10 Summer Smoking And Grilling Tips
Outdoor grilling is now in full swing. Most nice evenings you can walk outside and enjoy the wonderful aroma of someone in your neighborhood grilling. If you’re looking to try your hand at smoking and grilling or are just wanting to up your game, here are a few tips to try.
Smoking Tips
- Low and Slow
When smoking meat you want to go with a low and slow approach. Your meat should never be directly over the heat. A smoker will keep your heat source in an offset fire box, but if you’re smoking in your grill, put the fire on the bottom of one end of the grill and the meat on the top of the other side.
- Water
The last thing you want to do is dry out your meat while it’s smoking. Fill a pan with about an inch of water and put it in your cooking area along with your meat. The water will help add humidity to the air and stabilize the temperature inside.
- Over Smoking
It is possible to over-smoke your food. This will happen if you put too much wood or fire starter in to burn. If there is too much smoke your meat will turn out bitter instead of well flavored. The smoke should come out slowly, not billow.
- Mist Your Food
Keep a squirt bottle of water mixed with apple cider vinegar near your smoking meat. Every time you go to check on your meat, which should be every hour, spritz your meat with the bottle. Make sure you don’t have the smoker lid open too long or it will release heat and smoke and make the cooking process slow and uneven.
- White Smoke
The only color of smoke you want coming out of your smoker or grill is white. If you see dark plumes, you probably have something burning. Not all smoke is created equal. White smoke is flavoring your food whereas dark smoke is something burning and will result in a burnt taste in your food.
Grilling Tips
- Clean That Grill
You might think the burnt chunks on the grill from your last grilling will just help to flavor your food and you’re not totally wrong but no one wants their steak to be fish flavored. Take the time to use a sturdy wire brush to clean off your grill between every use. This will ensure quality flavor for each new meat you put on your grill.
- Don’t Move Food
It’s tempting to flip the burgers every few minutes, but doing this dries out your meat and can actually cause it to stick. Give your meat the time it needs to finish cooking. If it seems stuck it might just need a few more minutes before you flip it over or pull it off. You should try to only flip meat once per piece.
- Squishing Meat
The sizzling that accompanies pressing your meat down with a spatula is pretty satisfying, but it’s lowering the quality of your meat. When you push out the juices you end up with dryer less flavorful pieces of meat.
- Cold Food
It’s best if you can pull out your meat a little before you throw it on the grill. Meat that has been warmed to room temperature tends to cook more evenly than something you just got out of the refrigerator.
- Rest Your Meat
Once you pull your meat off the grill, always try and give it 5 to 15 minutes to sit before you cut into it. This will give your meat time to soak up the juices instead of squirting them right out. If you can maintain some patience your meat will be way more full of flavor and natural juices.
Now that you’ve read through a bit of advice it’s time to fire up your grill and get cooking. With a bit of practice you’ll be ready to host the next neighborhood BBQ so everyone can go home talking about your skill at the grill.