Archive for: June 2007

Generally you want to close the lid. I’ve seen some barbecue experts say otherwise, but I’ve found, in most cases, closing the lid is best.

Using indirect heat to cook you definitely want the lid closed. Barbecueing, which is basically cooking long and slow, definitely wants the lid closed. If you are grilling a thin burger, you can leave the lid up. Even in this case, I’ve found it best to close it. I do, however, many times grill hot dogs with the lid up if my grandson is helping. He likes to see the fire. Yep - 3 years old and a real man!

As with all cooking, experiment. You may come to a different conclusion.

Here’s a grilling technique I saw for the first time this past week on the Food Network. Then I saw the same technique 2 days later. I’ve never tried this but would be interested in seeing if anyone else has given this a try and what they think of it.

The guy got the charcoal briquettes red hot as usual. Then he took off the grate and tossed the steak directly on top of the coals! He says to walk away and don’t touch it for 30 seconds. The return - turn it over - and toss the other side onto the coals!

Then the steak was done. Now I don’t know. To me it seems the charcoal would be all over the steak and would give it a crappy taste - like eating burnt charcoal. Nope, I’ve never intentionally eaten any. I’ve had some fly up and into my mouth though, and didn’t really love the taste.

The steak looked good and I might give it a try later this year. But it would be interesting if anyone has had experience using this barbecue technique?

Today I want to send you over to my site at Barbecue Grilling to take a look at a few videos I put up from Youtube. I thought you might like these and I plan to add more there. You always want to learn new barbecue techniques.

Yesterday I decided to grill what I called pizza burgers. I got fresh ground chuck and made 2 thin patties per burger. Kind of formed a dish in half of them and put in pizza sauce and mozeralla cheese, then put the other patty on top and squeezed together the edges.

I grilled the burger then, about 2 minutes before taking it off the grill, I scooped on some more sauce and cheese.

It was delicious but - I believe lean hamburger works better than ground chuck when grilling using fresh meat. They are a little juicier.

I put buns on the warming rack for the last 3 minutes and they were really delicious. Toasted but soft when you pushed on them. It added to the taste.

Rubs vs. Marinade.

It’s interesting. Different master grillers and different areas of the country differ in their grilling techniques and marinade vs. rub is always a great debate. First let’s define them.

Marinade - It does add flavor but the basic reason and purpose of marinade is to tenderize the meat. It is acidy and breaks down the meat, tenderizing it. Especially useful for thin meats such as flanks.

Rubs - the main purpose of a rub is to add immediate flavor to a meat. You can do it ahead of time but generally a rub is applied just before griling it.

Which is better? Try them both. I watched a throwdown between Bobby Flay and a master rib griller and they cut back and forth between the two, showing the different grilling techniques. Flay said he prefers a rub to add flavor and doesn’t want it to permeate the meat. The rib guy said don’t use a rub, he prefers a marinade because it permeates the meat.

Different techniques. Learn them, then try them out and see what you like best. I prefer a rub to grab that great taste but, if my meat is on the thin side or tough side, marinating it is the way to go.