10 Tips you need to know if you want to be a grill master.
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This season, you can be a grill master. You do not need to be a master cook, you just need to know a few things. At the Good Men Project, we have you covered from grill to table!
The top 10 BBQ Ninja tips:
- Prepare yourself – No, guys, this does not mean beer, although that is not a bad idea. Having the right tools and sauces will make the difference. I recommend Cattle Boyz Original BBQ sauce and Budweiser Sweet & Spicy BBQ sauce. One of my secrets is to use Italian Salad Dressing as a sauce for Chicken. Running out of your favorite sauce can be a disaster. Being prepared will make you a BBQ Ninja.
- Get a timer – I swear by using a timer for steak. I used to burn almost every steak until I started using a timer. The timer reminds you when to flip your meat. I use the stove timer, but you can use a small portable one or even your watch.
- Flip once – constantly flipping can dry out your meat. Plus, opening the bbq cover lowers the temperature and that can stretch your cooking time. Have a squirt bottle of water ready by the bbq in the event of flare ups.
- Have Ninja focus – be focused on grilling. I learned the hard way that you can’t do a project in between flipping. Burnt steak will greet you if you do.
- Go beyond the usual grill suspects – Have you considered throwing artichokes or romaine lettuce on the grill? Try blanching sweet corn first in a pot (minus salt as salt gives the kernels a tough texture). Then, let the kernels cool and rub with olive oil, kosher salt, cracked black pepper and chopped parsley. Reheat on the grill and add a slight char to the outside!
- Know how to grill meat to perfection– Always be sure to clean your grill first and then rub it down with half an onion dipped in oil. Pat your meat dry on both sides and season generously with salt and freshly cracked black pepper, but use white pepper for seafood instead. For added flavor, throw fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme directly on the meat or make small incisions to the meat, slipping in garlic cloves or injecting a marinade throughout.
- Grilling off the grill –Cooking a steak in a cast iron pan allows the meat to caramelize on all sides, which provides a rich, juicy flavor. When the steak is finished cooking, add whole butter to the pan to baste the steak – this adds another dimension to the flavor to the dish.
- One potato, two potato, baked potato, grilled potato? – Did you know you can grill a potato? Whether you cook them in aluminum foil or throw them right on the grill for a nice smoky taste, the potatoes will cook within 15 minutes. The potatoes can then be turned into garlic mashed potatoes or really impress your guests by folding in lobster for lobster mashed potatoes (an Ocean Prime signature).
- Grill your dessert –Try any fruit on the grill, especially grilled pineapple. Rub the slices with canola oil, season with brown sugar, and let it caramelize for a sweet and slightly smoky flavor that will make your dessert trump all others.
- How you finish is how you will begin – After you are finished with the bbq, you need to clean it. If you keep the heat on high for 5 minutes and use a bbq brush, you can easily scrape the charred bbq remains. This will keep your grill ready for your next meal. It’s not fun to eat with dirty dishes, why do we cook with a dirty grill?
Some grilling tips courtesy of Brian Hinshaw, Senior Vice President of Food and Beverage at OCEAN PRIME.
Photo by Marion
It is good and I’m no where near a BBQ ninja. I’m lucky I didn’t burn my garage down. With the marinade, it not onlt adds flavor and moister, it gives me a larger margin for error during the cooking. When you boil the meat with the BBQ sauce, you still can put BBQ sauce on it either while cooking or after. There was a bar where I lived that hard ribs boiled in a watery BBQ sauce as part of their free buffet. That’s where I got it. It was pretty good even though that was all they did.… Read more »
You could also create a marinade. It’s never been written down so you’ll need to play with the proportions, but it uses 7 ingredients: lemon, soy sauce, garlic, ginger (a similar Chinese version uses ginger paper, which I’ve never seen, but it’s not supposed to be that strong), green onions, black pepper, and soda, but you can substitute sugared water. We use either 7UP or Coke. Let it sit for 12 to 24 hours depending on how thick you slice the meat. The meat won’t just have the marinade taste in it, but will be pretty tender as well even… Read more »
Sounds delicious John.