OK, this has been a very interesting thread...so far ;)

Do you mean grilling or do you mean BBQ?

BBQ is the process of cooking low & slow. Cooking brisket, ribs, chicken, etc. over many hours, produces phenomenal results. I find 8-10 hours for brisket, 4-6 hours for ribs & 3-4 hours for chicken to work best. Use smoke of your favorite wood (hickory, mesquite, cherry, etc.) early in the process. You will want to soak the chips in water for a couple of hours before adding them to the grill. Grilling allows your to add sauce many times later in the cooking to ad more flavor. Cooking longer can increase the taste. It's up to individual preference.

A temperature of 200 degrees F is about right. Low temperature is the key!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grilling is cooking food fast. High heat & a short cooking time. This is best for steaks, fish, dogs, burger, brats, etc. Anything you want to cook (and consume) fast.

Both have their place & both produce excellent results, although they are quite different.

Bottom line...do what tastes best to you. We're all different.

YMMV ;) :D :) ^ :-: :-:

Sadly, in the San Francisco Bay area, these tend to get used as synonyms.

The horror, the horror.

All of your tips are right-on ^

AMEN ! ^

The searing unit use to only be an option on very high end grills (3-4k) as it had a patent which recently expired. The key is they burn HOT...MUCH MUCH hotter then the flames in your grill so they trap the juices much better.

Its the same principal as heating up the grill on high just more effective.

Why bother? I'd much rather be out on the patio cooking then inside. And it may be just my mind but it still tastes better when on the grill (must be those left over wood chips in there)!

My tips, in no particular order...

Don't ever, ever, ever use lighter fluid. Best way to start charcoal is using a chimney starter (available for ~$15 at Home Depot), next best would probably be one of those electric starters.

For the more "normal" stuff (burgers, brats, etc), using the standard Kingsford charcoal briquettes is OK, but use lump hardwood charcoal for your real works of art. Speaking of charcoal, magiciansampras noted that you don't need to overload your grill with charcoal, and that's right - I've got a weber cookbook which recommends 50 briquettes for their 22.5" grills.

If you're using a BBQ sauce with sugar or corn syrup in it, hold off until the last 10 minutes of grilling, or else it'll burn on and not taste so good. Vinegar based mop sauces can (and should) be applied throughout cooking.

For steaks, you don't need anything fancy. Before grilling, I brush on some olive oil, season with salt and pepper, brush it again before I flip it.

Dip a folded paper towel in some kind of oil (vegetable, olive, etc) and use your tongs to oil the grill grate - food won't stick quite so much.

Particularly with just a touch of good quality balsamic vinegar.

For me, I omit the ice cube, add a bit of butter AND olive oil, and fresh herbs from my garden. Thyme, Lemon thyme, or basil all work very nicely. Plus a little salt & pepper.

Interesting twist on a good steak - marinate for a short time (10-15 minutes) in plastic bag with a few grinds of fresh pepper and a shot of your favorite scotch. Works rather nicely with salmon as well. I always salt the meet slightly with coarse kosher salt just a few minutes before putting on the grill - draws out some solvated protiens which crisp up nicely to form a good crust.

Love grilled zucchini, tomatoes, asparagus, radicchio, mushrooms coked right on the grill. Corn cooked directly on the grill can be cut off the cob to make a fantastic corn-chile-lime-tequila salsa (I use jalapenos). For eating off the cob, the above foil-wrap version or cooking right in soaked husks works great.

The carcinogens part also applies to beef as well. The charring it creates one carcinogen, while the other is formed by the meat being cooked at too high a temperature. NPR had suggestions on how to reduce it.

First they say "beginning of the grilling season". For me there is never an end. I've got pictures at the cabin of me digging a trail threw 3' of snow to get to the grill.

Its only bad when you cook it hot and long. Thus the further need for a searing unit! Cook it ultra hot for a very short period of time and then over low heat.

LOL, ours goes on at least through football season, so I understand. I was just providing a link to some information about it. :)

My grilling season begins in May and ends in February.

March and April are just too windy, but if the day is nice enough ;)

At home my neighboors make fun of me. I'm on the grill in the rain, snow, sleet. It doesn't matter! In fact when you smoke something on the grill (on my old grill) it was nice when it was a little cold outside as it was easier to keep the temp around 200. I'm hoping this new one is easier to control at low heat.

One of my favorites in Beer in the Butt Chicken.

I also like to throw ears of corn that are still in the husks right on the grill. They come off very moist, and the smell reminds me of college.

For grilling fish or chicken wings or veggies, you can use something like the BBQ Buddy Grill Top (at least that is the name here in Canada). It's a shallow medium weight foil pan with a "corrugated" bottom and lots of slits for heat to enter and liquids to drain. You could make your own with a doubled length of aluminum foil, use multiple folds to create the "corrugation" and a large knife to cut some slits.

Of course you can also buy the various grill top accessories made of "non-stick" metal (which always seem to stick for me) but then you have to clean and wash them and one of the attractions of grilling for me is no messy pans to clean!!!

Kebabs - I love kebabs on the grill, but my husband says it's a "girl thing." He figures men only want to cook big pieces of meat.

Still, I think chicken pieces marinated in different sauces are fabulous. Or prawns.

For chicken, I read recently to try marinating 1 lb of pieces in a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice plus 1 tsp salt for an hour, then marinate overnight in a Tikka or tandoori sauce (or add curry mix to yogurt and a small amount of oil). I would thread this onto skewers along with chunks of mango and serve with some mango chutney or a mango salsa.

Spicy prawns with fruit is also good. Marinate or coat with a cajun seasoning mix, for example.

Marinated pork on kebabs along with pineapple chunks, red and green peppers and maybe onion is also tasty.

I use bamboo skewers and soak them in water for at least 30 mins. I used to have metal skewers, but that clean-up thing annoyed me....

When I get back to my home in a few weeks I'll post a great pulled pork on the grill receipe.

It starts with an amazing dry rub, smoke on the grill, pull the pork then put it into a wet sause to cook for a while longer.

The dry rub is GREAT. The wet sause I'm still working on...have not quite prefected it (its good just not great).

I don't like mixing veggies, fruits or meat in kabobs

They have different cooking temperatures, I end up with a mix of burned and overcooked items.

Weather doesn't deter us from grilling. That said, our tailgates are down to a science, and are definitely extreme. We do home fries, eggs, including omelets, pancakes, and french toast for breakfast, depending on the day. :)

Heck, just toss them on your searing unit and the veggies/fruits will burn into nothing and you'll be left with the important stuff....the meat! :D

^ ^
The grill I ordered has a griddle that fits over the middle two burners. Up to this point I have just used cast iron pans to do my egg/potatoe type cooking (this works very well)

Let us know how the new grill is, my neighbor's doesn't heat too well.

Maybe it's defective (not sure if it's my neighbor or the grill :D)

I do know what you mean, but it usually works well for something like prawns which don't need much cooking time, anyway. Sometimes I thread the fruit onto a separate skewer for better control.

Sweet! What time of grill is this? We use regular cookware pans. Those work fairly well.

Actually the Lowes guy said in the last couple years they had a defective part (regulator?) that wasn't allowing the proper flow of gas to the grill. Your friend should call and get a replacement shipped!

Its a Jenn-Air 52" Natural gas grill. It has 75,000 BTUs + a side burner. Built in smoker box, brass burners, etc.

I'm also going to pick up the rotisserie (I've never used one before)!

I absolutely love the grilling process and I love to eat so it was about time for me to invest in a nice grill! I was going to get the same kind as JFE but I don't have a mansion and thought it would be overkill (just kidding. It was just a bit out of my price range).

It's not a mansion :mad:

But I do love my grill :cool:

Basic cooking... The size of the veggies and meats you skewer should all be of a size that finish cooking at approx the same time. That is, your meat pieces will be smaller than that of the veggies. Simple.

Too much cutting just to make sure they all are the same size

I like the rustic look ;)

How much is the lowest I can spend for a good quality gas grill? Are all the ones with brass burners >$1k? I could see in the few hundred range, but would like to stay well south of a thousand. I assume this puts searing units out of range (i really don't understand exactly how they work anyway - they still use gas, right?). Also, our new house (if we ever get to close :mad: :mad: :mad: ) is not a mansion like the Versailles of the Rio Grande area.

I know that there are folks that like the convenience of gas grills, but you simply cannot get the same effect with a gas grill as slow-smoking meat over wood and/or charcoal.

I had a gas grill once and used it maybe twice. It was extremely disappointing after eating charcoaled or wood-smoked meats.

YMMV

OK, I usually get mad, but this one made me chuckle :D

Unfortunately brass burners and searing units are expensive, but that doesn't mean you can't get a decent grill for less money

My old charbroil worked pretty well

Just look for the following

• Heavy grill grates (keep and distribute the heat better)
• No windows, it just gets dirty and makes a mess
• At least 2 zones, some items cook faster than others
• Side burner, only used mine a few times
• Rotisserie, first time I own one, haven't used it, yet ;)
• Gas or Charcoal (convenience vs taste)

For those that don't understand the searing concept, here is a nice explanation of how infrared works

http://www.charbroil.com/TEC/index2.html

You are correct that wood/charcoal is always going to be better. But you can come a long way if you can keep the heat very low on the gas grill (this is hard on most grills) and use the right smoke chips.

This was the best thing we did. I had a cheapo gas grill that was rusting out anyway, so I ditched that and got a charcoal grill. The chimney starter makes it very easy to not use lighter fluid. (I remember always using tons of lighter fluid growing up.) Pour some briquettes in there, stick a wadded up piece of newspaper in the bottom, and light the paper. Give it a while and you have perfect coals. The only tricky part is pouring them out. The chimney gadget gets plenty hot. I have two silicone oven mitts that I use for this purpose.

Yeah, I just use enough to make a single layer, and actually usually only for half the grill, because when it's just the two of us I'm not cooking that much.

Do you actually manage to do this just after you pour the coals and put the grate down (so you don't have to try to hold up the grate and oil it somehow) or is that just not possible? If so it's definitely the trick I've been looking for.

One of these days I'm going to try the cedar plank salmon. I have some cedar planks bought for that purpose, but we're kind of afraid to ruin good fish. Some of our fish grilling tries (they were on the old cheapo gas grill, though) came out so-so, and some not so great.

Also want to try wood chips again. I tried a smoker box a couple times on the gas grill, but I wasn't too impressed with that. Might try the real lump charcoal one day.

How did you do it on the gas? It took me a few tries before I figured a way out that produces good smoke.

I only used the smoker box once on my grill, and it incinerated the soaked wood chips

I am going to have to adjust the gas valve :o

What is your box made out of? The one I use is cast iron, thick and heavy.

I believe my Weber Genesis grill (about $450, incl. cover and a 2nd tank) stacks up very well against most of the $800-1000 grills on the market. I have a few friends who have these monster grills with lots of bells and whistles and pretty much grill steaks and burgers for 4-6 people at a time. You can do all of that and more with a simple Weber gas grill. Spend the extra $500 on meat. :)

I also have a small electric Brinkman smoker. A pretty low-end model. I grill several times a week but only smoke 4-5 times a year. One of these years, I'll upgrade, but for now, the little guy does a small brisket or a couple slabs of ribs just fine.

My tips, which some of you have already covered:

- If your wife insists on 95% lean ground beef, you'll need to dope the meat with bread crumbs at a bare minimum. Although I tend to go light on sauces and marinades with beef, super-lean hamburger really needs some help! So we mix in bread crumbs, garlic, rosemary, and perhaps a little sauce.

- Handle the meat on the grill as little as possible. It might take a while to get to know your grill, but once you figure out where to place and how long it will take to properly grill big, thick burgers, you should only have to flip them 1 time. Same holds true for any meat - the less you need to jack with it, the better off you'll be.

- Toss hamburger or hotdog buns onto a cooler section of the grill to toast them. Very easy to do and it adds to the overall presentation. If you wish you may butter or oil them lightly before putting them on the grill.

- All sorts of fruits & veggies work well on the grill. Last night, we did sliced squash, direct-grilled, and then tossed in olive oil with garlic. Also did corn - lots of ways to do corn both in & out of the husk. Last week, we did bananas and pineapple on the grill. A light lime sauce to finish the bananas and a coconut milk, cinnamon, and sugar sauce for the pineapple.

- Grilled portabella mushrooms rule. Go with either an olive oil / garlic / rosemary marinade or with some Asian flavors. A big mushroom and some grilled slices of good bread and you are well on your way to a filling and flavorful vegetarian sandwich.

- Try a smoker pouch (soaked wood chunks wrapped in foil with a few holes poked in it) with anything you plan to slow-cook on the grill. On my Weber, I drop it below the grate on the Flavorizer bars. On a charcoal grill, the pouch can rest in the coals. On other gas grills, check the user manual: it probably tells you where to put the pouch. (Generally, below the food but above and not resting on the gas tubes themselves.) Some high-end grills have a built-in metal box for wood chips.

- Milder fruit woods work well with chicken and fish. Stronger stuff like hickory or mesquite rocks with beef. You don't have to be on a mission to spend the day smoking meat to slip a little smoker pouch onto the grill. Unless you are using a smoking recipe that specifically asks for something different, just use 1 pouch. Late in the cooking process the meat isn't taking more smoke flavor in anyway.

- If you are using propane, the 2nd tank is a huge convenience. Well worth it if you grill often. Find a place that refills your tanks directly - not a place that requires you to swap for their tanks. Look for equipment rental places or ask at your local hardware store. If the hardware store doesn't do it, they will know who does.

- If you are rigging a seriously high-end or permanent-fixture unit, look into running a natural gas line from your house. Most grills can handle this with the addition of a simple adapter to account for the different orifice size.

It's pretty heavy, not sure what it's made of

All it says on the website is

Cast iron box with wood chips. I just moved some of the bricks out of the way on one side. It wasn't a really grand attempt. It was on the cheap, like the rest of that grill. I think it was more a lesson in the fact that you can't do much more than straight grilling on the cheap. ;)

BTW, when I mean on the cheap I mean CHEAP. This grill cost well under $100 on closeout one year at Wal-Mart as I recall. My dad found it, bought one for himself and one for me. It was mostly gone anyway. Everything but the tank went out with the trash late last year.

And maybe different burners as the LP/NG burn a bit differently.

Great post, pinniped. I have a Weber Genesis as well, hooked to my NG line. Buying good meat makes all the difference. I also require that it be fresh - I can't stand the taste of a steak that has been frozen so I don't buy it in bulk at Costco or anything.