Grilling Tips

Here in California, I would swear that some of my neighbors grill practically everyday.  While this may be a bit of an exaggeration, certainly, there’s a love for hot fire and delicious food prepared on the fire.  Grilling is a fabulous way to get more people involved in cooking, try out different foods and create a festive environment for guests.  Here are some things that I do to make sure that grilling remains fun and safe:

--I practice good food safety habits — this includes being careful with utensils like tongs that touch raw foods, making sure that foods that need refrigeration are put away promptly and that taking extra care for things like raw chicken.

--I aim to have foods that will cook uniformly – this includes cutting things like steaks and chicken into similar size pieces (especially thickness).  Also, I like making kebabs, or food on skewers.  The skewers are a great way to cut up foods to the same sizes and it also helps them to cook relatively quickly.  I tend to make separate skewers of meat versus vegetables so that each can be cooked to the desired doneness.

–I make sure that there are plenty of healthy choices to grill – including grilled vegetables and sometimes fish.  Sometimes I will make foil packets of food to be grilled so that everyone can add their own choices and seasonings to the packets.

–I limit chances for flare-ups — when I was first learning to grill, I made the mistake of slapping sugar-rich barbecue sauces on the meats right away.  Sugar burns too quickly for this to turn out well.  These days, I limit any sweetened barbecue sauces to the last 15 minutes of cooking or to serve at the table.  In addition, I make sure the grill isn’t over-crowded to prevent oil fires.

–I always prepare one fun dish — like grilled peaches to be served with ice cream, or marshmallows to make s’mores.

I would love to hear of your grill tips.

shared at Works for Me Wednesday, Food Renegade, and Frugal Friday