Barbecuing can be something of a great hobby to have during the warmer months of the year. You can invite your friends and family over for lunch or dinner, chatting while you grill up some burgers and a couple of chicken legs.
If you add some music and a few activities, you already have the basics needed for a backyard party. The only problem is that getting the perfect, juicy burger off the grill can be rather hard.
Everyone that’s ever barbecued before has faced that same problem at some point, but it doesn’t make it any easier. Watching someone make a perfect steak on their barbecue when yours comes out overcooked or undercooked can be incredibly intimidating. The good news is that many people have a wide range of tips that will help you become an expert at handling your barbecue.
With a bit of practice, a grill and seasonings from a store like Dickson Barbecue Centre, and enough time, you can make perfect burgers and steaks every time.
All you need to do is follow these tips.
Here Are 8 Simple Tips To Help You Become An Expert In Grilling BBQ
1. Clean the grill after you finish grilling
Once you finish your last batch of burgers and everyone’s eaten their fill, make sure that you take the time to clean up first. While you might want to dig into the food right away or sit down to relax with your friends and family, cleaning first actually has several benefits.
Cleaning the grate first not only makes your next grilling session start much faster, but also makes sure that you sear your burgers and steak perfectly.
Getting that charred remains off your grill also makes sure that the grates themselves don’t rust and that said rust doesn’t accidentally come into contact with your food. And let’s not forget, cleaning it right after you finish means the process is way easier!
2. Avoid over-marinating your meats
When you go to season your meat for the barbecue, make sure that you don’t leave it resting for too long. How long it should be left in the fridge can change depending on several different factors, one of which is the thickness of your cut of meat.
Naturally, thicker cuts need more time for the marinade to soak in properly but a general rule is to leave for at most two to four hours. However, if you’re using another culture’s seasonings, you can leave it in the fridge overnight or for roughly a day and a half.
3. Be liberal but gentle with your dry rubs
If you’re planning to use a dry rub for ribs, chicken, or other meats, don’t be afraid to use a good amount when you’re applying it. Just remember not to press or rub it in too firmly, since using too much pressure can condense the meat fibres and make it harder for the flavors to get into the meat. Use a light amount of pressure instead and use a liberal amount of your rub.
4. Season your grill at least once a month
If you find that whatever your grilling keeps sticking to the barbecue’s grates, even after you just oiled the sides, it may be a sign that you need to season the grates themselves.
The process of seasoning lets the oil you use sink into the metal, making food harder to stick. Additionally, regular seasoning reduces the possibility that the grates will rust while also adding the oil’s flavor to the food the next time you use the barbecue.
5. Avoid constant flipping
Though this can be hard for some first-time barbecuers, stop flipping your burgers and steak every couple of minutes. While you do want to make sure that your meat won’t burn, constant flipping causes the juices inside to escape, making them tougher. On top of that, the meat repeatedly hitting the grill only damages the cooking fibers and makes it even tougher.
6. Invest in the right tools
If you want to make good barbecued food, one of the first steps you can take is to make sure that the tools you use are good. This doesn’t mean that you need to buy a hundred-dollar spatula to make simple burgers, though.
All you need is something that works well enough and does its job. If you have a narrow spatula, for example, getting one with a wider or longer surface area makes it easier for you to cook on your grill. Essentially, invest in the tools that make barbecuing easier.
7. Add your barbecue sauces just before finishing
If you plan on adding barbecue sauce or another kind to your meat, avoid adding it before you put it on the grill. Since the sauce is still bound to be liquid, it can drip onto the coals, wood, or burners and cause a flare-up.
Adding the meat grease and fat into the equation and the flare-up that can result from the drippings can become massive, burning both you and the meat. Instead, add the sauces a few minutes before you’re done cooking since the heat will likely be high enough to quickly cook it into the meat.
8. Use different kinds of hardwood chips or chunks
If you want to add a different taste to your foods that aren’t just the smokiness of charcoal, you can also invest in wood chunks or chips. Ideally, the type you want to use for grilling is hardwood, since it burns down to only ash. Additionally, hardwood chips and chunks come in a variety of different types, each of which gives a different smoky flavor to the food you cook.
The most common types of hardwood are also quite well known, like maple, hickory, and mesquite. Fruitwoods are also good options to try out to take your barbecued dishes to another level.
Takeaway
These are only just a few of the tips that many barbecue enthusiasts have that can improve how you barbecue. By sharing your own opinions and asking for tips with the different barbecue communities across the Internet, you can find all sorts of people willing to help. Just remember that with enough practice and following these tips, you can become an expert in barbecuing.
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