Simple Summer BBQ'ing Advice please.

[deft]

This thread is making me salivate.
I'm pretty new to grilling myself and the one tip I can give you is to make sure the grill is at a good temperature where it's not blackening faster than it's cooking. A meat thermometer is very useful for beginnings since you probably won't know what to look for in finished meat. Most thermometers will come with the proper temperatures for specific meats with them.
Also, if you can't get chicken to work you can always go to a meat shop and get some specialty brats. Shops around here have very good varieties like mushroom swiss and bacon cheddar. They are much easier to cook, just boil them for a few minutes and move them to the grill for marks and flavor.
All these deserts sound really good! I think my favorite mentioned would be the strawberry shortcake. It sounds very easy to pull off + delicious = win.

Good luck!

[Lornkeit]

For the veggies, I have to say that I've always loved the combination of onion, tomato, zucchini and summer squash grilled up together.

It'd probably be best if you practice at least once before the actual dinner; it can be really easy to mess up if you're not prepared.

[wop]

Don't forget Burgers!!!!

Simple and all ready made, practically 0 preparation and delicious.

[Shalyn]

For chicken I recomend Montreal Chicken spices. Basically just thaw the chicken sprinkle it on (be generous) rub the spice into the meat. And then throw it on the grill. Very tasty little mess.

Seconded. Montreal steak spice works too, very good stuff. Miss. Dash works okay as well with less salt.

[Brill Weave]

Steak then a blowjob. In that order. The end.

[wonderlust]

Jerk Chicken
Ingredients
2 teaspoons ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups chopped onions
5 cloves garlic
2 habanero peppers
1 (5-pound) chicken, skin on, cut into 10 pieces
1 cup lime juice

Directions
Combine all ingredients except the chicken and lime juice in a food processor and puree until pretty smooth. Place the chicken and lime juice in a mixing bowl and pour about half of the jerk sauce over it, tossing the chicken around to coat it well. Place in a container and pour the remaining sauce on top of chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Grill till juices run clear.


Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette


4 lb sweet potatoes (8; preferably long)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Cover potatoes with cold salted water in a large pot, then bring to a boil. Simmer until slightly resistant in center when pierced with a sharp small knife, 25 to 30 minutes, then transfer to a large bowl of cold water to stop cooking. Drain well. When cool enough to handle, peel potatoes with a sharp small knife and quarter lengthwise.

Prepare grill for cooking.

Whisk together lime juice, salt, and pepper and add oil in a slow stream, whisking. Whisk in cilantro.

When fire is hot (you can hold your hand 5 inches above rack for 1 to 2 seconds), grill potatoes in 2 or 3 batches on lightly oiled grill rack (over coals if using a charcoal grill), uncovered, turning, until grill marks appear and potatoes are just tender, 3 to 6 minutes total.

Serve potatoes warm or at room temperature, drizzled with vinaigrette.



Chopped Veggie Salad with Watermelon and Feta Cheese

1 pound Campari or plum tomatoes, diced, drained
1 1/2 cups diced seeded watermelon
1 large green bell pepper, seeded, cut into 1/3-inch cubes
1/2 large English hothouse cucumber, seeded, cut into 1/3-inch cubes
1/2 cup very thinly sliced radishes
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
10 ounces feta cheese, broken into small cubes (about 2 1/2 cups), divided
2 green onions, chopped, divided
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh mint leaves, divided
1/2 cup plain Greek-style yogurt
1 teaspoon dried oregano



preparation:

Toss first 5 ingredients and 2 tablespoons oil in large bowl. Add half each of cheese, green onions, and mint. Mix remaining cheese, green onions, mint, and oil in processor; add yogurt and oregano. Process just to blend (do not over-mix or dressing will get thin). Season dressing with salt and pepper; mix into salad.

[Brill Weave]

Fyi most people will eat salad with fruit in it. It's not out of like of the combination. It's out of fear of looking unsophisticated when they wonder why the flying fuck people eat it. But the chicken is good, I've made something similiar on our grill.

[Jakson]

I smoke a pack a day, why the fuck would I be concerned with the health risks associated with red meat?

I've never even heard of a grill out without red meat. That's just not how we do things around here.

Yeah, makes me think of people that remind me smoking is bad. Hey thanks buddy, I didn't know that from all the fucking retarded commercials and posters I see every day, not to forget the warning on the pack itself. Smoking can cause cancer? STOP THE PRESSES

[Brill Weave]

So I'm just curious how we let a BBQ thread turn into a smoking awareness thread? Oh BG, how far we have fallen

[Seraph]

Ok so, here's the deal. My new BF is coming over with his parents to my summer apartment, and I want to make a summer BBQ dinner. Problem: I cannot cook for crap. I am dead set on chicken, soI was wondering about some really easy steps and spices that can help me to make a really good dinner off the grill. Any and all suggestions are welcome. From the chicken to salads to dessert.

Thanks Chef BG.

Honestly, cooking isn't something you learn overnight. I would definitely practice, but if you are in an apartment I doubt you have a very good grill, and that can be the difference between a great meal, and a burnt meal.

If you have to have chicken, find a decent marinade you like, and soak the chicken pieces in it overnight in a big Ziploc bag in the fridge. (A nice marinade locally in WNY is Chiavetta's, but I have no idea if their products will be sold near you.)

As for cooking, since you have never cooked before, look up a few cooking tips, and DO NOT LEAVE THE GRILL while you are cooking. That is how burnt food happens. Just take your now soaked chicken out of the bag, and place on the preheated grill. Make sure you have all of your tools ready ahead of time for flipping the chicken. Before you take it off the grill, make sure the center is a solid white, undercooked chicken is disgusting. If your people really like overpowering flavor, you can take some left over marinade (not the stuff that was in the bag with the raw chicken) and coat the chicken while it is cooking, or after it is done.

Pick up some premade side dishes from the store the morning before, and that way they will be ready to put in bowls as soon we your chicken is done. You will impress them far more with a good meal, than a crappy meal you made completely yourself.

Good Luck.

[Bikpik]

How to Use a Meat Thermometer

Buy one of these and you won't over/under cook your meat whatever you decide to cook.

[Chicomagiko]

Grilled peaches with ice cream. Obviously the ice cream isn't grilled...

Personally when me and my buddy grill (2-5 times a week) we open up a pack of hot links while the coals are getting ready. These are good for the people showing up who may have skipped lunch due to travel or work or whatever.

For the main meat, we generally stay away from chicken. It's harder to pull off, and we're usually well into the beer by the time it's time to start cook (never tried the chicken beer thing, but it sounds easy enough). Stay away from grabbing a bunch of legs and thighs and slapping them on the grill. You'll end up with a bunch of charred outsides and red insides, thats the advanced stuff. My buddies neighbor made chicken quarters the other day, and I must say I was impressed.

This weekend we did a lot of tri tips, you need a cold side of the grill for this (as you will if you go the boned chicken route). This is pretty easy because if your meat is seasoned right, even overcooking it a bit doesn't kill the flavor. There is a temp to pull your meat out, but I haven't used a thermometer in so long, I wouldn't know what it is.

We've done different fishes on the grill, just wrap them in foil with lemon and various herbs and let them cook.

Carne Asada is real easy because it uses really thin pieces of meat that are by definition supposed to be well done. You can whip up some pico de gallo (tomatoes, onion, cilantro) or guacamole and impress any caucasian. Tortillas on grill that have been cooked on all day are nothing short of wonderful (use corn, not flour for grilling!). If you have a large latin community around you, head to a carneceria, and they may even sell the steak seasoned and marinated.
[

I'm hungry now, gonna get some breakfast.

QFT. Its called Ranchera and its delicious. At our last BBQ, we had 10 lbs of this, 50lbs of lean ground beef and 15 lbs of sausage links. Also, bacon wrapped mushrooms are surprisingly good. As long as you have aluminum foil and toothpicks, you're set to make lots of things. Have fun!

[ZarakiKujata]

Why wrap mushrooms in bacon.. they are good enough on their own and you are getting way too much fatty protein as is from the rest of what you had to eat.

[Blabj]

Probably mentioned already, I'm not sure... Stuffed peppers and tomatoes are <3 on a BBQ. Stick some couscous in that bad boy, with a few herbs and spices, and whack it on the barbie for a while. Makes a nice side to a plate full of meat.

[Soa]

If you're a beginner I'd just stick with burgers and dogs. There's really no way to screw them up unless you try.

As for chicken, I tend to avoid cooking that on the grill. You have to cook it on lower heat than red meat, unless you want to dry it out, and it takes forever to cook. However if done right it is extremely delicious. Legs are your best option and there are metal racks you can buy that will cook them without touching the grill itself.

Steaks are pretty easy but if you aren't experienced with them you will likely either burn them or undercook the center. The best way is to cook them slowly at a slightly lower temp than normal. Some people swear by marinating but I don't like it very much. They often times lose that "steak" flavor while marinating so I like to just add my spices right before or during cooking. It retains the "steak" flavor that way and still tastes great. To each his own.

Veggies are another thing I don't tend to grill but they are pretty easy to do. My personal favorite is corn on the cob, especially using a little trick I learned. Peel down the green leaves (don't rip them off) and get rid of the white stringy stuff. Completely coat the corn in butter and tie the green leaves back up. Wrap in tinfoil and grill for 10-12 minutes. Fucking delicious.

I personally love grilling, and with practice and experimentation you'll learn some really great ways to cook meals on it.

[Jefe]

I'm a jump on the Carne Azada bandwagon. The other day my buddies and I had one and it was fucking yummy. Best of all, it's really easy to prepare. Like someone else mentioned, go to a Mexican market and ask for Ranchera meat, they prepare it for you and shit. If you know how to ignite charcoal, you're pretty much set. It's also important to get maize tortillas, don't get flour or that bullshit taco shells, those are like a slap in the face. Also lettuce, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and some chile to spice things up.

As far as side dishes go: rice or beans. Rice is a little bit more elaborate, just make a tomato + garlic + onion (be careful w/ these) sauce and dump it instead of water. Those are pretty easy to make, if you can boil water you can cook that, just keep an eye on them.

For the trifecta, and winning combo IMHO, buy a cake "Tres Leches," that's so yummy it melts in your mouth. Holy crap, I'm drooling as I type this, brb eating.

[Teffy]

why would you want to live longer if you couldn't eat red meat?

[Pirian]

Stay away from grabbing a bunch of legs and thighs and slapping them on the grill. You'll end up with a bunch of charred outsides and red insides, thats the advanced stuff. My buddies neighbor made chicken quarters the other day, and I must say I was impressed.

They key to grilling chicken really well is to cook it over a low flame for a long time. The lower temperature you cook it at the juicer the meat is going to be, and the more flavor the meat will retain. Also, I don't turn the chicken at all. Basically just set it and check it every 10 minutes or so to make sure shit isn't on fire (which it shouldn't be since the flame is low). The chicken I did on the 4th, which were legs and thighs, cooked for about an hour and a half and it was soooo worth it Got many compliments on it and I have to say it was one of the best grills I've done.

[gamez]

If you want a dessert on a grill, try grilling some things like pineapple, mango and etc face down. Semi-"Exotic" fruits work if they're very sweet tasting and keep moisture well.

Get some nice grill lines on the fruits face down, it should caramelize a nice brown in the lines, you don't need to keep these on very long, as it doesn't need to cool merely get some of the smoke/grilled taste into the food.

If you're grilling it'll make some nice sweet/cool dessert after the cool down. Serve fruit salad or something (homemade is EASY), after or with the grilled food to handle dessert.

If you're insistant making chicken. Find a recipe to prep a day ahead for soak it with some salt/sugar/smoked red paprika/lemonpepper just enough water to soak in the chicken very BASIC, perhaps some garlic or cajun depending on your taste.

Rinse the chicken off, pat it down with paper towel or something so its not too moist, then throw it on the grill. Take some basic barbeque sauce that you'll probably store-buy(garlic is good >:3), and brush it on after the chicken is cooked through nicely, let it get a little charred on each side after brushing, take it off and your set.

If you want, quarter off some onions, yellow/green bell peppers, mushrooms, and serve them ontop of basic stovetop rice, just get the preflavored stuff like chicken or mushroom and serve it up.

For smoked chicken, or if you're affraid to burn it, if you can turn one grill side on and put the meat on the other so that the flare-ups don't directly hit your food, wood chips or sawdust in your charcoal(under or otherwise) helps smoking. If you only have a single-ignition grill, don't worry about this paragraph.

For making your own bbq sauce: (Reposting this from my olde Spam thread)

Spoiler: show

Mustard - sharp sweetened tang taste
Vinegar - sours up the sauce nicely
Apple Cider/Juice - strong tart flavor, good for actual bbq'd meat, not my fav if you're just slowcooking something, but works awesome in sauce if you're smoking.
Sugar - glue to the sauce, you should always flour/dust the meat with some spices dry first.
Brown sugar - has a stronger / stickier taste to it of sweetness, can replace normal sugar if you want a stronger sauce.
Maple Syrup - stickiness and sweetness, you don't need to add a lot of sugar or brown sugar if you use this, it makes up for it pretty well.
Cayenne/Chilli Powder - Think this is obvious, add what you want for the heat for your sauce, save the bulk of this for the rub but a palm full is fine.
Cinnamon - go light on this but powdered cinnamon sugar is actually really kick ass in barbeque(and spaghetti) sauces.
Onions/Green Onions - Green Onion is a lot sweeter then regular onion, if you're boiling/stirring your sauce before you add it to the meat though, regular onion is fine.
Worchestershire - saltiness/darkens up the sauce a little bit, works well with the ketchup and the meat, you should probably always add this, at least I do.
Salt - you can choose to add this to the sauce, but it's probably best in the rub for cooking the meat, since you want the moisture pulled while you're actually cooking it.
Cola/Soft Drinks/Soda/Pop - can reduce this/boil it alone before you add in any water and turn it into a syrup then mix in the rest of the sauce and water to get a stickier sauce, works good if you're just using regular sugar mostly, can do stuff like Dr.Pepper or Sprite for pork, but Coke/Pepsi is probably the only shit you should ever use for beef, anything else is liable to be nasty.
Lemon/Lime - meh, I don't like this, but they add their own respective tastes to the sauces, if you want take your pick.
Oranges/Orange Juice - this is actually really good mixed in with the average sweet & sour sauce, put the skin into the sauce and all but strain it out after, or just stick a huge peel in so that you don't have to pick out tiny bits + the actual oranges. It'll make it stickier/sharper as it reduces into the mix.
Pineapple - grill this as well if you want, it isn't really my thing so I have no advise.
Rubs - Best to get it at the bulk or dollar stores for cheap cause when you make a bbq rub you tend to waste a lot of the powder. Can do this like shake 'n bake if you're lazy then dump it on a tray and hand knead it into the meat, slap it around, make it your bitch to get it in there. Salt, Pepper, Paprika, should be in every rub, shit like Mustard Powders, Garlic Powder, etc. are other things you can add, this is really upto you to learn what the fuck dif spices taste like, prob. more important then learning how to Sautier.
Paprika: is typically heavy in this for color and smoked taste, smoked red is the best type.

So if you want a sweet & sour bbq sauce, mix up ketchup, vinegar, mustard powder or whatever mustard, worchestershire, brown sugar, paprika.

[gamez]

They key to grilling chicken really well is to cook it over a low flame for a long time. The lower temperature you cook it at the juicer the meat is going to be, and the more flavor the meat will retain. Also, I don't turn the chicken at all. Basically just set it and check it every 10 minutes or so to make sure shit isn't on fire (which it shouldn't be since the flame is low).

^ Doin' it very right.