Archive for the ‘Barbecue’ Category
We all know that for some reason there are a lot of people that volunteer to be responsible for the grilling and barbecue at every event that has this option, and many times the barbecue is destroyed for a wide variety of reasons, the fire was too strong, the wind increased the fire, the meat was not right etc.
To know how to grill successfully is not about being an expert at all kind of meat grilling and fire building, it is simply keeping some very basic rules to the way you use the grill and some advice regarding the fire. Control of the fire is a basic rule you must keep if you want a better chance of eating a nicely grilled meat, and if fact it is the most difficult to keep, you need to be slow and conscience of what you are doing.
Most people discover that grilling takes much longer than they thought it would, this brings a lot of problems to the barbecue table, the person in charge of the barbecue gets hungry, people come to visit the grill and offer a lot of advice and tips and some people just visit to see how it is doing, because they start getting hungry. The best thing to do is know your plan, find out the time that the meat is expected to be ready, and start the fire 20 minutes ahead of time since increasing the fire is not a problem, but decreasing it might be a very big problem.
Have a little something to eat before you start, or throughout the cooking to keep you focused on the quality and not the time it take to cook, take the meat out from anything that keeps it cool about 30 minutes before you will load it on the grill, this will help the meat to cook ideally.
In most cases you would want the barbecue not to have any fire but only heat and at that point you need to decide if its warm enough, or needs more heat. To increase the heat you can simply blow into the fire or use something you can wave to make it grow, if you want to decrease the fire you can use a small amount of water to kill some extra warm places and reduce the heat, do not use a lot of water because if you do you run a very good chance of killing the fire altogether. If you are unsure about the heat you can place a small piece of meat and wait 10 minutes to see the effect.
Take the fat off the meat before you cook it, the fat can increase the fire when it starts to drip into the barbecue, and in some cases, if the fire is too strong it can result in the meat actually catching fire which is a catastrophe for the person who is about to eat that piece of meat. In any case, when cooking some kind of meat you never had cooked before you should always test the fire before you introduce all the meat to the grill, so start the grill ahead of time, test the meat for about 15 minutes and see if it’s the right heat for it.
Barbequing can be a risky business. You invite your friends and family over for some home-cooked goodness — but how do you know your barbecue is going to turn out good? What if it’s not as good as the last time you made it?
Even for seasoned Barbecue vets, getting your meat consistently good is something that can be more than a little tricky. Well I’m here to tell you that it’s totally doable, and here are eleven tips that will help:
1. Purchase ribs that are evenly covered in meat. In other words, don’t buy a slab that is fatty on one end and fleshy on the other. Avoid slabs that have exposed bones!
2. Allow for one pound of ribs per guest. This is a generous helping but for more impressive appetites, make it two!
3. When preparing the meat, make sure you remove the membrane on the underside of the ribs with a sharp knife. If you don’t it blocks the flavor intake.
4. Always marinate your ribs in the refrigerator, not at room temperature.
5. Don’t even think about boiling those ribs! Above all else, boiling the meat causes it to lose all its flavor. If you just have to pre-cook your ribs before slapping them on the cooking grate, try steaming your slabs instead as this will help lock the flavor in.
6. Before placing your ribs on the grate for Barbecuing or smoking, make sure you coat the metal with a generous helping of oil.
7. Barbecuing demands constant attention! As soon as it goes on your grate, stay close by and keep an eye on it. Watch the cooking temperature and avoid going above 250 degrees Fahrenheit — the best ribs are cooked slowly over indirect heat for about five hours.
8. Put down that fork! Always use tongs to handle your meat once it’s on the grate. Why pierce the meat and let the flavor ooze out if you don’t have to?
9. If you’re going to baste during cooking stay away from anything with sugar in it. Your best bet is to use vinegar and/or water-based products only.
10. Only lay on the BBQ sauce in the last 20-30 minutes of cooking. Any sooner than that and the heat will cause the sauce to caramelize and burn your meat.
11. Let the ribs cool for 10-15 minutes before you serve them up. This is just a courtesy — you don’t want to singe your guests’ mouths with smoking hot sauce! You could lose some friends.
Now the only thing left to do is to go out and implement these tips. Happy barbecuing!!
Its almost like a tradition but in the spring time of every year people in America blow the dust of there barbecue sets and start to bulk buy all their meats. But how much do we really know about barbecuing?
1) Barbecues originated in pig-pickin’s, before the civil war it was common to throw parties and elaborate meals outside, they would roast an entire pig on an open flame.
2) “Smoking” has been used for over 6 millenia to safely cook and store food. The meat was treated to bellows of smoke and low heat this was done to prevent any bacteria cultivating.
3) Barbecuing is not that common, well not barbecuing as we no it barbecuing is a length cooking experience that cooks at a temperatures similar to boiling water in order to tenderize the meat while preserving the juices. Today the method most commonly used is in fact broiling, cooking at in much less time and a far higher temperature, about 300 degrees higher.
4) According to surveys done by the Barbecue Industry Association, half of all marshmallows consumed in the U.S. have been flame roasted.
5) One of the insanely easy ways to check your gas tank level, use bathroom scales.
6) The origin of the word barbecue is unclear. Some believe it came from the American-Indian word barbacoa for a wood on which foods were cooked.
7) To add a Smokey flavor to food cooked on a gas grill cooked or food that you cook inside the house, use “liquid Smoke.” Liquid Smoke is a condensation of actual smoke, this product is simply added to any barbecue.
Brisket, this incredibly dense cut of meat taken from a cow’s chest, cooks in 1 to 2 hours per pound on a barbecue. This works out at an average of 12 hours cooking time on the grill for a basic 8 pound piece!
9) Kansas City, Missouri and Lexington, North Carolina both claim to be the barbecue capitals of the world. Memphis, meanwhile, stakes a claim to being the pork barbecue capital.
