Grilling can seem like a quick and easy feat if you’ve had the chance to see someone at work over a lit grill. All you need to do is marinate it well, fire up the grill and set the meat on the grill to cook for a couple of minutes. After a bit of turning every now and then, you should have some delicious burgers or steaks. Unfortunately, once you try barbecuing yourself, you find that your chicken is dry or your steaks are chewy. It’s much harder than it looks.
There’s good news though. While it may seem hard at first, there are a few tips and tricks barbeque experts have to make sure their burgers and hot dogs come out tender and juicy. And many of these tips don’t need many extra high cost accessories, either. At most, all you need is a meat thermometer and a grill brush that you can buy from a hardware store or a barbeque store, like Dickson Barbeque Centre.
This article covers some of the best tips and tricks on how to grill like a barbeque expert, from barbecue experts everywhere.
Bring the meat to room temperature first
Before you put your steaks or burgers on the grill, make sure that they’re at room temperature first. Leave whatever you’re grilling in the fridge to thaw as you prepare your side dishes and drinks, then take them out anywhere between 30 to 60 minutes before starting the barbecue. This allows the meat to soften and retain any moisture that’s in the meat itself. Once it’s soft, grilling it not only shortens the time needed to cook it properly, but keeps your burgers and steaks nice and juicy.
Additionally, thawing meats like steaks and ribs out completely before grilling also makes sure that the flavours and marinades sink in again. Any dry rubs or sauces will reactivate and give the cuts of meat a great flavour.
Learn the basics of grilling
If you’re not in a rush to make steaks and hamburgers for a large group of people, it’s a good idea to look up some of the basic techniques most grill masters use. While you don’t need them right away to cook some hot dogs, knowing the basics will definitely help make the process much easier to handle.
For example, if you have eight burger patties and four hot dogs loaded onto your barbecue, it’s likely that you’re going to keep an eye on them so none of them burn. However, knowing what areas of the grill have the most intense heat can actually help you control how fast your meats char and cook properly. Areas with less lit charcoal and less intense heat can be used to cook the food properly instead, meaning you can char your hot dogs while your hamburgers cook. Once cooked through, all you need to do is switch them around to add a little char to the burgers. If needed, you can buy a simple heat deflector to create heat zones.
Clean the grates
Cleaning the barbecue’s grates can be one of the best things you can do before starting up the grill. Even if it’s just brushing off the stuck on residue from the last barbecue session, cleaning the grates can greatly improve the quality of the dishes. Any lingering residue or char can burn more while the grill is on, potentially ruining the taste of what you have on it. A clean grate can also give the meats a much more appealing sear.
Cook your meats to certain temperatures
There’s a lot of guesswork when it comes to grilling meat perfectly. Each type of meat needs a different amount of time on the grill to be considered properly cooked and to what preference. Then you also need to consider whether the bone being in or how thick the meat is makes the time needed to cook it longer or not. Even something like the specific cut of a steak can influence whether or not a specific level of doneness is ideal for it. With all these factors you need to consider, it’s hard to make a great dinner.
That’s why you should make sure you grill to specific internal temperatures. Some meats, like chicken and pork, need to be cooked completely through while a steak’s doneness can be measured the same way. Knowing that a chicken breast should be cooked to 165 degrees fahrenheit while a medium rare steak should be at least 130 Fahrenheit at its centre can help greatly. Especially, in cases where the outside of the steak is charred and crisp.
Preheat the barbecue
Sometimes, making the perfect steak can be as simple as making sure your barbecue is already hot when you put your steaks on. In addition to starting the cooking process much earlier, it also makes sure that every steak you put on the grill is cooked at the same temperatures. Lifting the cover or lid also won’t lose any of the heat that’s built up inside it, creating a great heat for those medium-done steaks.
Get the right kinds of meat
Grilling up the perfect burger or steak can be as easy as it can be hard. Too much cooking can dry the meat out, leaving it more unappetizing. If you want a good delicious burger or steak, one way to grill it right is to pick a proper meat to fat ratio. You want enough fat to remain so that your meat is still juicy after you take it off the grill. Ideally, this should be around 80 percent meat to 30 percent fat. Since only some will drip away, the rest soaks into the meat to make them delicious.
Takeaway
There are a few simple tricks that anyone can use to make great barbecued lunches and dinners, regardless of whether you’re a seasoned pro or you’ve only grilled once before. Keeping a thermometer on hand is important, as it can tell you how cooked your meat is without the need to cut into it. Thawing your meat and preheating the grill can also shorten the time needed while making everyone happy at the end of the day.
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