Miss Essies BBQ Grilling Tips
Grilling the perfect food requires more than just cooking it over a flame, follow these simple tips and you should get fantastic results.
- Food handling is a very important start to a successful meal. Be sure you prepare as many of the ingredients as you can before you begin grilling, grills tend to cook fast.
- Do not let raw meat or fish come in contact with others foods to avoid cross contamination. Use separate cutting boards, utensils etc.
- Boil marinades that you will be using as a basting sauce or to pass at the table for at least 3 minutes.
- Do not carve cooked items on the same cutting board you used to cut raw foods.
- Know the difference and when to use indirect and direct heat. The main difference comes down to time and temperature.
- Direct heat means you are grilling your food directly over the heat source, on high heat. This method works great for grilling thin cuts of meat or vegetables.
- Indirect heat is used for larger pieces of meat as it is cooked off the heat for longer periods. If using a gas grill, this means using the outside burners only and placing the food in the center. For charcoal grills, push charcoals to the either side, use center for cooking.
- Preheat your grill. This may seem obvious, but you want to start with an accurate temperature so you know what you are working with. This will help you gauge the time it will take to get your desired doneness. That said, always use a thermometer to test foods for accurate doneness. Be sure to insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the meet, away from the bone, to measure the internal temp.
Source: USDA.gov