Summer Grilling Tips
Summer is here which means it’s grilling season! If you shy away from the grill or think it’s just too hard, our summer grilling tips are here to help you out!
There’s nothing quite like the perfect grilled steak or a perfect rack of grilled ribs. Grilling brings out the flavor in meats like nothing else. The slight charred or wooden flavor really adds to the experience.
Most summer evenings, we are grilling! Everyone has their own style of grilling foods. Some people do it with flair, while others do it methodically.
Grilling foods well is every bit as complex as cooking other kinds of dishes. On the surface, it looks like you just stick a slab of meat on top of a grill and call it a day. In reality however, there’s quite a lot of thought that goes into the perfect grilled meal.
Here are ten top tips to help you achieve that perfect, mouth watering grilled meat experience.
Summer Grilling Tips
Start With High Quality Meat. If you don’t have good foundation, your building will fall. Same with grilling!
If you don’t start with a piece of high quality meat, you won’t have good flavor and the meat won’t be as tender. While high quality meat is slightly more expensive, it makes a big difference.
Tips for Buying High Quality Meat
- Buy meats from butchers rather than from packaged meats. Packaged meats trap moisture inside due to the packaging, which changes the meat’s texture.
- When buying steaks, look for Certified Black Angus or USDA Prime.
- When buying other kinds of meat or cuts, look for grass fed beef or free range chicken. It makes a difference.
Don’t be shy with Flavor. There are many different ways you can add flavor to grilled meats.
To get the richest flavor throughout the meat, marinate it overnight. The acidic nature of marinades causes its flavors to really sink into the meat.
You can also use dry rubs or wet rubs. These are pre-packaged blends of spices and herbs designed to add flavoring to meats.
Or, keep it simple! Use a brush to apply glazing. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with honey glazed sausages or glazed chicken wings. Glazing is a simple way to make great tasting grilled food without a lot of prep time.
Tip: Make sure to apply sweet glazes on near the end of your cooking time because it can burn more easily.
Make sure your grill is clean! It’s tempting to wait to clean your grill. If there’s a party going on, who wants to take the time to scrub out a grill right then and there?
Fats harden after the grill has time to cool down. Bits of food get stuck to the grill and get very difficult to scrape off.
The easiest time to clean your grill is when it’s still hot. Just take 2 minutes to clean the grill right after you’re done grilling, instead of 20 minutes of scrubbing later down the line.
Leave it alone! Don’t continually flip your food over to see the other side. Don’t stab it with a toothpick to check the insides every 5 minutes.
The best part of grilled foods is the outer crust. That’s where all the juices are. That’s where all the glazing, the marinade or the rub is. If you break it or disrupt it too much, you will also disrupt the flavor.
Remove it Before It’s 100% Cooked. Remember that your food will continue to cook after it’s off the grill.
Factor in about 3 to 5 minutes of extra cooking time after the food comes off the grill. You also want to allow your meat to rest so the juice can settle and not run off the plate when you cut into it!
Tips for Checking for Doneness
- Steaks: Use your finger to poke the surface of the meat. The more firm, the more cooked it is.
- Chicken: Use a skewer and poke through the center of the piece. If it goes through easily and the juice is clear, it’s cooked.
- Seafood: The fish should be completely opaque.
These summer grilling tips will help you be the grill master for your family and put fantastic grilled meats on your dinner table!
