Thursday, April 30, 2015

#BeginnersGuideToBBQ - Part 1

As Spring has really come upon us in NY, everyone has started to think about BBQ and what they can bring outside. The interesting part is that many people are questioning what and how they have been doing it up until now, and are now asking what they could do to make their BBQs better. With that, I give you a Beginner's Guide to BBQ, or also known as, How To Make Sure Everything Is Better Grilled #EIBG.

1: The Grill

Before we can discuss what you grill and how you grill it, we need to talk about what you grill on. My personal choice and recommendation is a charcoal grill. The charcoal grill you choose should be able to support proper air flow so that you will be able to smoke and do direct grilling.

My recommendation, and the grill I use is the Weber One Touch Gold 22". I have had this grill for 8 years and the only modification I have made is adding a thermometer to monitor internal temperature. Since then Weber has modified their charcoal product line and now offers a temperature gauge on their 22" charcoal grills.



Propane grills also work, but make sure it has multiple burners for direct and indirect cooking and is versatile enough to support rotisseries and side burners. I personally prefer a charcoal grill over propane as it gives you more cooking options when you close the lid and want to keep the smoke/heat internal. Propane grill as made to be very airy to reduce the risk of propane/gas buildup inside the grill when the lid is closed.

2: The Fuel

There are two types of charcoal that can be used: Lump Charcoal and Briquettes Charcoal. There is no right answer here because you can ask different BBQ purists what they use and they will defend either one. Purists will swear by Lump Charcoal because it is after all the natural by product of how charcoal is made. It leaves very little ash, gets hotter than briquettes, and will add flavor to anything you grill. Unfortunately with Lump Charcoal you get inconsistent sizes in the bags you get and therefore inconsistent times on how long your BBQ will last. Briquettes are made for consistent burns and long lasting BBQs. The problem is that what goes into the Briquettes to make them are concerning. Therefore I am very picky about what briquettes I use and when I use lump charcoal. When it comes to briquettes, I only use Kingsford Competition Briquettes or Trader Joes Charcoal (absolutely NO match light charcoal!!)

Charcoal Briquettes

My general rule:

Lump Charcoal: quick and fast cooking (Burgers, off the bone chicken, steaks, hotdogs)
Briquettes:  

Charcoal Briquettes: longer cooking times (chicken on bone and smoking).

The other reason why I like charcoal is because it is a reusable fuel. When it comes to propane, what you light is what you use. When it comes to charcoal, when you are done with your BBQ, close the vents, and whatever charcoal is left, can be used for your next BBQ by brushing off the ash and pouring lit charcoal on top of it to relight it. Almost every BBQ I do, I always have some charcoal left over from the previous BBQ which reduces how much charcoal I need to reuse.



3: Lighting The Fuel

The only way that I will light charcoal is using a chimney. The reason that I do not use lighter fluid is that it tends to leave a residue that will turn to vapor and go into the food that you are cooking which leaves a dangerous taste that you do not want to ingest. A charcoal chimney is used by placing newspaper on the bottom which lights the charcoal on top. When the bottom layer lights, it then lights the next layer until ultimately all your charcoal is lit and ready to go.


You will know that it is ready to pour when the charcoal turns white


On Part 2, we will discuss direct vs indirect cooking

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Every now and then, all I want is a good #burger

With so many options to grill and BBQ, sometimes I just want a good hamburger done medium rare on charcoal. Usually this also means that hot dogs are in the mix as my kids weigh in on every BBQ that I do. Recently I notice them also asking a lot, 'what else are you making?', like BBQ isn't enough. Needless to say, when it comes to burgers and hot dogs, they are included in #EverythingIsBetterGrilled


With the burgers, I did caramelized onions and a homemade horseradish sauce with Crusty Roasted Yellow Potatoes. The potatoes I served with a siracha dipping sauce (not shown).


#pitmaster practice

Last weekend I was asked to help 'advise' on a BBQ my local congregation was doing as part of a membership drive. I say 'advise' because as soon as I heard they were using lighter fluid, I had to step in to protect BBQ for everyone ;-)

Before I left, to go to the synagogue to help, I threw some beef ribs on the Weber Smokey Mountain with some cherry and pecan wood to start cooking. 


I was initially asked to just get the BBQ started, as someone else would come and handle the grilling. However, as the BBQ started, and my relief not showing, I got into full #pitmaster mode.

As the chimneys were going in the corner, it also turned into a massive BBQ clinic as people asked many questions about direct versus indirect heat, charcoal versus propane, and using a chimney versus using lighter fluid. There were even questions on what is the best way to grill a hot dog and a hamburger.




When all was said and done, I had grilled 170 hamburgers and 300 hot dogs for over 200 people using 3 grills and close to 50 pounds of Kingsford Charcoal.

When I came home 3 hours later, my ribs were ready to be wrapped and sauced and the chicken was ready to go on to smoke for the next 2.5 hours.


As the sun, began to set and my daughter's were showered and ready for bed, this Sunday BBQ was ready to go with a cold beer.


I learned something interesting that night, that when you are the pitmaster manning 3 grills, you really don't stop to eat. You are there to BBQ and server, but when you come later that night, you will be starving!!! Thankfully I had a little BBQ at home to take care of that.

Monday, April 27, 2015

The high heat smoke

Lets be honest, like everything in life, with the good, comes the bad. When it comes to BBQ and smoking chicken, while you get great flavor and juiciness in the chicken, you also get rubbery skin. Also, you may not have 3 hours before dinner to smoke your chicken. That's when the high heat method comes into play.

First start by cleaning your chicken and adding your favorite dry rub and a little olive oil to help emulsify the spices. In this instance I used dark meat as you can cook it for longer periods and at higher temperatures.I let this marinate while I cleaned the grill and started the chimney.


 For this cook, I used about 3/4 of a chimney of charcoal


Once I seared the chicken on both sides, I moved it onto the indirect side and dropped a piece of hickory to smoke the chicken over the hour it took to cook.


Once finished, there was a light smoke flavor, but crispy skin!!!!!

Try this method out and let me know how you like it.