Archive for: May 2007

It doesn’t always have to be about barbecue sauce. Grilling chicken on your barbecue gives the skin a nice, crusty look and taste. The chicken is juicy and tender. If you grill it correctly.

Here’s a little secret to getting your chicken to look like the chicken I’m grilling here. I thought I pulled out chicken breasts but they were thighs. Dolp! Disappointment - but I wanted to use them since I thawed them out and wanted them to taste good. But I’ll takie chicken breasts any day.

I took a bowl and put in milk and an egg - then thoroughly mixed with a fork. Then I added some Worcestershire sauce (a few shakes), some chicken seasoning salt,  pepper and some onion powder. I don’t measure these ingredients. Again, this gets thoroughly mixed together.

The grill heats up. I want it hot when I put on the chicken. When it’s heated, lower the heat so you don’t burn the chicken. Dip the chicken in the mix. I like to start the chicken on the grill with the bone side down. I let it cook pretty good before turning it over. It’s the bone side. Some burning on this side won’t hurt. I want the chicken to reach about the halfway cooking time before I turn it.

Before I turn the chicken, I add some pepper to the meaty side and brush on some more of the mixture. To me, pepper brings out the taste. Now, when you turn them over, try to avoid the heavy flames. With most grills there are spots that flare up more than others. Move away from these spots. If you have 3 burners - great. Turn 2 on low and put the chicken over them, then crank up the other burner to kick up the heat. Yes - lid is closed.

Grill until the chicken reaches 170 degrees. Chicken must be cooked thoroughly (no red!) and I recommend a meat thermometer be used. You can turn the chicken a couple times if you like to make certain you get that crusty grilled look you see in this picture. I like to turn up the burners and raise the lid and make certain I get the skin crispy.

Even these thighs hit the spot!

I like store bought barbecue sauces. There is a wide variety and different sauces recommended for different meats.

But sometimes it nice to make your own unique sauce. What you need to do is get a basic recipe and experiment. Add your own spices and make it your own sauce that everyone wants to know where you got it and you won’t tell them. lol

So occassionally I’ll toss in some recipes that are sent to me from readers and you can use as is or experiment a little. This one is a mustard based barbecue sauce and is great for a southern pork style barbecue sauce.

Basic Mustard BBQ Sauce

Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer on low for thirty minutes minimum.

Yep. I broke down and got me a stainless steel barbecue grill. My wife asked if something was wrong with our old gas grill and I said nope - except it’s over 5 years old. I gave it to my daughter.

I couldn’t decide whether I wanted stainless or not, but it was on sale at Home Depot and it was assembled. If you’ve ever assembled a gas grill, you know that is a key feature! It was even on sale for $20 off what it said so I got the grill for $179 plus tax. A Charmglow.

It has a Porecelain grate. Again, I knew little about that so I took cooking oil to it and I guess that’s a not needed item. The first time you grill, they recommend to turn the grill on high and burn it for 15 minutes to get rid of any oils that might be there now. It didn’t seem to hurt but looked a little oily. An important point is to get a brass bristle brush to save on the grate.

Then I’m wondering why no briquettes. That was supposed to add flavor to the gas grill cooking but c’mon. Not sure about that ever. Wood chips seemed the way to get added flavor. This doesn’t call for any briquettes and I’m not really sure they would do any good.

First time I cooked, it took a little getting use to. This has 3 burners and I turned on the right one, hit the electronic ignition a few times and nothing. Oh yeah - it does say turn on the middle burner to light. Real men don’t read instructions - do they? It lit when I turned on the middle burner. It’s the only one that needs to be on to light but check your grill when you get it in case it’s different or has 4 burners.

I wasn’t sure about how to properly grill my meat at first. The fire is somewhat covered and I didn’t know just how to grill it correctly but - it came out real tasty and juicy. The old adage is to flip the meat after a certain time or after it has loosened from the grate. Well, after a few cookouts, that definitely applies here. Let it loosen.

So far I’ve only done a small amount of meat at a time so have only used 2 burners at one time. What I like is if one seems to be cooking a little faster, I just put it on the non lit burner. Another thing I like about that is when cooking ribs, I can lay it on the non lit side, close the lid, and get slower cooking without the flare ups to burn my sauce. Still - wait till near the end to add the sauce to minimize burning. These grills say less flare up but I managed to kick it up a notch.

I also found that when I lit it, there was immediate heat. I do mean heat! So beware of that. Not a problem but should be noted, especially if you, like I do, let your 3 year old grandson or son cook on it.

My take so far on the stainless steel gas grill? I like it. I like it a lot. I’ll let you know more when I have a group barbecue.

This ever happened to you? You grill a steak to perfection but it just doesn’t taste as good as the steak you got at the steak house?

Relax. If you grill the steak and the inside is red, or however you like it (but there should be some red or the steak will be on the dry side and a little tough), and the taste and tenderness is not what you expected, it very definitely could be the steak itself.

Listen - the good steak houses use a very good tender cut of steak. It also allows for some error in cooking. The steaks you get at the super market are not usually up to that standard.

When you want a real good steak and are willing to pay extra to get it, I recommend going to a butcher shop and talking to the butcher. Tell him what you are looking for. Don’t be afraid to let him know you don’t want to spend a heck of a lot but don’t look to be cheap.

 The butcher can be your best friend when it comes to grilling. Take advantage of him.