Grillin' Time

Now that your spring cleaning is done and your garden is gorgeous, it is time to relax and BBQ. That’s right, “Grillin’ time.”

It is time to heat up the grill for a great meal. According to Weber.com, there are a few tips you should always do— keep the grill clean, preheat it, know whether you want direct or indirect heat, keep the lid down, and use a timer. The next important thing is the food. Grills are good for cooking just about anything—meat, veggies, pizza and even making nachos. A favorite in my house growing up was ribs. My father would grill them till they were almost black, and the meat fell off the bone. Delish! My go-to BBQ sauce is a bourbon sauce from the New York Times. It is way better than the one I created on my own as a teenager. This sauce works on meat, chicken, and even salmon.

Gas vs. Charcoal, at a Glance…

“At the end of the day, the real measure comes down to this: Which one do I get the most utility and pleasure out of? Certainly, there's something ritualistic about lighting a live charcoal fire and taming the flames with careful control of ventilation and placement, not to mention tending a long-cooking piece of meat throughout the afternoon or night. Then again, the joy I get from being able to step outside my kitchen door, turn a knob, cook, then shut the gas grill right off when I'm done cooking—well, it's difficult to place a value on that, but it's high. Grilling used to be a special occasion that occurred maybe once or twice a week. Now it's something I can do any time, any night, with no real forethought.” — J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, Serious Eats

Now that you selected your grill, its time to be safe and find the perfect outdoor spot that is level (I have a small gas grill on a stand to make it level). Be sure not to wear loose clothing that can catch fire (and scarves in colder months). Most important the grill should be several feet from the house, but only all the way to your neighbor’s yard if you plan to invite them to your BBQ. “Teach kids to stay safe. Make a “kid-free zone” of at least three feet around the grill and areas where hot food is prepared or carried. Children under five are especially vulnerable to burns from contact with a hot grill surface. Grill contact accounted for 37% of burns seen at emergency rooms in 2014 involving children under five.” — Travelers Risk Control, Travelers Insurance

If you’ll excuse me it is time for me to sign off and go retrieve my grill from the basement and get it ready for summer.