Ever been to a barbecue party where the ... placed just as much food while he could possibly fit onto the barbecue grill, once in awhile stabbing the meals with a fork and juggling it around so that i
Ever been to a barbecue party where in fact the ‘chef' placed just as much food while he could possibly fit on the barbecue grill, every so often stabbing the food with a fork and juggling it around to ensure it cooks evenly? Ever noticed how, within a few minutes, the flames start gently flickering underneath the food, the chef proudly standing back admiring the char grill effect that he's creating? Ever spot the panic that sets in once the flames suddenly leap up and across the food burning it black on the outside and leaving it raw from the inside?
The difference between great char grilled barbecue food and burnt offerings lies in a few small precautions. The chef that we've just described made a couple of fatal errors that could easily have already been avoided. Before discussing the errors though, lets consider the equipment that individuals're dealing with. Although the same sometimes happens with gas just like charcoal, gas grills could be turned lower, or off, once the flames start getting out of hand. The flames can also be controlled if the barbecue grill has a super taut fitting lid, as with a Weber kettle grill. However a lot of people appear to cook on an open top barbecue grill with all the lid, if it offers one, open. Keep in mind that we're speaing frankly about a barbecue grill here, where in fact the food is cooked directly throughout the hot coals. True barbecue uses indirect heat with all the food fully enclosed as though in an oven. So, the barbecue grill which our imaginary chef is using is an open top, charcoal, barbecue grill.
Now lets have a look at our imaginary chef's errors.
First, he filled the grate with charcoal along its entire length, providing a consistent heat source, without any section of lower heat to position food if it started to burn. A simple solution is to use the rule of thirds. Imagine the grate of one's barbecue being in thirds. Fill two thirds associated with the grill with charcoal and then leave the remaining third empty. Cook your meal over the hot coals so when your food is ready, or starts to burn, or creates out of hand flames, move it over to the section over the empty grate. The meals will remain warm but won't cook any more (or even it will probably but a whole lot more slowly), and wont cause any flare-ups. A further refinement may be had, if you've a big enough grill, by placing a double degree of coals in one third for the grate, an individual amount of coals in the middle, and no coals within the final third. At this point you have three levels of heat!
An additional mistake was to overfill the grill. Completely filling it leaves no room to manouvre the meals. You are not in a position to transform it for even cooking and you also've no space to go the foodstuff to a lower life expectancy heat. Assuming that you're with the rule of thirds as described above, , once you first start cooking, leave empty the area of this grill above for which you've placed no coals. You've then space to move the cooked food into. Secondly, don't pack the cooking part of the grill with food. Leave room to comfortably turn your food.
A second problem caused when over filling the grill is by using foods that require different cooking times. When the coals are first prepared to use, they truly are at their hottest. It is now time to cook small, thin items of food which can be cooked very quickly with a higher heat. These generally include things like sausages, burgers, kebabs and small items of meat off the bone. Remember that food, such as for instance burgers and sausages, drip fat and juices onto the charcoal during cooking and it is this which causes flare-ups. So that you'll need to constantly watch the items of food and move them to an area of lower heat if necessary (did I mention the rule of thirds? ). After the heat has died down somewhat, start grilling food which takes just a little longer to grill like chops and steaks and meat from the bone. Finally once the heat is even lower, grill food like fruit kebabs that really only need heating through.
Last, but not least, our imaginary chef stabs his food with a barbecue fork to show it over. Throughout the initially couple of minutes of grilling, the heat seals the surface of the meat, sealing into the juices. If the meat is stabbed the juices flow out onto the coals, evoking the meat to dry out and become tough, and producing a flare up which burns the meals. When turning food, always use barbecue tongs.
With a charcoal barbecue controlling the heat is hard. Instead you will need to ensure that you cook your own components of food at most appropriate time and that you have separate aspects of heat. Utilize the rule of thirds to give separate areas of heat. When cooking the food, first grill quick cook food when the coals are at their hottest. Second, cook food that requires cooking at a mid temperature for a longer time. Thirdly Articles, cook food that needs a low heat. Another rule of thirds!
