As the summer months approach, hopefully, your new RessaBuilt deck has been completed and adorned with all the necessities you will need to host summer gatherings. Furniture is placed, umbrellas have been unfurled, and most importantly, the grill is hot. The summer barbecue is the quintessential gathering that most of us will host or partake in over the coming months. When hosting, one of the main factors that can create elevated stress is providing food, which will most likely be prepared on the grill. Luckily, we have you covered. Below, we put forth some tips and tricks that will allow you to be a true home chef at your event and impress all those gathering at your home.
According to one of our team members, who has cooked professionally in the past, the most important factor in successful grilling is to ensure the condition of the three elements just formally mentioned. Firstly, heat your grill grate to the highest temperature possible. This will burn off/loosen any residue left over from previous cooking sessions. Then, scrape the grates with a metal-haired brush to continue to remove leftover food particles. This is extremely important, not only to get rid of the old food fragments but also to prepare the surface for cooking. Your grates will only perform ideally if they are completely free of previous burnt-on food. Once clean and extremely hot, put a small amount of neutral cooking oil on a rag and carefully coat the grates. The oil, along with heat, and a clean surface will essentially make the rungs nonstick. This will greatly increase the ease of cooking, along with allowing you to impart fantastic grill marks, which give your food the ideal “grilled” presentation.
When cooking on your grill, it is a necessity to understand the different temperature fluctuations between the different areas of the cooking surface. There may be areas that are much hotter than others, and by knowing these locations, allows you to cook different types of foods to their ideal temperatures. For instance, when cooking a ribeye steak, you are going to want to get great sear/grill marks from a very hot portion of the grill, yet with portabella mushroom, you want a lower temperature area that allows the fungi to get color and fully cook through at the same time. Now, in terms of gauging the doneness of that steak to your liking, professional chefs can gauge a med-rare vs a well-done steak simply by touching the piece of protein with their finger and judging the “give” the meat allows. Most home chefs don’t necessarily have that skill set. A simple kitchen thermometer is invaluable in this instance and will allow you to perfectly tell when your steak is cooked to the desired temperature completely taking the guesswork out of the equation.
While many home cooks prefer the convenience that a gas grill offers, pros and purists will always pick charcoal as their source of fuel for grilling. The flavor that charcoal imparts on the final product is unmatched by that of gas. With gas, you don’t get that unmistakable “smoky” flavor you get from cooking over a true open flame. With that being said, cooking with charcoal requires a more diligent eye and skill set. The fire must be maintained at the correct temperature, which can be difficult, and if not carefully monitored, flare-ups can easily overcook the food. Going back to the positives of a charcoal grill, it can double as a smoker. By offsetting the heat source to one side, and sprinkling with wood chips, a steady stream of smoke is created allowing you to truly make BBQ in your back yard.
Most people think simply of savory ingredients when they think about backyard grilling. In reality, the smoky aspects of cooking over an open flame can lend themselves equally to sweet ingredients and desserts. Many fruits such as peaches, pineapple, or even plums can be grilled and then used in a savory salad or macerated into a compote to be used in a tart or as a sauce over ice cream. People also often don’t realize that they are able to use their grill as an outdoor oven in the summer months which can greatly cut down the temperature inside due to the use of your standard oven. Brownies and cookies can easily be baked in an outside covered grill bringing a wildly unique and delicious flavor to the final product. This is truly an area where you can get creative and experiment with different recipes, ingredients, and techniques!
When considering the layout of your outdoor living space, it is crucial to think logistically about the placement of assets, specifically the cooking tools, such as your grill. This space, after all, is an entertainment space, so ensuring the comfort of your guests is paramount. Grilling creates a great deal of smoke and heat. If you are investing in a permanently placed gas grill, ideally, this should be placed away from your main sitting/gathering area so as not to be a discomfort to your guests when cooking is occurring. While there may have been an ideal layout and location that you had in mind when planning the different sections of your outdoor space, this factor is easy to overlook, yet can truly make or break the space.
Hopefully, with some of these ideas, you can make the most out of your summer gatherings this year and truly impress your guests with your home and hospitality!
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