Killer Barbecue

Looking for some grilled veggies, either as a side or a main dish?

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Listen. If you buy a smoker, I advise that you buy a vertical smoker. The big thing I like about a vertical smoker is that the smoke and steam are focused in a smaller area, so your meats are smoked evenly without some parts drying out. One bit of advice, though: make sure it’s secure! Most come with legs or stands to keep them vertical, but take more precautions. It will keep you from almost burning down your home .

One of the best things about vertical smokers, compared to the type that sits lengthwise like a standard grill, is that the vertical cooking space results in  juicy and delicious meats.

The first major decision when buying a vertical smoker is the fuel type. The most popular fuels are natural gas and charcoal, but electric smokers are gaining in popularity. Each one has its unique benefits and drawbacks, so take some time and decide which you want.

Charcoal is less expensive, provides a ritual, and gives the feel and taste of a more natural fire. However, it must be dutifully tended (which can also be a benefit, depending on what you are looking for) and watched to ensure the temperature is consistent . It can also leave a great mess.

Natural gas is clean burning, as long as you keep your vertical smoker well maintained, and it’s easier to maintain a consistent temperature. However, natural gas is pricier and the lengthy smoking process can really drain a tank fast.

Electric smokers use heated elements, rather than fire, to roast the wood chips to the smoking point. However, electric smokers obviously require an outlet nearby, and electricity in your area might be a bit pricey.

Aside from fuel, make sure you get a vertical smoker with a sturdy shell and protective coating both outside and in. Even with the coating, clean the interior of the smoker and let it to dry thoroughly. The worst thing is to bring a bunch of friends over for some smoked steaks only to find that your smoker is lousy with rust.

And like I said at the start, make sure the smoker is steady and not near flammable material, particularly if you buy charcoal or natural gas. I had some friends over for pork chops and we were hanging out on the deck. My smoker was smoking away on a wooden table and we were all having a couple and having a great time (maybe a little too great too quickly.) My guy Robbie was goofing off with a soccer ball and knocked the smoker over! It fell and smoldering charcoal flew all over the dried pine needles on the deck. We poured the ice water from the beer bucket on it, but  had to turn the hose on to soak the entire deck and the ground around it. We were able to save the chops and toss them on the grill. Luckily, neither dinner nor the house were a total loss.

There is quite often a lot of debate over pork. A lot of people know all the nutritional benefits that pork can provide because it is a meat that they truly love. There are also those who are not so sure about pork and look at it with suspicion and, of course, there are also those who won’t touch this meat because of religious reasons.

Obviously there is the vegetarian who won’t have one good thing to say about pork; in fact about any meat at all. The anti-pork brigade manages to get plenty of support from the media who are always looking for sensational stories that will make money. At the end of the day a story detailing how bad pork is is a better read for many than the details of the nutritional benefits.

There is a lot of hysteria about pork and because of this it gets an unfair deal with a lot of the truth seemingly ignored. If you were to ask most nutritionists they would tell you that there are a lot of vitamins, minerals, and protein in pork and it can actually be quite healthy. The goodness in pork has been glossed over because it is far more interesting to read about how bad it is because this is more sensational.

Pork has been a British favorite for a long time; we have been eating this meat for thousands of years. There are many things that we love eating which are made from pork products, such as bacon, pork ribs, sausages and pork chops. Pork was probably one of the main meats that we all grew up on and it never did any harm to our parents and grandparents who ate it all their lives. Hopefully when it comes to the pork debate, the good side will start to get a mention soon.

When it comes to people’s favorite food, one thing that is near the top of the list for many people is pork. The popularity of this meat amongst people has meant that demand is always high for things such as pork recipes. Pork loin recipes are also a favorite of many, especially since the loin tends to be a much higher quality meat that the other cuts.

This is a surprisingly simple way to make an amazing whole chicken on the barbecue grill. With this recipe, you don’t need any special equipment, just a beer can and a grill big enough to do a whole chicken.  It makes incredibly moist chicken you’ll remember for a long time.

This Beer Can Chicken recipe uses a gas grill. If you are cooking Beer Can Chicken on a charcoal grill just pay attention to the charcoal, as usual.

“Beer Can Chicken” may not be quite as interesting as the Redneck Chicken BBQ, but still pretty darn good.

Supplies Needed:

• Whole roasting chicken
• 2 tbsp olive oil (not shown)
• Your favorite chicken rub
• 1 can of beer, your favorite brand

Also, keep on hand a large bowl for rubbing the chicken, a small glass for some beer, a meat thermometer, a serving fork, and a barbecue spatula. Continue Reading »

Charcoal smokers will give you a great range of tastes and they are a perfect change from your standard summertime charcoal or wood grilling. You can smoke nearly anything that can be grilled , and combining the many kinds of wood with various meat is an awesome challenge and makes for a compelling hobby.

Check it out: Ribs are one of the most popular kinds of meat to use in a charcoal smoker. You can’t beat a huge rack of ribs, smoked to perfection with a hickory or mesquite . Beef or pork it doesn’t matter, because either are great smoked. Water is very important , as well . Since smoking takes a long time – many hours in most cases – you need a water pan there to make sure the meat  doesn’t dry out. You can have the amazing smoky taste , but it’ll all be ruined if the ribs or chops are tough and dry .

Pork chops are another popular smoking meat. One of my favorite recipes calls for smoking pork chops with maple wood, then creating a maple syrup glaze to coat the chops with during the last 30 minutes . The smoke gives them a maple taste , the water keeps it moist, and the glaze at the end seals in the juicy deliciousness. It has a sweet flavor that goes perfectly with roasted yams.

You want some lighter wood and heartier meat if you’re smoking fish. By “hardier” I mean that Haddock or any kind of light, white fish is difficult to smoke, but it can be done. So the best bet, especially if you’re just starting off, is to smoke tuna or salmon . It’s thicker, meatier, and will keep together through the smoking process.

Apple is a great lighter wood that works great with salmon, though you have to smoke much longer because the flavor is mellower. Be watchful ! You don’t want to overcook your salmon. If it’s flaky, it’s overcooked. Briny water is very important with salmon to prevent it from drying out, particularly if you need to smoke it longer. Use wet wood chips to make a more billowy smoke. If it turns out great, though, it’s worth the work. The salmon will go well with wild grain rice and Swiss chard.

Don’t be afraid to try different things with the water too. Besides just water, you can add juices or beer. For example, smoking deer in a light maple wood and a cherry-infused beer gives a great flavor! You can dress it with a cherry sauce or serve as is.

The biggest thing is to try different things . Smoking is an art, and as with any craft the skill is perfected through trial and error. Charcoal smokers come in many sizes and shapes, and have different features. Start simple – a standard vertical smoker should start you just fine – and go from there. Don’t go out and spend 100s of dollars on the huge smoker on your first time go. You won’t know how to use everything and could be overwhelmed. A cylinder, a water pan, two racks, and a thermometer is enough to get you going.

A wireless BBQ thermometer is designed to measure the temperature of the food inside the grill or oven so that you know if the food is cooked, still cooking, or already burning. With a wireless thermometer around you can do other things to prepare dinner while monitoring the food you’re cooking inside the grill.

You cannot hurry the cooking or else it will be too raw or too burnt, obviously, so you want to keep the grill cover closed as much as possible. This means getting everything, chips, temp, water, etc., properly set up ahead of time. With a wireless temperature gauge or thermometer you can keep an eye on things without problems.

What can you expect from a good wireless BBQ thermometer?

The range should be good. The main reason why you want to go wireless is so that you can move away and focus on other things If the effective range is about 5 feet then you better be doing all your food prep right there. A large, easily readable screen is another plus and some even come with audio alerts.

A good range for a wireless thermometer is 10 to 100 feet. Test its range inside your home before deciding to keep it. Take note that metal doors or big furniture made of sturdy wood could interfere with the signal. Read the instruction manual to make sure the calibrations on the transmitter and receiver are correct.

The importance of accuracy cannot be stressed enough. The thermometer is supposed to give you the precise cooking temperature of your food. Overcooked meat is bad tasting and tough, so with a good unit you should be able to tell you when the meat is cooked just right. You also don’t want to come running to the grill just because the temperature you received indicated that the food is burning when it is barely cooked. Accuracy doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should be close enough to be reliable. Faulty kitchen gadgets like a defective thermometer can make you look like an awful cook.

This website will give you more information on wireless BBQ thermometers. Also, check out this next website for a barbecue grill.

Many Korean style barbeques are ordered in Korean restaurants. Kalbi is the most popular among them.

Kalbi, or galbi, is one of many kinds of “gui”, or grilled dishes, in Korean cuisine that are made with meat, marinated in soy sauce. In the Korean language, galbi literally means “rib” and can often indicate uncooked ribs. In addition, the dish’s full name is galbi gui, but it’s understood even without the word “gui”.

They are usually served with lettuce and a spicy dipping sauce called ssamjang. A spoonful of rice, a piece of galbi, and a dollop of ssamjang wrapped up in lettuce is a divine mouthful of some of the best flavors in Korean cooking. Galbi is not only a restaurant food, but is popular in picnics, too!

Recipe Ingredients

• 16 ribs
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 Asian pear, chopped (or ½ Korean pear)
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 4 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp ground pepper
• 1 tbsp juice of ginger

Cooking Directions

1. Carefully wash the meat. Soak in water for 1 hour, then drain.
2. In a food processor add chopped onion and pear and purée finely.
3. Pour out to a large bowl, add remaining ingredients and stir.
4. Marinate beef for 8-10 hours or overnight for optimal taste.
5. They cook relatively quickly, 2-3 minutes on one side.
6. Traditionally, Kalbi is grilled with a wood charcoal, but certainly you can grill on a gas stove or outdoor grill.

You shouldn’t have any problem finding any of the above ingredients in your grocery store, but a Korean market might have more interesting ingredients and other Kalbi recipes.

The following video is another recipe for Kalbi. I have difficulties with the narrator’s accent, but the subtitles are very clear and the recipe is easy to follow and looks pretty yummy.

EzineArticles.com source

Vertical chicken roasters are a terrific method to cook a whole chicken in a backyard barbeque. The most bare bones design can be constructed on your own, while store bought kinds range from about $15 to over $100. Really, there’s nothing to it: a lot of roasters are a metal cylinder attached to a base. You slide the bird over the cylinder, add beer or water , and set it on the grill to let it cook.

The stands are usually conical or cylindrical and fashioned of metal. One type is made with high-temperature glass that can be filled with beer, water, or anything you like. On some, the stand also serves as a roaster for veggies and herbs . Others are made of steel and coated with a nonstick coating. Others come with skewers to clip on the side so you can roast potatoes alongside the chicken. The more expensive vertical poultry roasters are round pans made of cast iron with a cylinder in the middle to stand up the chicken.

Make sure you put some planning into the style of stand to get with your roaster. If you’re not worried about using the fat or roasting with vegetables or herbs, a plain base will do. Other bases are molded into trays to hold fruit, veggies, or herbs. And you can catch the fat to make gravy.

For the do-it-yourselfer, all you need is a soda or beer can and a steady metal base, such as a roasting pan, that will hold up under heat. Fill the can with beer or water. This is the roaster I use. It’s recyclable, simple, and doesn’t hog up a lot of space simple, recyclable, and doesn’t take up a lot of space.

The original reason for the design was to roast a bird without it sitting in a lake of fat. The chicken is less fatty, but still juicy, tender, and moist. If you want to make gravy, the trays can collect fat dripping from the chicken.

A poultry roaster can be set up on the grill, in a smoker, in the oven, or over a campfire. And the adventurous roaster isn’t limited to chicken. You can roast duck, pheasant, Cornish hens, or a small turkey . You’re only bound by your imagination.

The thing about grilling salmon, of course, is that it cooks quickly and doesn’t need the slow cooking. Grill it up and serve it.

It’s very easy to overcook fish. Raw fish will be translucent, cooked will be opaque and flakey, so you want to cook it to just at the point where it turns flaky. It’s better to under cook it a bit than overcook it, in my opinion, anyway.

Also, salmon will really stick to the grill unless you use a grilling spray. Even then, expect to have to gently pry it off the grill to turn it or remove it.

What I’ve been doing is cooking it a couple of minutes grilling over a high heat, to get those grill marks, then move it away from the direct heat for a few minutes. I’ve been using a whole fillet, around 1.5 pounds, skin on, and only grilling the skin side.

Here’s the recipe, such as it is. Pretty much like cooking a steak.

• Get the charcoal going (we use a Weber grill) on one side of the BBQ.
• Spray the grill with a high temp grilling spray
• Place the salmon, skin side down, right over the charcoal.
• Sprinkle on your favorite seasonings
• Cover and grill for 2-3 minutes. (The charcoal should be hot enough that you can hear it sizzle.)
• Move away from the heat, cover, and cook for 5-10 minutes, depending on how thick the fillet is.
• You should see the fat beading up on the surface of the fillet when it’s done.
• Remove and serve.

A whole fillet is awkward to flip, so if you want the grill marks on both side just cut it into sections, 4 to 6 inches long.

Here’s another salmon grilling recipe. The chef marinades the fish for 30 minutes, then grills for just a few minutes.

Garlic Ginger Basil Salmon
It’s not BBQ, but it looks pretty yummy.
He also makes some remarks about cooking salmon to the “medium” state.