Grilling and Barbecue, all Tips from the Professional Chef for Optimal Grilling
Author:
Thomas Sixt is a chef, food photographer, cookbook author and blogger.
Here he shares recipes, answers cooking questions and helps with cooking.
1. Prepare the Grill correctly and heat it up
- Place the grill in a good place, pay attention to the wind direction, the grill swaths should not bother the neighbor and also the grill company. This applies to the gas grill, the electric grill and the charcoal grill.
- When barbecuing with charcoal, do not pour barbecue lighter or spirit into the embers. Use commercially available grill lighters and empty egg cartons to light the grill.
- Open all ventilation slots on the charcoal grill and remove the lid of the grill if necessary.
- Pile up the charcoal on the grill grate, align a small pile in the middle, place special charcoal lighter cubes slightly under the charcoal and light.
- After a few minutes, distribute the glowing charcoal well. This way a uniform glow can form.
- After 15 minutes the charcoal is at best covered with a fine white dust.
- Heat the grill sufficiently before putting the food on the grill. Now the charcoal grill is ready.
- Clean the gas grill and electric grill before heating up, then heat up. Gas and electric grills are faster to use than charcoal grills.
- Keep children and pets away from the grill. Attention Metal or steel barbecue skewers are still extremely hot for a long time after grilling.
- Keep perishable food in a cool box at summer temperatures.
- Only prepare food for grilling when required. At summer temperatures, take meat out of the fridge only 20 minutes before grilling and prepare it.
- Sausages and poultry must always be fried thoroughly.
- Generally observe the manufacturer’s instructions for the grill.
- When preparing the grill patience is required – a good embers needs 20-40 minutes to the optimal grill temperature.
- With an electric grill or gas grill you can start grilling much faster.
- The type of grill is decisive for the cooking times – a fireplace grill or a kettle grill generates far more heat than an open camping grill.
- Have a lid ready for emergencies – never extinguish with water, as the water vapour it produces can cause serious burns.
2. Tips for Barbecuing and Ideas for relaxed Barbecuing with Friends
- Place the cleaned grill on the grill after it has reached the optimum grill temperature.
- The optimum grilling temperature is reached when the coal has formed a light grey ash layer and glows evenly.
- With an electric grill or Teppanyaki, the grilling surface should be cleaned, the correct grilling temperature is reached when a drop of water dances on the grilling surface.
- The more food you place on the grill, the slower the grilling process will be. It is optimal to place the food at a distance of 2-5 cm.
- Remove excess fat as much as possible from the barbecue food, so you avoid dripping fat over the charcoal.
- Dab the marinated food dry so that no oil drips on the hot embers.
- Do not pierce the barbecue food, rather turn it with a grill tong. This preserves the valuable and tasty gravy and keeps the food juicy.
- If the fire should flare up, push the food to the side and put a lid on the grill. When the embers have calmed down again, you can continue grilling happily.
3. Important Accessories for Grill and Barbecue
Not every grill accessory is really suitable for handling on the grill. Optimal are tools with long handles and thermal protection. Here is a list of the most important grill accessories:- A grill glove offers optimal protection against the heat and you can grasp hot objects without hesitation.
- A kitchen alarm clock is always useful, because you can control the cooking times better and the alarm clock also reminds you to turn around.
- A grill brush is really indispensable for cleaning the grill. A brush with stainless brass bristles is ideal – it is durable and has optimal cleaning properties.
- A grill tong is the right tool for turning the barbecue food – do without a meat fork, so you won’t be embarrassed to pierce the barbecue food.
- A frying brush with natural hair bristles is suitable for applying marinades to the barbecue food.
- A roast thermometer is particularly helpful for large and thick pieces of meat, as the temperature reached can be measured inside a piece of roast meat. So you can cook exactly to the point and achieve the best possible result with the help of a cooking degree table.
