With the start of the summer season, there is often a universal craving to spend most of your free time outside and to have your supper outside on the patio. Having a barbecue is an excellent way to prepare your meals, especially when the temperature outside is excessively hot. Admittedly, whether you’re a pro or not, cooking meat and other dishes on the BBQ can often be quite tricky. Here is a little guide to help you and impress your family and friends when you’re having an outdoor meal.
1. Heat your BBQ
You don’t need to spend 2 hours scrubbing your grill if you want to make them look good as new. You just need to follow these 3 steps.
- Turn on your BBQ;
- Heat it at a very high temperature: the grease will melt;
- Make a ball with newspapers and use it to scrub the grill.
2. Use a baking mat
Have you ever heard of baking mats? You can place them directly on the grill. It’s simply genius! You don’t need to recuperate the grease at the bottom of your BBQ after you’ve finished cooking!
3. Lemon
Cut a lemon in half and scrub the grill with the lemon halves. It will smell good and your grills will be clean!
4. A brush
Choosing a barbecue brush is much more important than you think. If you buy a low-end product, you risk finding small bits of iron or metal in your food.
Choose a good brush adapted for cleaning your barbecue will clean it well without damaging it. A ball of aluminum foil can also do the trick!
5. Quickly clean your barbecue without any difficulties
Cleaning your barbecue without putting in too much effort is possible. To do this, all you need to do is take half of an uncooked potato and rub it on the heated barbecue grill from top to bottom. The starch in the potato will prevent food from sticking. Potatoes eliminate grease from your grills, ovens, as well as hoods. Isn’t that fantastic?
6. Pork
Pork has to be cooked uncovered, with direct heat and directly on the grill.
- Pork chops: cook 4-5 minutes on each side, 71°C (160 °F), medium-high heat intensity;
- Pork fillet skewer: cook 2-3 minutes on each side, 71 °C (160 °F), medium-high heat intensity;
- Pork fillet: cook 5-6 minutes on each side, 71 °C (160 °F), medium-high heat intensity;
- Stuffed pork cutlet: cook 5-6 minutes on each side, 71 °C (160 °F), medium-high heat intensity.
7. Game
Game has to be cooked uncovered, with direct heat, directly on the grill.
- Bison bifteck: cook 6-8 minutes per side, 70 °C (158 °F), medium-high heat intensity;
- Rabbit tournedos: indirect heat, cook 12-14 minutes each side, 70 °C (158 °F), medium-high heat intensity;
- Deer bifteck: cook 6-8 minutes per side, 70 °C (158 °F), medium-high heat intensity;
- Wapiti bifteck: cook 6-8 minute per side, 70 °C (158 °F), medium-high heat intensity.
8. Beef
Game has to be cooked uncovered, with direct heat, directly on the grill.
- Flank steak: cook 4-5 minutes per side, 71 °C (160 °F), medium-high heat intensity;
- Rare beef tournedos: cook 3-4 minutes per side, 63 °C (145 °F), medium-high heat intensity;
- AAA beef skewer: cook 2-3 minutes each side, 63 °C (145 °F), medium-high heat intensity.
9. Veal
Veal has to be cooked uncovered, with direct heat, directly on the grill.
- Stuffed veal cutlet: cook 4-5 minutes per side, 71 °C (160 °F), medium heat intensity;
- Veal médaillon: cook 3-4 minutes per side, 71 °C (160 °F), medium heat intensity;
- Veal cutlet: cook 2-3 minutes per side, 71 °C (160 °F), medium heat intensity.
10. Chicken
Chicken has to be cooked uncovered, with direct heat, directly on the grill.
- Boneless chicken breast: cook 7-8 minutes each side, 77° C (171°F), medium-high heat intensity;
- Drumsticks: cook 7-10 minutes per side, 77° C (171°F), medium-high heat intensity.
11. Sausages
Sausages need to be cooked uncovered, with direct heat, directly on the grill. Cook them between 4-5 minutes on each side, at 71°C (160 °F), adjusting the barbecue’s heat to medium-high.
12. Fish
Here is a really easy and simple trick to cook to perfection your fish on the barbecue without it sticking:
- Cut a lemon in slices;
- Place the lemon slices on the barbecue grill;
- Place your fish on the slices of lemon (so not directly on the BBQ grill).
13. Don’t forget the BBQ sauce!
Having a barbecue also means making barbecue sauce. Here are some tricks to make the best BBQ sauce:
- Start with the base of your sauce: tomato paste or ketchup. Choose what you prefer;
- Vary the other ingredients: various kinds of vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, balsamic vinegar or cider are all great choices to create the perfect barbecue sauce. Test it out and taste!
- For a touch of sweetness, you can add a bit of brown sugar, maple syrup, honey or agave syrup in your sauce;
- Add alcohol to your sauce. Heineken is a good choice for beer; other alcoholic beverages can be used too. Experiment with beer, bourbon or whiskey;
- Add chilli powder, red pepper flakes, or smoked habanero powder to your sauce.
14. You don’t feel like cooking meat or fish?
A delicious homemade pesto pizza is the best way to accommodate vegetarians. Place various toppings on the table and propose that people make their own meal. Everyone will eat what they like!
Sources :
- Wikibouffe
- www.comment-economiser.fr
- The Real Rickey Smiley
- BuzzFeed
