Grilling Help
How to grill a steak like a Texan
If anyplace in America should know how to grill a steak it should be Texas. Grilling a steak is not complicated. In fact, preparing a good grilled steak is a very simple affair once you know how. It doesn’t involve fancy spices or preparation. In this article I will tell you everything you need to know about cooking up a juicy, Texas style steak that will impress your neighbors, especially if they are Yankees!
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How long can you store meat in the freezer?
Reader Mike from Nashville writes to ask: “How long is it safe to keep meat in the freezer?” I did some checking and talked to the Texas Beef Council, and a number of other sources to pull together this chart of storage time for common barbecue items. Here’s the breakdown:
| Refrigerator | Freezer | |
| Steaks and Roasts | 3 or 4 days | 6 to 12 months |
| Ground Beef | 1 or 2 days | 3 to 4 months |
| Cooked Beef | 3 or 4 days | 2 to 3 months |
| Chicken (Pieces) | 1 or 2 days | 1 year |
| Chicken (Whole) | 1 or 2 days | 6 months |
| Cooked Chicken | 3 or 4 days | 4 to 6 months |
| Pork Chops and Roasts | 3 to 5 days | 4 to 6 months |
| Cooked Pork | 3 to 4 days | 1 to 2 months |
| Sausage | 1 or 2 days | 1 to 2 months |
| Sausage (Cooked) | 3 to 5 days | 1 to 2 months |
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NYCFD offers saftey tips for summer grilling
The New York City Fire Department has published an online guide of grilling safety tips to help you make it through the summer grilling season safe and sound.
Included are tips for before and after grilling, how to handle fires and other emergencies, and recommended maintenance to keep your equipment running smoothly.
It doesn’t mention watching out for black widow spiders, like I ran into the other day. It had build a nest between my propane tanks. Yikes!
Anyone have any grilling horror stories to share?
Via NYCFD, Thanks Mike
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Buying a Barbecue Pit or Smoker
The term “barbecue” has a lot of interpretations. To some people, the term barbecue is pretty much any type of outdoor cooking. To others, real BBQ can only be made by slow smoking meat at a low temperature for hours on end.
If you want to tackle this type of cooking you’re grill just isn’t going to cut it. You’ll need to buy an honest to goodness smoker or barbecue pit. If you’re in the market to buy a barbecue pit or smoker, what features should you look for? What’s the difference between a water smoker and other types of pits? The first choice most buyers will need to make is whether they want a water smoker or a barbecue pit (a dry smoker). In this article I’ll try to shed some light on just what your choices are and help you determine which is best for you.
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Another nod for chimney starters
Awhile ago I wrote about the benefits of using a chimney starter instead of lighter fluid for starting your fire. Over at the BBQ Junkie you’ll find another vote for this method.
Seems like they agree. It’s fast, easy, and convenient. It also uses no chemicals, and when paired with lump charcoal creates about as natural a fire as you could hope to achieve. Best of all, they are cheap, usually less than $12 or so.
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All about charcoal
Here’s another “everything you wanted to know about charcoal” guide. This one is from the Virtual Weber Bullet, and is quite comprehensive. It covers everything from the origins of charcoal to which brands you should be using.
Ultimately, the author’s choice of charcoal is Kingsford:
I recommend Kingsford to new WSM owners because it’s a very consistent product that is available nationwide, at an affordable price, and it provides a long, consistent burn. Using Kingsford takes one variable out of the barbecue equation, making it easier for folks to duplicate the recipes I publish here on the Web site.
However, the author is also quick to point out that you shouldn’t use Kingsford charcoal just because he says so. They encourage you to use the information in the article, and your own experience and preferences to decide what works best for you.
Personally, I have been using lump charcoal, which is nice, but it burns pretty quickly and it can be harder to create a uniform fire with. I’ve recently started uses Kingsford myself, and have been quite happy with it. Your mileage may vary.
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The Naked Whiz’s Charcoal Database
Yes, as unlikely as you might think it to be, there is a website dedicated to reviewing the merits and faults of various brands of charcoal. Equally unlikely is the name, The Naked Whiz’s Lump Charcoal Database.
I’ll hand it to, uhm Mr. Whiz, he know’s his charcoal. On his site you can pull up the ratings and reviews for dozens of brands of charcoal, as well as learn how it is made, the history of charcoal, and just about everything else you can imagine on the topic.
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Marinade Paste: The Answer to Quick Grilling?
Marinades are a great way to add flavor and zing to foods before grilling, but what if you don’t have time to wait for several hours for the marinade to work its magic?
Once answer is the marinade paste. This is a thick, sticky marinade that you brush onto your food just before grilling, no waiting required. It not only ads flavor, but creates a glaze or crust that adds a bit of extra texture.
While it won’t replace the tenderizing effects of an acidic marinade, it will help you add additional flavor when you are in a hurry.
Here are some marinade paste recipes to try:
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BBQ Grilling has Reached a Whole New Dimension
Grilling on the barbecue has never been more exciting. Not only do barbecues come in a myriad of designs and options, but also with the advent of popular cooking shows, cooking books and magazines’, grilling has reached a whole new dimension. Grilling is no longer just about steaks and burgers, barbecue grilling is full of adventurous and elegant recipes and menu plans. Some of the tantalizing grilling ‘recipes have names like grilled mango blossom, grilled portobello’s with avocado salsa and grilled beef tenderloin with cabernet sauvignon sauce.
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Free grilling guide for women
According to a recent National Pork Board survey of more than 1,000 women, six out of every 10 women are handling the grilling duties at home at least once a month.
To inspire women (and girly men I guess) to get grilling, the board is offering a free booklet, “Grill Power! A Girl’s Guide to Grilling.” It features a grilling guide with times and temperatures along with other tips and five (not surprisingly) pork oriented recipes.
A note to the fellows however, if you can get paste the obnoxious loopy loopy font, the unicorns, rainbows, and so forth there is actually some pretty good recipes in here. It also hits the highlites on basic grilling.
For a free copy, you can just download the PDF. Or, if you are reading this from 1985, send a self-addressed mailing label to: “Girl Power! A Girl’s Guide to Grilling,” National Pork Board, P.O. Box 9114, Des Moines, IA 50306.
More pork propaganda can be found at their fanciful, website www.theotherwhitemeat.com.
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The Griller’s Guide to Charcoal Briquets
Many barbecue and grilling aficionados depend on the humble charcoal briquet as their fuel source when firing up the grill. No propane for many an outdoor chef — only charcoal will do. Everyone seems to have their favorite brand of charcoal they like to buy too — Kingsford, MatchLight, Royal Oak. Are they all the same?
How is charcoal made? How much do you really know about the history of charcoal? Do you know how to best store and light your charcoal? How do you know when its ready too cook on. In this article I’ll try to give you the scoop on grilling with charcoal.
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Everything You Thought You Knew About Grilling Is Wrong
There’s a goldmine of grilling tips on this blog posting and another batch on this follow up post. The posts, and their comments, are a pretty good grill school. Here’s the introduction to the thread.
I was always pretty competent at making burgers (although I attribute that to my super secret blend of ingredients more than anything else), but I never dared tackle the quality food. Steaks, chicken, fish? I’d leave that to the older men in the family. They knew what was what around the grill. I was merely the acoloyte. The burger flipper.Fortunately, my wife gave me a great present for Father’s day a couple of years ago: grilling lessons. An unbelievably good investment. Although we only went through a couple of recipes, the few simple techniques we learned turned me around completely. Suddenly, I knew more about working the barbeque than anybody in my family. When I’d go visit my parents, I’d be the one grilling steak, potatoes, and veggies on the grill, giving impromptu lessons to anyone who’d listen.
There are a few extremely simple secrets. Once you learn a good marinade (I’ll include on at the bottom), you’ll be amazed at the results. Trust me.
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Buying a Barbecue Grill: Gas or Charcoal?
When it comes to buying a grill, the first big decision is choosing between gas and charcoal. Many grilling purists will argue till the cows come home that if you are cooking on gas grill you aren’t really grilling and might as well be using a microwave. I think that’s silly, in this article we’ll consider some of the important difference between the two.
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Slicing the costs of a backyard barbecue
Yahoo! Finance has an article up discussing some pointers on saving money when shopping for your next barbecue. I guess the guys at Yahoo! don’t have enough cash to buy the good stuff? But seriously, this is pretty good article with some good, practical advice.
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Light charcoal faster with the Weber Chimney starter
The Weber Chimney Starter is a great way to quickly start your charcoal without stinky lighter fluid, toxic chemicals, a blow torch, costly starter sticks, or other incendiary magic.
Basically, a few sheets of newspaper at the bottom of the chimney creates a small fire which, through the magic of science, gets your coals rocket engine hot in just a few minutes. All for less than $12 or so. Faster, cleaner, and cheaper than other methods, it’s one of my favorite tools. So how does this thing work? In this article I’ll not only tell you how well it works, but how it works.
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