Dry Rub Cooking

You can follow our proven, simple dry rub recipes to ensure your barbecue fame, then you can call it your own!

The “Cookin’ Cousins” believe that a barbecue dry rub is one of the six secrets to a great barbecue!

A Dry rub are generally used when “barbecuing” vs. “grilling”.

Barbecuing is the traditional method of roasting meat over a low temperature heat source, with hardwood smoke. Grilling uses high, smokeless heat, and renders sugar-based dry rubs ineffective! It burns. Period.

We barbecue using the indirect cooking method to attain that incredible smoked, moist, cooked to perfection result that alludes so many! The heat is kept low and the meat is cooked slow. Patience pays big dividends!

Do you want a rub with nothing more than a couple of spices, or a grand mixture of complimentary flavors? We like to keep it simple, and share these proven dry rub recipes, to ensure your backyard barbecue notoriety!

Wet or dry rub? We prefer a dry rub, as there is less mess. If you want the rub to stick better to a dryer meat, just use any good ol’ inexpensive table mustard, slathered liberally on the meat, then sprinkle plenty of dry rub all over the meat. The mustard does not impart a flavor (as it cooks out) and leaves a nice, tasty coating.

Dry Rub Recipe Secrets

You want fresh spices and herbs. Buy the freshest, best quality spices you can find. There is a huge difference between the old, been-in-the-cupboard-way-to-long, “buck-a-bottle” spices, and the better, fresh stuff (one important difference between a “tenderfoot”, and top competitors).

For example, and for award winning results, we like to use fresh ground, dry chili pods vs. “chili powder” for many of our special recipes, however, fresh chili powder works very well.

You want to grind your own spices? Why not? You can’t get any fresher than that, and hey, it’s your reputation! Use a high quality electric spice grinder like the Kuhn Rikon model, or the Kyocera ceramic mill for faster preparation. Chefs often prefer a mortar and pestle like our favorite indestructible Stone (Granite) Mortar and Pestle, for superior grinding or crushing control. We prefer to “coarse” grind spices, as this imparts more flavor during cooking.

You can use a proven ratio of ingredients, at first anyway.

Dry rub recipes, used by top competitors, often start with two basic ingredients, sugar and salt.

You then add spices at a ratio known as the 8:3:1:1 rub. It works! Like this:
8 tablespoons light brown sugar tightly packed
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme (crushed)
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
etc.

Regardless of the spices you choose to use, just maintain this ratio!

You should use darker sugars like turbinado (sugar-in-the-raw), light muscovado, dark muscovado, or high quality brown sugar. Kosher salt is much preferred for the best dry rub recipes. These are both chef’s secrets, and top BBQ competitor’s edge!

A dry rub should be absorbed for the best results, and this does not mean you need to be rub it into the meat.

Rubs are applied liberally to moist, thawed meat (preferably under the skin of fowl) for at least a couple of hours. You have maximum effect if you apply the rub 24 hours before hitting the fire. This allows the rub’s ingredients to mix with the meat’s natural juices, effectively marinading without the muss!

Wrap the meat in plastic wrap, or your favorite, non-reactive container, and put it back into the refrigerator; pull meat out about an hour prior to cooking (room temperature). No sense in wasting fuel!

You can add or subtract spices/herbs to your liking, and if you stay with just the “competitor’s ratio” for rubs, you’ll always have a winner! For more fun, experiment with adding one or more of the following:

Cumin
Oregano
Thyme
Coriander
Peppercorns (you’ll get superior results with Tellicherry Pepper, Muntok White, or a wonderful mix!)
Rosemary
Sage

And much, much more!

Sometimes when time is a factor, or we feel just a little lazy, we’ll use nothing more than lemon pepper as a rub for our birds. It’s great!

And please remember, for great dry rub recipes that will “knock their socks off”, use the highest quality, freshest ingredients!

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Indoor Grilling

With indoor grilling, you can whip up healthy grilled food no matter what the weather.

After a summer enjoying your favorite grilled foods, it’s hard to give them up, isn’t it? You can get a nice grilled flavor without the outdoors fuss with favorite the indoor grill.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve no doubt heard of at least one particular brand of indoor grill — the George Foreman grills. These two-sided electric grills have detachable, nonstick plates (top and bottom) with raised edges that make the traditional grill marks. This type of grill has been around for about 10 years, each year bringing new models and new improvements.

If you’re looking to do indoor grilling, there are basically two things you need to know: whether it makes a difference to you if the temperature is adjustable (some grills have only one heat setting), and how much grilling space you need.

Some grills have enough space to cook for four, others with enough to prepare just two servings.

There are two styles of electric grills to choose from: The open grill, on which the food is cooked from the bottom and needs to be flipped, and the contact grill, where the lid cooks the topside of the food. Here are some details about both:

1. Open Grill Style. If you get this type of indoor grill, make sure you choose one that comes with a lid (most of them do).

It gives you more indoor grilling options and keeps the smoke and steam contained.

Some examples of the open grill are the DeLonghi Alfredo Healthy Grill BG24 and the DeLonghi Perfecto Indoor Grill, the Sanyo Smokeless Indoor Grill, and the BonJour Power 1800 Reversible Grill and Griddle.

2. Contact Grill Style. Make sure the top and bottom grill pieces detach easily so you can easily wash them by hand or in the dishwasher. And here’s a bonus: a contact grill easily doubles as a panini sandwich maker. Some brands include Cuisinart Griddler GR-4, George Foreman, Hamilton Beach MealMaker Express Grill, and the Krups Universal Grill and Panini Maker.

The contact grill is particularly good at cooking:

fish fillets
steaks
pork chops
hamburgers
vegetables

Is Indoor Grilling Safer?

You may have read that outdoor grills can produce chemicals (heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) that increase your risk of certain cancers. And the smoke from burning coals and dripping fat just add to the danger.

Think about it — using an indoor electric grill eliminates the burning coals, the smoke, and the dripping fat that cause those nasty flare-ups.

Is Indoor Grilling Healthier?

Most contact grills are designed with a slant so liquids drip from the food, off the grill, and into a tray. But I’ve found that it’s mostly watery juices from the meat or vegetables I’m grilling that end up dripping off. If you start with lean meat, there will be precious little fat collecting in the tray.

And I’ve got to say if you’re grilling meat with some visible fat in an outdoor grill, the same amount of “fat” is probably going to drip off there, too. There just isn’t a tray to show you how much liquid melted off.

Indoor Grilling Recipes

Here are a handful of recipes to help you think outside the indoor grilling box. There’s a rub for pork chops, an easy rendition of an old favorite (chicken Parmesan), and a new way to cook up portabella mushrooms.

Sweet & Spicy Pork Chops

You’ll have about 5 teaspoons of the rub left over for another time. If you don’t want to use Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, use 2 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar instead.

So, what do you think; can indoor grilling be for you? YES!

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Easy Tofu

Basil Tofu

- 5 green onions, minced
- 6 or 8 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 package firm low-fat tofu, well-drained, sliced and marinated in soy sauce
- 1 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 1 teaspoon crushed chili pepper sauce (sambal oelek)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
cooked brown rice

Cook onions and garlic in water or stock or vinegar until tender. Add marinated tofu and cook another 5-10 minutes. Stir in basil, chili pepper sauce and soy sauce and heat through. Serve over brown rice.

Braised Tofu

- 1 pound tofu, firm, cubed
- assorted veggies, broccoli, carrot, mushroom…
- flowerets, zucchini

Tofu Sauce Mixture

- Tamari
- Rice Vinegar
- ginger
- garlic powder 3/4 teas.
- garlic salt 1 teas.
- Marinate tofu in sauce mixture for one hour or more (preferably longer).
Braise tofu by adding some sauce mixture in frying pan and lay pieces flat in pan and then cook.
turn over half way through.
Cook tofu until liquid is pretty much gone.
Put it all together and eat.
Yummy!

Ginger Tofu

- 1 lb of firm tofu
- 1 1/2 ts of fresh, grated ginger
- 1 t of roasted sesame oil
- 1 minced garlic clove
- 2 tb of tamari
- 1 1/4 c of water
- 1 1/2 tb of arrowroot

Slice the tofu into small rectangles of 1/4–1/2-inch thickness and place them in a shallow dish or baking pan.

Mix together the ginger, sesame oil, garlic, tamari and water.
Pour this mixture over the tofu and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes.
(If desired, the tofu may be placed in the refrigerator to marinate for several hours or overnight).

Remove the marinated tofu from the liquid, reserving the liquid to make the sauce.
Place the tofu on a well-oiled cookie sheet and bake at 375 deg for 35-40 minutes, or until the desired crispness is reached (the longer the tofu bakes the firmer and crisper it becomes).

To make the sauce, mix the arrowroot with the marinade.
Place the mixture in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.

Ginger Tofu may be served with or without the sauce.

With the sauce, serve it over a bed of rice, millet, buckwheat, or pasta.
Add your favorite stir-fried veggies and you have a colorful or nutritious meal.
Ginger Tofu may also be added to a vegetable stew.

Grilled Tofu

Serving Size : 8

- 1 lb of firm tofu
- 1/4 c of orange juice
- 2 ts of low-sodium soy sauce
- Cold and Spicy Noodles, see recipe

Tofu, once pressed, grills beautifully.

Slice the block of tofu in half, then slice each half into four thick slabs. Place a double layer of paper towels on a cutting board set over the sink. Arrange tofu in one layer on the cutting board, then top with a clean dishtowel. Place a second board on top, then a 4 to 5 pound weight, such as a thick phone book or heavy pot. Let press 20 minutes.

Uncover tofu and place in one layer in a shallow baking dish. Drizzle with orange juice and soy sauce. Marinate at room temperature 20 minutes.

Broil or grill over hot coals until lightly browned, turning once. Serve with Cold and Spicy Noodles.

Herbed Tofu In White Wine Sauce / Pasta Recipe

Serving Size: 1

- 2 T of soy margarine
- 1/2 T of flour
- 1/2 c of soy milk
- 1/2 c of white wine
- 1 Wedge of onion left in one Piece (I can’t tolerate much Onion, so I Used about a 4cm x 2cm Wedge)
- 1 d of ground cloves
- 1 d of salt
- Some water
- 1/2 lb Or so herbed tofu, cubed (about 1.5 cm cubes)
- Your favorite pasta, enough

For two servings

Melt margarine in pan and wisk in flour. Cool a bit and then wisk in wine and (soy)milk. Add onion, cloves, and salt to sauce and stir over low heat until sauce is slightly thickened. If it gets too thick, add some water. Add tofu and simmer while you cook the pasta. Serve tofu and sauce over pasta, giving the onion to the person who likes them more.

Sauteed Firm Tofu

Serving Size : 4

- 24 oz Firm tofu
- 2 tb Oil
- 1/2 ts Salt
- 1 sm Onions — sliced thin
- 6 md Mushrooms — sliced
- 1 sm Carrot — cut into matchsticks
- 2 md Peppers, bell, green -sliced thin
- 1 tb Sake
- 1 1/2 tb Soy sauce
- 1 t Ginger — grated
- 1 tb Sugar, granulated
- 1 tb water
- 1 t Cornstarch — dissolved in 3 T water

Cut tofu crosswise into pieces the shape of French-fried potatoes. Heat a wok, coat with oil & sprinkle on the salt. Add onion, then the mushrooms, stir frying each over high heat for about 30 seconds. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add carrot, green pepper & tofu in that order, sauteeing each for about 1 minute. Reduce heat to low & add sake, soy sauce, ginger, sugar & water. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in dissolved cornstarch & simmer 30 seconds for another 30 seconds. Shurtleff & Aoyagi, “The Book of Tofu”

Stir-Fried Asian Tofu

Serving Size : 4

- 8 oz firm tofu, — drained and weighted for 30 minutes
- 1/2 ts grated tangerine or lemon zest
- 2 TB orange juice
- Salt and pepper
- 2 TB hoisin sauce
- 1 TB rice wine vinegar
- 1 TB low sodium soy sauce 1/2 ts sugar
- 1 ts cornstarch
- 1 TB each vegetable and sesame oil
- 1 lg clove garlic, — minced Quarter-size piece fresh ginger, — minced
- 4 oz mushrooms, — stemmed and thinly sliced mushrooms
- 3 c 3/4-inch broccoli florets
- Salt and crushed red pepper

Cut the tofu into 3/4-inch squares and marinate in citrus zest and juice; season with salt and pepper. Combine hoisin, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch; reserve for later. In a 12-inch skillet heat vegetable and sesame oils until very hot. Add garlic and ginger and stir fry for 10 seconds. Add mushrooms and broccoli, some water, cover and steam for 2 minutes or until mushrooms and broccoli begin to get tender. Add tofu. Stir hoisin sauce to recombine cornstarch and add to skillet. Cover and simmer 30 seconds to a minute to thicken. Season with salt and crushed red pepper.

So many easy ways to fix tofu, so little time!

Yield: 2 servings

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Planning a Barbeque Clambake Party

A new popular type of barbeque is a barbeque clambake.

Barbeques are popular for events such as the 4th of July, birthday parties, receptions, and going away parties. No matter why you have decided to plan a barbeque party, the memories that will come from it are sure to stick with your guests for many years to come, provided that you plan ahead. Clambakes are typically held in a pit on the beach, but if a beach is not available, you may want to consider holding your clambake right from your grill.

1)

First, no barbeque would be complete without guests. Plan ahead of time, checking with your potential guest for scheduling conflicts and issues.

Finding a date and time that is suitable for everyone should not be to far as long as you everyone enough advanced notice. Remember that not everyone will be able to come, no matter how much notice you give them, so do not get discouraged if you do not get as many RSVPs as your originally hoped for.

2) Be sure to check the weather for that type of year. If you live in a climate that cannot be predicted, then you may want to have a backup plan just in case unusual weather comes.

You cannot predict things like rain and thunderstorms ahead of time, but you can make sure that you hold you barbeque during the time of year that will be pleasant to your guests.

A barbeque in cold weather may hold more negative memories of trying to keep warm rather then good memories of family and friends.

3) You will need to purchase the items for your clambake. The traditional items you will need is Clams still in the shell, seawater(if available), corn still in the husk, and potatoes.

Side dishes can also be bought, but are not necessary since the potatoes and corn can act as such at your barbeque.

If you feel that you need other side dishes, the simplest approach to side dishes is chips and dip. Chips and dip do not require any cooking on your part, and will still be loved by the majority of your guests.

4)

Depending on the theme of your barbeque party, you may or may not want to purchase decorations.

Festive decorations can be found at any local party or general store. You may also consider purchasing decorations that can be stored and reused at a different time, such as reusable tablecloths and Tiki torches. Give your clambake a beach theme by adding tropical music and you may even consider adding some sand.

5) The day before you party, you will want to make sure to thaw, prepare, and marinate the meat you will be cooking. Store the meat stored away, soaking up the marinate until it is time for it to go on the grill. Prepare any side dishes that you can ahead of time.

6)

The day of the barbeque, get up early and start preparing for it.

You do not want your guest arriving while you are still cooking or hanging decorations. It should only take you a few hours at most to prepare the area in which you will be having the party, but the reactions from your guest will probably seem as if you have been planning this for weeks.

Place your clambake on the grill, layering your already cooked potatoes, corn still in the husk, and your clams on the barbeque grill.

Then grill these until the corn and clams are complete.

Depending on the time in which your guests arrive, you may want to include you guests in the actual cooking of the clambake.

Enjoying a few drinks around the pit or stove will not only give you time to gather and converse, but will also make your guests hungry, as they smell the wonderful aroma coming from the steaming or boiling vegetables and clams on the barbeque..

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Barbeque Grill Maintenance Tips

When purchasing your barbeque grill, think of it as an investment rather then just another item for your outdoor entertainment.

You should expect this item to become a large part of your outdoor activities for many years to come. But like any other investments, proper maintenance and care is needed to ensure that your barbeque grill will work for you for many years to come. While some maintenance and cleaning is specific to the type of barbeque grill your own (gas, electric, charcoal or smoke barbecue grill), the majority of maintenance that should be carried on does not change from grill to grill.

Step 1- Gathering The Necessary Items

You will need some common household items on hand when it comes time to clean your barbeque grill.

Brass wire grill brush
Steel wool pads, preferably that contains soap already.
Mild dish soap
Sponge or dishcloth
Spray cooking oil
Dry baking soda
Aluminum foil

Step 2- Brushing Your Barbeque Grill Off

The first thing that should always be done to your grill is a routine brushing. Using your brass wire grill brush (or other brush suitable to your type of grill) you should brush off all the surfaces. By routinely brushing your barbeque grill, you will prevent any type of buildup. If buildup from food is left to long, it can become increasingly difficult to remove.

Step 3- Spray Cooking Oil

Once you are sure that your barbeque grill is free of all buildup and debris, and that your grill is completely cooled off, you will want to spray it down with a light layer of cooking oil.

Spraying it down with cooking oil will prevent your barbeque grill from rusting. It is especially important to make sure your barbeque grill is completely cold, as spraying cooking oil on a hot surface may cause the oil to heat up and ignite, which could be potentially dangerous to you and your barbeque grill.

Step 4- Use Baking Soda and Aluminum Foil on Your Barbeque Grill

Baking soda is a very nice cleaning and polishing agent. Once you have removed any extra debris and buildup, lightly scrubbing your barbeque grill with baking soda will give it that extra shine, similar to the day that you brought it home from the store. This can also be used on handles and knobs to remove any extra buildup that cannot be taken off with a wire brush.

Aluminum foil can also be used to keep your grill looking nice. Gently rub the aluminum foil on your grill, and you will notice that it removes grim and buildup.

Step 5- Clean Your Racks

The racks in your barbeque grill are especially important as this is where the food touches when it is cooking.

You will have to use the wire brush to remove as much buildup as possible. Once you remove as much as possible, start washing the racks with dish soap. If the racks are really dirty, you may also want to use the steel wool pads. Be sure to completely rinse off all soap and residue before cooking on these racks again.

Step 6- Preventing Problems

The majority of problems that arise from barbeque grills comes from lack of cleaning and maintenance.

That means if you notice something does not seem quite right with your barbeque grill, chances are it can be fixed with just a simple cleaning. Even if you clean it, and still find that it is having problems, at least you saved yourself the potential embarrassment of taking it to a professional only to find out all it needed was to be cleaned.

Finally, one method of preventing problems with your barbeque grill is protecting it from the outdoors.

Covers are available for grills in all shapes and sizes, so chances are, you will find one that fits your grill.

If you have a cover for your barbeque grill, then all you will ever need to do is do the regular maintenance listed above.

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Low Carb Cooking

Around the world people are paying more attention to their bodies and their health than perhaps at any other time in history.

One method that has shown great success in helping people quickly drop those unwanted pounds is through low carb cooking and dieting.

This method of weight loss seems to have taken the world by storm promising quick results for the simple (or not so simple) lifestyle change of eliminating as many carbohydrates as possible from our diets.

The notion sounds simple on one hand and is appealing to not only women hoping to drop those vanity pounds but also men who welcome the idea of eating all the steaks they can handle throughout the year.

Low carb cooking is becoming a way of life for many families as a result though the idea of this particular lifestyle change and the reality of it do on occasion seriously collide with one another.

If you are interested in dropping those unwanted pounds and keeping them off, this is a doubt that without a doubt gets results. The problem is that you must stick to the diet in order for the results to remain consistent even after you’ve met your weight loss goals. This means that you are not really embarking on a diet so much as a complete overhaul in the way you eat.

The excellent thing about low carb cooking is that it is so widely popular.

This means that you will have no trouble finding resources, tips, tricks, advice, and even amazing substitutes for those things you often miss most when engaging in the low carb lifestyle. Popular stores such as Whole Foods and Trader Joes are great places to go for specific foods that are low carb in nature and designed to meet the chocolate or breading needs of those who feel more than slightly deprived by the rigorous restrictions of a low carb lifestyle.

Many mainstream grocery stores are also beginning to see the value of catering to this ‘high end’ market of consumers and offering a wider variety of low carb friendly foods to consumers.

You can find recipes that are low in carbs by the mouthful at your local libraries and bookstores around the world. You can also find many resources on the Internet to help assist and encourage you in your low carb lifestyle incorporation. In addition to the cookbooks, recipes, and encouragement you also need to weed out the fact from the fiction when it comes to low carb cooking. The best way to do this is to go straight to the source. If you are going to incorporate this lifestyle altering diet into your way of life, you want to make sure that you are following it to the letter and not some knock off version that may not be as effective.

When it comes to low carb cooking you have the perfect excuse to use your grill well and use your grill often.

In fact, I highly recommend a George Foreman grill (or some similar knock off) for your home for those days when grilling outside simply isn’t an option. Around our house, those are the days when the snow reaches the bottom of the grill but we are the exception rather than the rule.

Most importantly about low carb cooking you should keep your goal in mind.

If you aren’t making progress, check what you are doing and adjust your cooking and eating accordingly.

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Have a Labor Day Picnic

Even if you are having a Labor Day picnic in an area with tables, bring a blanket along.

You can use it to relax on the grass or in case children want to lie down for a quick nap.

Host friendly competitions or games for the people attending the picnic. Get creative and use the environment around you, or simply bring lawn games, a football or a flying disc to play with. If there are children invited to the picnic, remember to bring something for them to do or have the picnic in a place with a nearby playground.

Sign up for a Labor Day marathon

.Before you chow down on hot dogs and hamburgers, work up an appetite. Cities and towns often organize holiday marathons. Participate in a half-marathon if you aren’t ready to run the full 26 miles. Ask a friend to go with you for a more enjoyable experience.

Labor Day marks the passing of summer, a break from work and, traditionally, the last day of the season to fashionably wear white.

The United States’ first Labor Day parade was held in New York City, according to The Library of Congress. About 10,000 workers participated, after which they enjoyed a picnic and music with their families. Choose relaxing or active Labor Day weekend ideas, depending on your preferences.

Attend a Labor Day parade if you prefer a spectator sport.

Cities and towns often organize Labor Day parades. Bring lawn chairs, bottled water and your kids. Parades usually are free, and often offer live music, dancing and creative floats. Look for parades that end at a festival that offers food, music and children’s activities.

Scatter glass jars of varying sizes on the table and fill them with different candies such as peppermints and jelly beans.

Those who come to your Labor Day picnic can participate in a contest to guess how many candies are in each jar.

The person who guesses the number or comes closest to guessing the number can take the jar of candy home with him.

Labor Day is a federal holiday that we celebrate on the first Monday in September every year.

Many Americans spend the day at picnics and outdoor celebrations, but the day is meant to serve as a “tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor website. Decorate a table—called a “tablescape—in honor of Labor Day by incorporating unique items, foods and inexpensive decorations.

Honor the wide variety of work that Americans do to make the country prosper by placing “labor” objects on the table. Some ideas include toy dump trucks, a stethoscope, a police badge, a firefighter’s hat and any other object representing the professions of those in your family and circle of friends. You can scatter these objects among the food items and craft activities on your table to create a fluid theme related to labor.

Here’s hoping you have a great picnic on Labor Day!

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When to Use High Heat on Your Barbecue

Its a mystery how some people who seem to have the knack to barbecue always seem to get everything exactly spot on and not like the rest of us who end up burning the sausages.

Believe it or not, there is technique involved other than just using the force.

One of the main secrets to knowing how to cook a mouth watering meal on your barbecue is knowing when to use high and low heat.

When it comes to barbecuing you could have heard cooks refer to “sealing in the juices” and you may have even tried to attempt this technique yourself, but as with everything if you do not know what you are doing then you are doomed to fail. If you watch the way the best cooks do a barbecue they cook their veg and steaks on a high heat to sear the outside before slow cooking this is a very effective method of sealing in the juices

This method should be used to barbecue foods that are to be partly cooked through such as a medium rare steak.

However if you are cooking food like ribs or burgers that have to be cooked right the way through it is advisable you use a low heat to prevent any sort food poisoning.

This is better explained when it is better understood how the process actually works, as the meat is heated, the cells and the fibers of the meat tense up, squeezing out much of the juices. So if you only want to lightly cook the meat then searing it will help to seal in the juices by quickly cooking the outside. But be careful not to cook on a high heat for to long, or the inner layers will cook too quickly, vaporizing all of your precious and tasty juices.

When you are using high heat to barbecue, the rule of thumb is to cook on each side for a maximum of five minutes each side.

After ten minutes, anything that you’re cooking should be moved aside to a medium heat so that it can finish cooking at that lower temperature.

Remember, when it comes to high heat barbecue , practice makes perfect, and the perfect is well worth the practice!

Barbecue Tips For Better Taste

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 barbecue 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.

Add Elegance To Grilling

Add instant sophistication to a casual atmosphere with these entertaining and grilling tips guaranteed to impress every guest.

Whether it’s a small gathering of family members or an invitation extended to friends and neighbors, entertaining can take on a delightfully casual approach when it’s done outdoors.

Be Courteous to Your Guests
Be sure to note any food restrictions or allergies and prepare alternate options.
Prepare ahead. Cut meats and vegetables, set the table, and toss the salad before the guests arrive. This will give you more time to relax and enjoy your company.
Create an Ambiance
White dinnerware always looks appropriate and pairs nicely with casual double-duty prep and serving pieces, such as rustic wood cutting boards for an outdoor meal.
Add instant elegance to your casual get-together with flowers. Just trim a few stems from the garden and arrange them in glasses or bowls.
Offer a few different bottles of wine at the table for a great conversation starter. The best wines to serve are ones that pair well with all types of food and do not require additional aging once purchased. For example, Rioja, one of Spain’s oldest and most renowned wines, includes reds, whites and rose at all price ranges, aged to be ready to drink at purchase and complement meat, fish and vegetables.
Efficiency Is Key

To speed up grilling time, partially precook chicken, red meat, potatoes, carrots and other slow-cooking food in the oven or microwave.

When grilling, if you need more than one cooking temperature, mound some coals on one side to create a hot section and spread coals out on the other side for a cooler section.
Grill Smart
When grilling food on skewers, cut pieces into chunks that are too large to fall through the grate. Or for easy cleanup, consider using foil packets to grill onion rings, slices of zucchini and squash or even pineapple rings.
When basting, use two brushes -one green and one red. Use the green brush to baste raw meat. Once the meat has begun to cook, switch to the red brush to continue the process.

This will help to avoid contamination when grilling meats.