Setting up your grill

Cooking outdoors is something that men just have to do. Once in awhile a man needs to let his primitive, animal nature just kind of run wild. And what better way to do that thank cooking outside?! So it's a warm spring day and you just want to hear something sizzle. You go brutha...but wait.....do you know what you're doing? "Sure I do..throw the coals in the grill, throw on the meat, drink a beer, and its' done!" While I certainly appreciate this chest pounding mentality, I ask you only to take into consideration the others who will be consuming this food. After a guzzling a 12 pack, anything will taste good. But try something once...try cooking sober without the neighbor standing around...just you and the grill. And ask yourself...is this the best I can do? Probably not. So with that in mind, let me offer up a few pointers. First of all....don't use regular charcoal...use lump. Secondly, do not EVER use lighter fluid. Buy a chimeny starter. They're cheap and no chemical smell or taste. Lastly and take my word on this one...when you arrange the charcoal in the grill, don't just dump it in there anywhere. I hate burning meat. So I like to give my meat an "out". A little place out of the sun if you will. I arrange my charcoal on one side of the grill and cook my chicken on the other. I still get plenty of heat but without the burning. Also, with doing this, I can move my meat directly over the coals and return them to the safe zone whenever things get a bit hot. Cooking like this will take some of the pressure off of you while you cook. Also the meat will cook a bit slower making it that much more supple. Also, remember that you don't want to use any seasoning with sugar in it. It will burn long before your meat does. Also, a spritz or two of apple juice once in awhile won't hurt. Good luck!

Speed Up That Chicken

Barbecue is best cooked low and slow. But for chicken, that rule only goes so far. About 90 minutes to be exact. That is how long chicken will absorb smoke. After that it can be transferred onto a grill until it reaches 165. My pit has a grate in the firebox but if you're using another grill it's not a bad idea to start getting it ready after your meat has been on the pit about an hour. You want a medium fire in your grill. Not red hot. So let your charcoal burn down a bit before you put your chicken over the coals. Baste frequently and apply sauce about 5 minutes before taking off. The practice of moving chicken over to a grill makes for more supple skin, where leaving it on the smoker the whole time tends to turn it a bit rubbery. Also, your guests are happy because they don't have to wait as long to eat!

BBQ - A Lifestyle

If you walk into my back yard on a weekend afternoon, there's a good chance you'll smell BBQ. Much to my wife's dissaproval, I BBQ damn near every weekend. BBQ is more than just food to me. It's a way of life. Literally, every plate of BBQ I've ever had has been over good conversation. Maybe it's the smoke flavor of the meat. Maybe it's the sauce. But something about BBQ yields friendship. BBQ is truly heart warming. I am by no means a wealthy man. Actually, I can barely afford the meat that I do cook but I refuse to pull anything off the pit and not have a guest over to serve it to. BBQ is made to be shared. There is nothing more fufilling than enjoying the company of family and friends over a plate of sliced brisket. Perhaps that is what the world needs more of. More BBQ. More friendship.

The Backyard Chef - Buying a new grill

Your neighbor's grill has finally gotten to you...you're ready to cook out. Now all you need is a grill. First off, this article is for the novice backyard chef so you pros, bear with me. Now before you head to the store, there are a few things you need to ask yourlself. Most importantly, charcoal or gas? Here's a few pros and cons. Gas grills are quick and easy. No charcoal, no lighter fluid...just a push of a button and there's your fire. However, this convenience comes with a price tag. Gas grills usually start at about $99 and go up from there. Way up in fact. There are some mighty fancy grills out there. Charcoal however, gives you that rustic, bbq flavor. Many people prefer charcoal to gas just because of the flavor. You can add wood chips to a gas grill in a cast iron box, but it's really not the same thing. I have used it and noticed little or no differnce. You can get a decent charcoal grill very inexpensive. I have bought them as low as $20 and they work great. Both choices cause you to buy things though. Sure with a charcoal grill, you have to buy the charcoal, but a gas grill uses propane which has to be refilled periodically. This usually costs about $15. So there you have it...it all comes down to flavor. Whichever way you go though, perhaps you should start small. It's not necesseary to spend $500 on a gas grill when the $99 model will do the same thing! Maybe you should start with a $20 charcoal grill before you start looking at the $99 Webers! No matter what you choose, it's going to take some patience and time to learn how to cook on it. Cooking with fire is much different than using an oven. Some people get frustrated and never open the lid again so before you spend some big bucks on something fancy, try your luck on something cheap or borrow a friends to see how you're gonna like it! Most of all - just have fun. Grilling is a great way to entertain friends and family.

Seasoning - Buy in Bulk

As you probably already know, BBQ seasoning isn't cheap. For example. I use Head Country Championship Seasoning. In the grocery store, a 6 oz. bottle is $4.95. On the Head Country website www.headcountry.com, you can buy a 7 lb. gallon container for $22.95. So basically you're getting 18 store bought bottles for the price of about 4. Much better. Also you can purchase BBQ sauce and other condiments this way. So check it out! Before you go to the grocery store, shop around online and chances are you'll find a much better deal!

Slicing a brisket

Slicing a brisket sounds easy but there is a certain way to do it. First off before you cook it, look at it because it's really easy to see the grains while it is raw. You want to slice a brisket across the grain. In other words, find the direction the grains are going and cut across them, as if you're cutting the grain in half. In most cases, you will start at the corner of the brisket to start slicing...kind of going diagonally across the meat. So while the meat is raw find the direction you're going to be cutting and go ahead and mark it. You can do this by simply slicing into it about half way, leaving a good enough mark where you can see it after the smoking process. Some cooks even take that corner out so they can see later the direction to start cutting.

Smoking a Brisket

Brisket. A BBQ favorite. Brisket isn't hard to cook but there are certain steps that need to be taken in order to produce a quality product. First and foremost....good BBQ takes time. If you have people comming over to eat Sunday at noon, then you better smoke that brisket on Saturday. A good thing about brisket is that it re-heats well so what I do is cook it well in advance and put it in the fridge without cutting it. A few hours before meal time, warm it up in the oven or on your pit! Now onto the smoking. This teqnique is pretty bare bones. Nothing fancy here, just the basics. Once you get the hang of it you can tweek it out any way you like. A brisket has two parts, the nose and the flat and is fat on one side. Buy your brisket trimmed. This is just the flat part of the brisket. The nose is almost all fat anyway so you aren't loosing much. Make sure one side has some fat on it. When you get it home rub it down with some sort of BBQ rub. There are a million kinds out there so take your pick. Make sure you rub hard enough to get the seasoning into the meat well. Now it's time for marinade. You want to do this about 12 hours before putting it on the pit. Again, there are a million different marinades. If you don't have anything, 1 can of beer and 1 bottle of italian dressing will work. I use a large oven bag because they don't tear easily. Put your meat and marinade in the bag and let it hang out in the fridge awhile (overnight). About 2 hours before you light your pit, take your brisket out of the fridge. You never want to put an ice cold brisket on a hot pit because it will sweat and you will loose lots of much needed moisture. Get your pit up to about 225-250 degrees with charcoal and wood. (See section on building a fire in your pit). I always start my brisket out at about 250 and bring the temp down slowly to get that initial sear to hold in those juices. Now, place the brisket on the pit fat side up and close the lid. Remember, you're cooking with indirect heat so don't worry about burning the meat. About half way through the cooking process or when your meat gets around 100 degrees...begin basting with apple juice. Use a spray bottle and do this about every 30 minutes. When your brisket reaches 160 degrees, it's time for foil. Start wrapping the brisket up tight but before you seal it in, add about a half bottle of bbq sauce. Put the brisket back on the pit for another hour, then flip it over. Finally, when your meat reaches about 175 degrees, flip it back over (fat side up) and cook until it reaches about 190 degrees. It's done. Take it off of the pit and let it hang out for about 45 minutes to cool slowly. Finally, slice it across the grain and watch the mouths water. So there you have it. That should get you a brisket done. But remember, experiment! You can ask 5 cooks how they smoke a brisket and you will get 5 different answers. BBQ is all about trial and error so try new things until you find your own groove.