh with your finger right now. The thumb side of those tendons in the middle of your wrist is what "medium" feels like, the pinky side is what "medium rare" feels like. You can feel this with the corner of the spatula when pressing on the burgers on the grill. When you get to medium rare, flip and apply cheese.

Bonus burger tip: Get a cast-iron pan of some sort, I have a fajita pan from a mexican restaraunt. Get it well seasoned by leaving it upside down on the top rack of your grill, letting the grease hit it. Clean it with your wire brush. NOW... saute mushrooms and onions on it for your next burgers. MMMMM. Also works well for "smoky bacon". Double MMMMMM.

Here's a typical timeline for me, lots of dishes, up to 20 people:

1. Preheat to nearly lowest temp. Drink beer.
2. Put chicken on lower surface, some salt, lots of black pepper. Wrapped in foil ears of corn spread out on upper deck.
3. Continue drinking beer.
4. First flip of chicken and corn, add bratwurst. Put the brats on the upper deck. Brats want to be flipped a LOT. Don't let them burn.
5. Again, we're back to drinking beer.
6. Flip chicken, corn and brats. DO NOT stab brats, use tongs. Turn heat up in anticipation of the beef.
7. Go get the the steaks and burgers. This is the last sedate thing you'll do, you'll be busy the rest of the time.
8. Group chicken on lower deck to make room. Probably don't flip now.
9. Put 1in thick (marinated) steaks on grill.
10. Another couple sips.
11. Group corn (you can stack it now), start saute of onions/mushrooms in butter.
12. Now you flip your chicken (probably).
13. Add burgers. Flip steaks if ready (I like to flip steaks twice, some only do it once)
14. Frantic gulps of beer. Run to get the regular hotdogs.
15. Now the chicken is usually cooked and ready to upper-deck. Do so, sauce. Upper deck is FULL. Sometimes brats have to go at this point. Store them in the microwave, they won't cool much.
16. Add regular hotdogs (these are quick).
17. Burgers are flipped now, sometimes steak is flipped. Mushrooms and onions are stirred.
18. Scream at someone to get you a fresh beer.
19. Roll dogs, flip chicken (double sauce it now), flip steak, flip and cheese burgers.
20. Go get your serving dishes.
21. You're ready to start pulling things off now, just do it in the order of done-ness. Corn is almost always last, it doesn't care much.
22. Scrub grill.
23. EAT!

I know, tl;dr. But anyone serious about grilling will get a kick out of that list.

This post is useless without pics.

ps...putting a wild king salmon on my Weber tonight!

[JT-Bird]

The best Chicken Wings Ever...

OK... These totally kick a** as an appetizer and they're not too much work. The trick with these is to make SURE that the chicken wings are well done.

If your wings are not cut into wingettes/drumettes, do so. Its easier to by Perdue Wingettes.

Get your grill nice and hot on high.

Turn your grill to medium and put all the wings on (I usually make enough to cover the entire grilling area of your average size weber.

I really find the trick here is to cook the wings almost through on the first side, you don't need to be flipping them around alot. You really want to cook these MORE than you would normal chicken, the fat content of the wings will keep them moist but you want the outside crispy

Put a big spaghetti pot on a burner (I don't have one on my grill so I go to the kitchen)

Put 1/2 stick butter, a full 12 oz bottle of Red Hot - hotsauce, melt the butter in the hotsauce.
Once it is blended add about 1/2 bottle of KC Masterpiece Smoked Chipotle Hot BBQ Sauce and spinkle in a good amount of Spicy Montreal Steak seasoning (trust me) simmer a few more minutes, then bring your pot outside.

As the wings are finishing up take them off grill and directly into pot with sauce. Put top on pot and shake like HEL*.

Plate em up and serve with Blue Cheese and Celery.

These are no doubt spicy, but they are very flavorful. If you like Hot wings, you gotta try em. I'm so I like em better than fried wings.