Top Tips for a Great Grilling Season
Unofficially, summer has started. School’s out. This means grilling season is here! Are you ready?
If you’re struggling to get your food cooked just right, we’ve got some tips for you here.
Let’s get to it! Here are our top tips for a great grilling season:
General Tips
- Spray your grill rack with a thin coating of vegetable oil before grilling for easy clean-up!
- Always marinate your meat.
- Always flip your food with tongs.
- Apply barbecue sauce to your meat as it grills with a small brush.
- Get “professional” grill marks – reposition your steak two times at a 90 second interval rotating clockwise, once at noon and once at 3 pm.
- Wait until your meat is fully cooked to salt it. Adding salt to pre-cooked meat sucks the moisture from it and can dry it out.
- Want to avoid dry burgers? Add an ice cube or chip to the burger before it goes on the grill. Sounds nuts, right? Some people swear by it.
- Grilling isn’t just for meat and main courses.Try dessert on the grill or in the Big Green Egg. You’ll appreciate baking outside once the weather warms up!
- Add more flavor with hardwoods. Check out our huge selection!
- Dark meat poultry takes longer than white meat, so start it sooner.
Food Safety Tips
- Cook meat to a safe temperature to destroy harmful bacteria that may be present. The color of the meat is not a good indicator. Use a food thermometer to make sure meats have reached a safe minimum internal temperature.
- Never partially grill meat or poultry and finish cooking later.
- After grilling meat and poultry, keep it hot until served — at 140 °F or warmer.
- Never use the same plate or utensils for raw and cooked meats. Harmful bacteria present in raw meat and their juices contaminates safely cooked food. You can either use a clean plate for the cooked meat or wash the one that held the raw meat.
Marinading Tips
- Put your meat in a re-sealable plastic bag or bowl. Cover the meat completely with the marinade. Tip: Use half a cup marinade to each pound of meat.
- Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.
- Throw left over used marinade away.
Final Thoughts
According to a recent survey, 60% of us are grilling year-round. For those of you have yet to dust off your grill, and for those of you who’ve been grilling all spring and summer, we hope you enjoyed these great tips for terrific grilling!
Have more questions on grilling? Want to see our HUGE selection of grills? Stop by one of our three locations today!