Throwing a barbecue is the perfect chance to show off your cooking style and impress your friends and family. There’s a bit of competition involved in barbecue but it’s something that leads people to strive for the best. Everybody wants bragging rights when it comes to cooking the best meal, and people are always fighting over the position of neighborhood barbecue King. Anybody who has experience in the world of delicious grilled food knows it takes a lot of effort to coordinate things properly. This isn’t about taking a bag of frozen chicken wings or burgers and throwing them onto the grill. True barbecue involves fresh ingredients and using your culinary know-how to bring food to the next level. Here are some barbecue cooking secrets that you can try the next time you fire up your grill.
Meat with the Bone-in – big juicy steaks get a lot of attention when it comes to backyard barbecues. But don’t forget about cuts with the bone inside them as well. These are cuts of meat that are usually a little bit cheaper and work well if you have more time to cook them for a few hours. The proximity to the bone adds to the flavor and increases tenderness, especially when you turn your barbecue into an outdoor oven. You’ll find that most gas grills on the market today can handle long cooking sessions with wonderfully tender results.
Let it sear – one of the biggest mistakes is moving barbecue food around in an effort to get it to cook faster. But you might be losing valuable moisture and juiciness when you disrupt the cooking process. With whatever meat you’re working with, it’s far better to let it sit on the grill while you let the barbecue do its job. You want to get that nice crispy layer on the outside which will help to seal in the delicious juices inside! Also avoid the mistake of cutting into your food too early just to see if it is done. You should keep track of the time using a watch so that you don’t have to resort to this rookie mistake.
Salt and Pepper – a lot of people pay attention to barbecue sauce when it comes to flavor. Keep in mind that you have to use barbecue sauce in moderation otherwise you can drown out the natural flavors quite easily. Sometimes a touch of salt-and-pepper is all you need if you’re working with higher quality cuts of meat. Your barbecue is going to naturally infuse flavor which means you don’t have to rely on it as much as you think. It’s also a lot better to come up with your own marinade or dry rub so that you can enjoy a unique flavor that no one else can replicate. If you have time, try cooking food without any flavor at all as an experiment. From there you will have a good understanding of where to go and how to adapt given the basic flavor.
Wood times – whether you own a gas or charcoal grill, most models these days offer the opportunity to add smoke into the equation. You can either throw it onto the charcoal itself or put a small woodbox for a larger gas barbecue. This extra boost of smoky flavor will really help to differentiate your cooking style with everyone else’s. With a solid barbecue that comes with a heavy lid, you can essentially create an outdoor smoking station that can handle direct grilling as well. Just wait until you taste the difference with your favorite dishes.