A beautiful, cloudless weather calls for the Barbeque grill to be out and plan that party with some music playing in the background. You want to impress your guests with perfectly cooked slices of meat and veggies. Follow these tips and wait for the rave reviews that come your way!
- Choosing the right charcoal
The right charcoal is important to cook your perfect barbeque. Lump charcoal is good for cooking a wide range of meat. Lump charcoal lights up fast, and has a burn time for about an hour. Briquettes, on the other hands lasts for about 3 hours, with a consistent temperature. This makes it perfect for roasting joints. Different charcoal can introduce different flavours in the barbeque. Charcoal created from Oak wood gives a smoky flavour, perfect for beef chops. Orange, contrarily, works well with chicken, turkey and duck, and gives a citrusy, woody flavour to the meat. Apple wood adds a sweeter flavour.
Another pro tip is to soak the wood chips in water before putting them on hot coal to barbeque. That gives a perfect smoky taste to the barbeque. - Marinade is the key
Marinade the meat for at least a few hours, overnight will even be a better option. By marinating the meat perfectly, the smoky flavour would not overpower the taste of the marinade. Save your marinade, and put it on the meat or fish whenever you cook. It will add moisture as well as add the smoky flavour.
For achieving that perfect taste, you can try American Garden’s BBQ Original Sauce. It has the characteristic of American Classic BBQ taste. Use it as a marinade before laying them on the grill, or you can use it as a dip too! - Light the barbeque early
A major mistake that happens while barbequing is when the charcoals are not heated enough. The average time to light a barbeque is 30 min and wait for it to get to the right temperature. Light the barbeque early, and prep before the guests arrive. If the barbeque grill is heated properly and evenly, then the vegetables and meat will be cooked properly. - Thaw the meat
Remove the meat from the fridge at least 20 min before barbequing them. If the meat is directly removed from the fridge and let into the grill, chances are that the meat will be cooked well from the outside, but the inside remains raw. This could also mean that the meat could burn from the outside. This is especially important for beef cuts. Also applicable for lamb, chicken or other types of meat. - Get the right Temperature
During outdoor cooking, it is also important that the temperature is controlled and maintained. The best way to check the temperature is to keep your hand 12cms or 5 inches away from the grill. Check the time and gauge the temperature accordingly:
If you can hold your hand for longer than:
6 seconds= low heat
4 seconds= medium heat
2 seconds= you can cook now
0 seconds= What are you waiting for?
Once you follow these tips and grill your food, place it immediately in loaves of bread to keep it warm. Serve hot with bread, potato chips, salads, mayo and barbeque sauce.
