BBQ Tips on Cooking

Seems like hardly a day goes by that someone doesn’t ask me, “Hey, you got any BBQ tips?” Well, I guess everyone could use some tips on cooking from time to time and of course barbecuing is no exception, which is why I put together this list of my top BBQ tips on cooking. Below is a list of my favorite tips and answers to commonly asked questions about barbecuing.

• Keep a water spray bottle filled with water handy in case you suddenly find your grill is too hot.
• Always clean your grill after use, including the inside of the lid!
• Never put anything on the grill before it has had a chance to get hot.
• Lightly coat the cooking grate with vegetable oil before a BBQ help prevent sticking.
• Try using an instant read thermometer instead of a standard one when checking if your meat is done.
• Use the breather at the top of the grill to keep the grill from getting too hot (or too cold).
• Don’t be afraid to experiment! (See the next BBQ tip)
• When experimenting, try making just a few pieces with the new recipe and make the rest the “normal” way.
• When using starter fluid, allow the fluid to soak into the briquettes for a couple of minutes before lighting it. This will help prevent it from burning too hot too fast.
• When using starter fluid, allow enough time for the fluid to burn away completely. Nothing is worse than “kerosene chicken”.
• Seems obvious but you’d be surprised at how many people don’t keep an extra tank of propane around for their gas grill. Always have a backup!
• If you find that your food taste too smoky, baste them more often. The layer of moisture will prevent much of the smoky flavor from penetrating the meat.
• Likewise, if you find your meat isn’t smoky enough, try basting a little less often.
• Don't use the same plate for the cooked meat that you used for the uncooked meat unless of course you washed it in between.
• Be especially careful with basting sauces that contain cooking oil, grease or butter. A bit too much can cause the grill to flare up and burn the meat.
• Light the grill up to 30 minutes in advance. The charcoal is not really ready for cooking until it is about 70% ash.
• Get your hands on some aromatic wood chips like mesquite or hickory.  They add a new dimension to the flavor without adding any extra calories.
• Never remove the skin from chicken before cooking it. Without it, your chicken will just dry out. (You can always remove it later.)
• Ideally, homemade hamburgers should only need to be flipped once. Cook it 60% done on one side them flip over and cook it the rest of the way. The more you flip them the greater the chance that they will break apart or become dried out.
• When barbequing chicken the exact opposite is true. Flip it often to prevent blistering.
• Don’t be afraid to remove everything from the grill if there is a big flare up. It’s better to get the flare up under control first than to have burnt burgers.
• If the grill gets too cold near the end of cooking, push the coals all together to create a hotspot.
• As a general rule of thumb, the bigger the piece of meat you are barbecuing the lower the heat should be.
• To cook a medium rare steak, the grill needs to be hotter than you would normally have it.
• To cook a well done steak, the grill needs to the slightly cooler than you would normally have it.



• Prevent over-browning by waiting to apply sugar based sauces until the meat it nearly done. Apply it once during the final 10 or 15 minutes.
• To speed things up, you can microwave chicken for a few minutes before tossing on the grill.
• For safety reasons, never store two different types of raw meat in the same container.
• Only use a microwave to unthaw food if you plan to place it immediately on the grill afterwards.
• Ideally, all foods that need to be unthawed should be done in the refrigerator.
• Keep meats hot before serving by setting a metal pan with a lid on the edge of the grill and placing the cooked meat inside.  (Careful that it doesn’t get too hot!)
• When saving leftovers, always allow the meat to cool down completely before covering it and placing it in the refrigerator.
• On hot summer days, even cooked meat should not be left out for more than an hour. (Covering it up will only help a little bit.)
• Never store raw meat in the same cooler as drinks.
  
  If you looking for more advice, check out these articles:
  Meat Doneness and Meat Safety
  Gas or Charcoal Grills?

A Quick BBQ Fact:

Did you know there are six different ways to spell barbecue in the english language? BBQ, Bar-BQ, Bar-B-Cue, Bar-B-Que, Barbeque and Barbecue. That's a lot of BBQs!

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