How To Become Better At Grilling

Now that the summer season is upon us, it’s also time for one of the most popular outdoor activities to entertain family and friends alike – grilling. Whether you’re inexperienced or experienced at something like this, there’s always room to become better at it.

Here are some useful tips at how you can become better at grilling to the point where you can amaze all of your guests during the summer.

Using the Right Heat

Use heat that’s both direct and indirect. No matter what type of grill you may have, you will always want to create heat zones within it, those being direct heat and indirect heat. Generally defined, direct heat involves grilling something directly above an open flame, giving food nice grill lines. Indirect heat, meanwhile, is a separate portion of the grill that is still hot since the grill has been preheated; however, there aren’t any flames located below the grate.

Food With Sauce

If you are grilling food that will have sauce on it, wait until you are finished with the actual grilling before you add the sauce. Chances are you may want to start adding sauce the very second you place the food onto the grill in order to add more flavor; however, the best thing that you can do is to wait until you’re finished grilling. This is because the more sauce that you add over time, the better chance there will be of the food itself burning or charring on the outside. Near the end of the total cooking time, either drizzle or brush 1/3 or ½ of the sauce, making sure that you save the remainder of for serving purposes.

Rest Time

Once you’re finished grilling your food, allow it to have time to rest rather than immediately beginning to serve or eat it. This will allow everything in the food to settle evenly. By cutting into the food immediately, you will be allowing more of the flavor to escape, which can make the food not taste so good as a result.

Grill Lid

The lid of your grill can remain on or off of the grill itself; however, this generally depends on what it is that you’re actually making. By opening the lid, you will be fluctuating the actual temperature of the grill. For instance, if you’re grilling thin cuts of meat, you won’t necessarily have to use the lid. On the other hand, thicker cuts of meat will often require you to use the lid, as this will help to seal in the flavor. Regardless, always make sure that you close the lid of the grill quickly after you open it.

Test the Heat

Allow your hand to determine how hot the grill is. While there are some grills that come with their own built-in thermometers that can let you know how hot the inside of the grill is, you can also hold your hand approximately four to six inches above the grate of the grill in order to help determine how hot the temperature is. You can tell that the grill has high heat if you have to pull your hand away after one to three seconds; medium heat will cause you to pull away after four to six seconds; low heat will cause you to pull away after seven to ten seconds.

If you’d like a well-landscaped backyard to grill on, or a built-in grill, contact us at B&B landscaping to get started.