On a cold winter night, sitting by the bonfire and eating food cooked on a barbeque seems to be the perfect way to spend time. The warmth of the bonfire as well as the food is sure to melt away the chill associated with the winter season. However, cooking food in a barbeque is not a very easy task and requires you to take much care and precaution. Otherwise, you might end up getting a fire in your garden, instead of a barbeque. Keeping this mind, we have provided a number of barbecue tips in the lines below. Go through them and know how to barbeque.
Barbeque Tips
- In case of charcoal barbeque, briquettes serve as the best choice for fuel. This is because, though they take a longer time to reach optimum temperature, they stay at a good temperature for a prolonged time.
- When you see a thin layer of ash over the charcoal, it means that your barbeque has reached the optimum temperature.
- In order to avoid flare-ups on your barbeque, try oiling the grill instead of the food. At the same time, make sure not to use too much oil.
- In case you are cooking a fatty food item on a barbeque, put it on tin foil first. This will help in bringing out the excess oil/ fat, which you can discard before putting the particular item on barbeque.
- Never ever fill up the entire grate of barbeque with food. You need to have enough space to move food that gets too hot and wants to flare up.
- While barbecuing, always keep a spray bottle with clean water handy. Use it to knock down flames that start getting out of control.
- The food items that take the least time to cook should be placed on the barbeque when the fire is the hottest.
- In case of food items that take a long time to cook, place them on the barbeque after the fire has cooled down. This way, you will not end up having food that is charred from the outside, but raw on the inside.
- Food items like chicken - with the skin on, hamburgers and sausages have great chances of flare-ups, so make sure to pay attention to them.
- The temperature of a barbeque changes each time you open the lid. So, try to keep the lid down as much as possible.
- Make sure to clean and tune up your barbeque before the start of each season. This will ensure that it looks as well as cooks like new.
- Try to use long handled tools for your barbeque, having a minimum length of 12 inches (30 cm).
- When shutting down your barbeque, first shut off the propane tank or natural gas main shut off valve and then turn off burner control valves.
- If a burner does not light or if the flames go out, make sure to turn off the barbeque for at least 5 minutes, before trying again.
- In case of wooden skewers, soaking them in water for at least half an hour before cooking will ensure that they don't burn on the grill.
- Marinating the meat for at least 2-4 hours before cooking can enhance its flavor to quite an extent.
- Try to cut the meat into similar sized pieces, so as to make sure that they cook evenly on the grill.
- Put sauces only when you feel that the grilled meat is almost done. Thereafter, add them for a second time, at the end.
- The charcoal should be lit about 20-30 minutes before adding the food to the grill.
- Try to grill on a flat and stable surface, preferably concrete or treated wood one, always.