Nothing spells summer fun like a fresh and delicious meal off of your outdoor grill. Whether it be gas or charcoal, these staples of outdoor cooking produce memorable, delectable, and satisfying meals for yourself, your family, and all of your friends to enjoy.
If you haven’t gotten yourself a feature-filled grill yet, you’re missing out on a lot. So take a peek at some of the amazing grill options at Outdoor Cooking Pros, and we’re pretty sure you’ll be purchasing one soon. It’s time to take your grilling to the next level, and we’ll help you with that.
We’ll be sharing grilling tips and ideas to make your outdoor grilling experience fun, successful, and a piece of cake… I mean steak!
Utensils
To be proficient at any art you must have the proper tools. Here are my basic four utensils that will give you the tools for a job well done.
- Metal wired grill brush
- Metal tongs
- Metal spatula
- Lightly saturated towel (with vegetable oil)
The metal wired grill brush is used to clean off the particles of food that stick to the grill while cooking. Just clean in one direction, going from the bottom of the grill to the top, away from yourself so as not to get particles in your eyes. Metal tongs are used to move the food on your grill around to different heat zones for proper temperatures, to flip the meat, and to make aesthetically pleasing diamond grill marks. A metal spatula is used to move the more delicate food items such as fish, burgers, veggie burgers, and some vegetables, like tomatoes. Use the vegetable oil-saturated towel for seasoning your grill.
Cleaning and Seasoning Your Grill
Seasoning your grill is a must. If you put meat on a hot unseasoned grill, it will stick to the surface making a huge mess, sometimes pulling the meat apart and ruining your well-planned meal. Lightly saturate a small hand towel in vegetable oil, then turn your grill on medium-high and close the lid.
When the grill is hot, take your metal tongs and grab your saturated towel. Rub the towel over the entire cooking surface then close the top letting the oil cook into your grill for about a minute. Open the lid again and repeat that process.
Season it again with the vegetable oil right before you put on whatever product you are grilling for a clean and efficient cooking process. Some particles of food will be left behind regardless of how well your surface is seasoned, so use your wire grill brush frequently, and always season again before putting on more food.
Heat Management
It is extremely easy to overcook or burn your product if you don’t keep your heat under control. Make half of your grill surface about medium heat, and the other half about medium-high. Steaks and other meats you want well done, cook on your hotter side, and the less well done and more delicate the product, cook on your cooler side.
Aluminum Foil
Aluminum foil works amazingly for those food items that are more delicate, fragile, and fall apart easily. Wrap your cooking surface in aluminum foil before you turn your grill on and season with vegetable oil just like you do on your regular cooking surface. Flip and move your delicate product around the grill with your metal spatula to keep it from falling apart.
Covering
If you put the top of your grill down it is easy to overcook or burn the food. For meat items that are cooked medium well or well done, close the top until they are to the desired temperature. If the product is medium or medium-rare, only close the top for a minute at a time so as not to overcook. If the meat is rare, don’t even close the top, just cook it for about a minute and a half on each side and serve.
I hope you find these tips useful for your outdoor cooking experience. Happy Grilling!
Ten Unique Ways to Use Your Outdoor Grill
Hot dogs, hamburgers, and steaks taste wonderful when cooked on an outdoor grill, but they can get a little boring. So what do you do with your outdoor grill after you’ve gotten tired of all these classic grilled foods? Why you follow these tips, of course, and use your outdoor grill in ten new ways.
1. Cook a Whole Chicken
Did you know that you can use your outdoor grill to cook a whole chicken? It’s true. This allows you to enjoy the wonderful taste of a roasted chicken, without heating up your entire home. There are several wonderful recipes available online and don’t forget you can adapt Beer in the Rear Chicken recipes and use fruit juice and pop instead of beer.
2. Clear Up Oven Space at the Holidays
If you live in a warm climate, why not cook your turkey or ham on your outdoor grill? This is a wonderful way to use your outdoor grill, because it allows you to cook more food in your oven, without having to cook all day long.
3. Make Pizza
Yes, you really can use your outdoor grill to make pizza. The key is to place the pizza dough on the grill and allow it to cook for several minutes on one side, then flip, and add your toppings. Close the grill lid and allow the cheese to melt and the toppings to cook. You’ll have a delicious, homemade pizza in no time.
4. Keep Your Kitchen Cool
Summer is the worst time to cook indoors. The entire house gets filled with unbearable heat, causing you to crank up the air conditioner and increase your electricity bill. Luckily, you can keep your home cool by using your outdoor grill to prepare delicious meals. You can also make an outdoor kitchen, that will be perfect for cooking and grilling during hot summer days. TheSmokerGrill made an ultimate list of the best grills you can use in your yard kitchen, that can help you save time when thinking about how to organize your outdoor cooking space.
5. Make Dessert
Many people forget that you can use your outdoor grill to make dessert. One of the best desserts prepared on an outdoor grill is grilled fruit. Simply place on pineapple or stone fruits, such as peaches, and grill until the sugars in the fruit caramelize. Then top with frozen yogurt and enjoy.
6. For Leaner Meats
Cooking on your outdoor grill really is healthy. An outdoor grill will allow fat to drip away from the meats you are cooking so that you are left with a leaner cut of meat. You must be aware that cooking meats with too much fat will cause flare-ups that may cause your food to burn.
7. For Parties
The perfect summer party revolves around a barbeque. This summer use your outdoor grill to throw the ultimate party. You can either stick to the old standbys or you could have a more gourmet barbeque including items like grilled goat cheese pizza and chicken burgers.
8. For Great Flavor
There’s one thing you’ll get from your outdoor grill, which you’ll never get from your stovetop, and that’s a smoky flavor. The smoky taste of grilled foods is what makes summer, summer. Just think back to your childhood, wasn’t a hot dog cooked on the grill better than the ones that came from the microwave?
9. Easy Cleanup
One of the best things about cooking on an outdoor grill is the fact that the cleanup is really easy. Plus if you serve your grilled food on paper plates, the cleanup will be even easier. Do you really need a better use than this one?
10. For Large Meals
Well, just in case you do need another use for your outdoor grill, remember that it’s great for large meals. With a large propane grill, you can cook your dessert, vegetables, meat, and heat up your bread all at once.
