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Grab your favorite meat and veggies and take your summer
cooking outside for flavorful, healthy, summer grilling. A few
tips will get you on the right track, and remember practice
makes perfect. Get creative! Make your own marinades and sauces
for a truly special taste you can’t get anywhere but your own backyard.
Here’s how to get started.
Prepare and PRE-HEAT YOUR GRILL
Simple, but effective! If your grill isn’t clean – whatever you cook
might have flavors left-over from your last grilling adventure. You
wouldn’t cook in a dirty pan, so scrub off your grate and wipe
down with some vegetable oil for a clean slick cooking surface.
Also meat, veggies, fruit – in short anything you put on the grillwill
have a shorter cooking time, less moisture loss for a juicer, tastier
finish, and those lovely clean grill marks if you preheat. The smallest
steps in preparation yield huge results, so once your grill is clean,
oiled, and hot, you can really get the most from your soon to be
grilled meal.
Prepare YOUR FOOD
Just like your grill, your food will only benefit from some preparation.
Use fresh ingredients, or completely defrost frozen ingredients to
room temperature before seasoning. Wash fruits and vegetables, cut
meat to desired thickness and size and you’re
almost ready. Salt, pepper and oil veggies, marinate
meats, and leave fruits alone. Kebabs are the best of
both worlds so long as you use metal skewers or
soak wood skewers
so they don’t burn
like matchsticks.
The sugars in
fruit will caramelize in the heat and veggies will
soften and their flavors will peak. If you’re cooking
for a crowd, make note of preferences regarding
done-ness. Rare and well done might not be very
different in terms of time on the grill, but on your
plate it makes all the difference in the world.
Get it ON THE GRILL
Well what are you waiting for? After all that preparation,
you get to relax for a little bit. Once you
place everything and hear that tell-tale sizzle, leave
it alone. The desire to flip and poke and “just
check” is hard to resist, but the less you fiddle with
it, the better. Thick cuts of meat need several minutes
on each side, while even thickly sliced vegetables can
be ready in literally two minutes. The more you flip
and move your grilling subjects, the more moisture
you will force out of them. Always use a spatula or
tongs instead of grilling utensils that pierce. If you
puncture your meat, you again will make it
easier for juices to escape and you might also
contaminate the inside of the meat with bacteria
if you use a grilling fork that was inserted
into a raw piece of meat again after it has
cooked. Give enough space around each
piece, keep the lid on, and flip only when it’s
time. Grilling is certainly a “less is more”
activity.
Let it SIT
Don’t cut into meat right away. Let the juices
settle and remember that fruit has a high
water content and gets very hot on the grill. Allow
your grilled goodies to cool, which gives you plenty
of time to get a refreshing drink and start serving
yourself some accompaniments.
Lastly, KEEP YOUR FOOD SAFE
Grilling is laid back and certainly a lot of fun, but be
smart about how long your food is kept out and
store it correctly. Refrigerate promptly after two
hours at room temperature and avoid mixing meats
and vegetables when storing. Grilled leftovers go
great tossed in pasta, in a salad, and even a pasta
salad. Be creative and remember just keeping a few
simple things in mind when grilling will really make
a good thing even better. Happy grilling!
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