The Fundamentals: A Few Summer Favorites, Tips, and Recipes
By Paul Rinehart
With summer in full swing, people are spending more time outside. What better thing to do than grill? But this poses some questions. How can I keep my meat juicy? How can I keep my chicken slathered in BBQ sauce from burning?
Starting Up the Grill
I have a gas grill, and I love it. Some people swear by charcoal, I was once one of these people, but gas is just more convenient. I start off by heating up the grill, usually there are stuck on bits so this step actually helps remove it. I go over the grilling surface with a wire brush just to knock off any residual material.
When the temperature gets up to around 500° F, you are ready to start cooking. You may want to turn the gas down a little if you think you are generating too much heat. When I slap my meat on to the hot grill, I like to mark it. Depending on the meat, it might take about 2 minutes at one angle then two minutes at another angle, then flip and repeat. Marking creates a nice crisscross pattern on the meat.
It's a good idea to baste the meat once in a while to make sure you don't dry it out.
Getting the Meat Ready – Marinating or Brining
There is some prep work to be done when getting meat ready for the grill. Again it all depends on what you are cooking. For burgers, well, I must confess, I grind my own meat. This helps in a few ways and not just monetarily. By grinding your own meat you can control the amount of fat going into your burger. I like adding a bit of onion into my patties, and then I just salt and pepper them before cooking.
When dealing with whole pieces of meat, there are a few things you can do. Most people are familiar with marinating. I personally like using an acid of some sort, something sweet, and something spicy. One thing you want to avoid is salting your marinade?this will dry out the meat. Here is a quick recipe for my favorite marinade:
Citrus Marinade
Ingredients:
1/4 cup lemon juice
Juice of one lime
1/4 cup white wine
1 Tbsp. of pepper corns
2-4 bay leaves
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Add all the ingredients into a container you will be marinating in. If you have 1 gallon freezer bags, these come in handy.
Place the meat into the marinade and let it stand in the refrigerator for 1-3 hours.
Due to the risk of cross contamination and food poisoning, do not reuse the marinade. Toss it, especially if you are dealing with poultry.
An alternative to marinating is brining. This is something I usually reserve for my turkey at Thanksgiving, but I found that it works really well for grilled meat. I usually use a brine on pork or the occasional whole chicken or Cornish game hen. This contains a lot of salt so if you are sensitive to salt, go with marinating. Brining can actually lessen the amount of time needed for cooking, and it does a really good job of softening up the meat. If using a brine for chicken or small hens, it really helps to crisp up the skin.
Even with my summer brines, I like using the same sort of ingredients I would use in my citrus marinade. See below for the recipe. I use a 1 cup of salt to one gallon of liquid ratio, you can lessen the salt if you like.
Citrus Brine
Ingredients:
1/4 cup of lemon juice
Juice of one lime
1 Tbsp. pepper corns
6 bay leaves
1-2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper
1 cup of salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups of water
2 trays of ice
In a saucepan, add the salt, sugar, and water. Bring the water to a simmer and cook until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Place the herbs and spices in and let it stand for a few minutes. The liquid will still be warm, so pour it into a stockpot and add the ice. This will help it cool down. Now add the lemon and lime juice. Let the brine stand until room temperature.
Depending on the meat, you can brine the meat for 4-6 hours or even as little as an hour. Just be careful not to over brine it, since it can turn meat mushy.
I rinse the meat off a little before getting it ready for the grill. The brine retains a lot of salt, so you don't have to salt the meat before putting it on the grill.
Rubs or Sauces
Now comes a little seasoning or finishing touch. A lot of barbeque sauces have a lot of sugar in them, so it's a good idea to apply the sauce at the very end. I have two favorites I like using: a brown sugar based barbeque sauce, or a honey mustard sauce. Usually when I make barbeque sauce, it can take a few hours, but if you are in a little bit of a hurry, then this recipe might be a little more up your alley.
Paul's Kentucky Bourbon Smokey Barbeque Sauce
I got special permission from our resident Kentuckian, or "The Colonel" as I like to call her, to use bourbon. I like Knob Creek personally, and find it works well in this recipe.
Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar
2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder (I like using the real stuff but using the powder saves time)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1-3 cans of tomato paste
1 cup of water
Liquid smoke
1 shot glass of Bourbon
Salt and pepper to taste
In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil and then add the sugar. Dissolve the sugar and then add the tomato paste and mustard. The more paste you add, the thicker the sauce will be. I recommend adding one can to start and if you think it needs to be thicker, add more tomato paste. Bring it to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer.
Add the herbs and spices and let the sauce simmer for about 30 minutes. When the sauce has reached the desired thickness, finish it off by adding the bourbon and a generous amount of the liquid smoke. I like my barbeque sauce smoky! Add salt and pepper and that's it! Let it cool before using.
Another favorite glaze of mine is this simple honey mustard sauce.
Honey Mustard Glaze
Ingredients:
1/4 cup honey (do not use spun honey)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Optional: liquid smoke
Salt and pepper to taste
In a bowl, add the honey and the mustard. Whisk it together until well blended.
Add the oil and season to taste.
Another option to all of this is using a rub. It's a good idea to have a spare coffee grinder around, it really helps, but you won't want to use it to grind coffee after this. So here it is, the rub:
Barbeque Rub
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of black peppercorns
1-2 dried chilies
1 tablespoon dried mustard seed
1 tablespoon dried thyme
Garlic powder
1 teaspoon of salt
Add all the ingredients to your coffee grinder and grind until you get a fine powder.
Right before you are ready to grill, rub some on the meat.
So there it is as promised, a few tips and recipes for your summer barbeque.
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