Barbecues are popular events in the summertime, especially in the U.S. where this type of cooking is an established tradition. Eating a sumptuous meal of grilled food, cooked and served outdoors, is a relaxing and enjoyable experience that can be as formal or informal as you want. Whether you are at home or on vacation, barbecues are an excellent way to entertain children during the long summer holidays when the climate is dry and warm.
The tips below will help you to organize successful summer barbecues. Reading them before you plan your next barbecue will help to make it as perfect as possible.
Grilling Pointers
1. Before lighting up your barbecue, make certain that it is completely clean. Although many of us know we should clean our grills after each use, we don’t always do so. This can greatly affect the taste of the food you serve – especially if you are cooking hamburger on a rack that still has traces of fish, for instance. As long as it is done regularly, cleaning a barbecue is easy. Once the grill has cooled down, brush the surfaces and clean the grilling racks using dishwasher liquid. If it’s been a while since the last cleaning and your grill has some hard to remove food particles on it, use dry baking soda and steel wool pads.
2. To prevent meat from sticking to your grill rack when you turn it over, remember to spray the racks with nonstick cooking pray. This will also prevent meat from drying out (tearing results in the meat losing its juices).
3. Make sure you adjust the temperature of your grill according to the type of meat you are cooking, and always wait until the racks are at the right temperature before you put the meat on the grill. For charcoal grills, make sure the coals are all gray and that the lighter fluid has burnt off. Placing meat on a cold grill means cooking it longer than you should; it will be dry and may even burn.
4. Carefully consider the ingredients of any marinates you use for barbecue meats. Almost all store-bought barbecue sauces have a high fat and sugar content, which means they burn fast. By letting your meat marinade for hours in barbecue sauce, you run the risk of drying it out. Add barbecue sauce to the meat after you grill it. This will avoid over-drying it, and you will still get the flavor you desire. Remember also that barbecued meat has a wonderful natural flavor that you may actually be covering up with marinates and barbecue sauces. Adding light seasonings of your choice, such as salt, ground black pepper and ground rosemary, to the meat immediately before placing it on the grill will not disguise its natural flavor.
5. To cook perfect, juicy steaks, sear the meat for a minute or two on both sides and then lower the temperature to medium so your steaks don’t become tough and dry. The initial searing will keep the meat juices from escaping and your steaks will be tender and tasty.
6. Avoid using forks to turn over the meat on the grill. Use tongs instead. Fork holes in cooking meat result in meat juices leaking out unto the grill base; the meat will be dry and tough, the juices will accumulate on the grill making it harder to clean and may even damage your barbecue grill.
7. Some people tend to be a little lax about hygiene and health when they barbecue. It’s essential to remember that the same rules apply when you cook meat outdoors as when you cook it indoors; never use the same utensils for raw and cooked meat (unless you wash them in hot water and soap first), and never put cooked meat on the same dish you used for the raw meat.
