Luscious Grilled Pears and Havarti

Grilled Pears with Havarti, Almonds, Honey and Heaven

Grilled pears are a great complement to grilled pork, sausages and even some seafood such as sea bass, tuna steak and lobster tails. They're even better when served with ice cream or frozen yogurt for dessert. The smokiness of the grill highlights pears' natural sweetness. In addition to grilled pears as a dessert, this incredible fruit can be served somewhat like a side dish, dare we say, a vegetable, when grilled with melted, creamy Havarti cheese!

Ingredients

• 6 fresh, ripe pears, Bartlett, D’Anjou or Bosc

• 1/3 cup (80 ml) brown sugar

• 1/2 cup (125 ml) coarsely chopped almonds

• 1 tbsp (15 ml) canola oil

• 7 oz (200 g) Canadian Havarti, sliced

• OPTIONAL: honey or maple syrup

Preparation (Instructions):

1.  Preheat grill to medium.
2.  Cut pears in half and remove core.
3.  Brush them with canola oil so they do not stick.
4.  Cook on grill with cut sides face down for 3–4 minutes.
5.  Turn cut sides face up, fill cavity with brown sugar and half the almonds, then garnish with Havarti and the remaining almonds.
6.  Let melt, then serve hot with drizzled honey as a topping.

Note: If you enjoy spices, add a pinch of ground cinnamon or nutmeg along with the brown sugar.

Cheese alternatives: Canadian Swiss, Cheddar, Mozzarella, Gouda.

Grilling a Turkey for the Holidays

There's Nothing Quite Like a Grilled Turkey

Purists beware. You may not like what you are about to read about the traditional Thanksgiving Turkey. It is the GrillJunkie team's belief that while oven roasting a turkey gets it cooked, grilling that bird results in a turkey that is cooked with flavor. We also recommend smoking and frying your bird as alternatives but that's a blog for another day.

Turkey is significantly more flavorful if grilled. We encourage you to try this flavorful method this holiday season. The related key is to brine your bird first. Brining gives extra moisture to the turkey so it won’t dry out during cooking whether you grill, smoke, or deep fry your bird.

To properly brine a turkey you need to start the night before you plan to cook and serve your meal. You will need at least 10 to 12 hours set aside, a large enough container to hold your turkey and enough brine to cover it. Also, don't forget salt, water, seasonings, and enough room to refrigerate it. A large stock pot, large oven roaster, or a 5-8 gallon, clean plastic bucket would make perfect containers. The key to determining the container size that you choose is determined by the need to have enough room to allow the turkey to be turned so it should be big.

Now on to the fun part. The turkey must be cleaned out and completely thawed. It is important to note that the turkey should not be a self-basting or Kosher turkey. Self-basting and Kosher turkeys have a salty stock added that will make the turkey too salty.

Making the Brine

To make the brine, use a ratio of 1 cup of iodine-free salt to1 gallon of very clean, very fresh, chlorine free water. You will need more than 1 gallon of water but that’s the ratio for which to aim. Ensure that the salt is completely dissolved before adding the seasonings you like, making sure not to add anything that contains extra salt. Brines can be spicy hot with peppers and cayenne, savory with herbs and garlic, or sweet with molasses, honey and brown sugar. Whatever your tastes are, you can find a large number of brine recipes out there. We recommend visiting Derrick Riches site on about.com as he has listed a gamut of brining recipes. 

http://bbq.about.com/od/brinerecipes/r/bl90821a.htm

Carefully place the turkey in a container and pour in enough brine to completely cover the turkey with a few inches covering the top of the turkey. It is important to not have any part of the turkey above the surface of the brine. Next place the container, turkey, brine and all in the refrigerator. The turkey should sit in the brine for at least 10 hours but not more than 24! Brining for too long will destroy the flavor. If you are using a smaller than 10 pound turkey, cut down on the brining time or reduce the amount of salt in the brine.

When you are ready to start cooking, remove the turkey from the brine and rinse it off in the sink with cold water until all traces of salt are off the surface. Discard the brine and cook your turkey per your choice of cooking methods. Again, this is where we may lose the purists as we highly recommend grilling your turkey!

The Basics:
There are a lot of factors that can influence how your turkey is going to turn out, so paying attention to the basics is very important. First of all, since you will be grilling indirectly with a low fire the weather plays a significant role, especially in Autumn and Winter. Although a cold temperature plays a role, the most important weather condition to watch out for is wind. Wind robs heat from outdoor cooking appliances, and due to its very nature comes and goes in wisps as opposed to a steady temperature, so watch your grill temperature closely.

Also, the choice between the use of charcoal or gas makes a big difference. As a rule of thumb, gas will be easier. All in all, depending on what you own, or what you prefer to grill with, be ready for the variables.

To begin, you will need to create an indirect fire that will hold a steady temperature in the 300 to 350 degrees F. range. This is where the power of a gas grill comes into play. If the weather isn't going to cooperate we strongly recommend gas, simply due to the fact that you can control the temperature much easier.

What you need to get started:

• First you will need a fresh or completely thawed turkey, and it must be brined as we discussed previously. We recommend a 12 pounder, and to stay away from anything over 15 pounds as the larger bird may burn on the outside before the inside can get cooked.
• We also recommend a V-shaped roasting rack to support the turkey and keep the turkey from moving around too much. This rack should be sturdy because it won't have a solid surface upon which to sit.
• We also suggest an oven thermometer. This important tool will help monitor the grill temperature when you open the grill.
• You may also want a smoke source. Get some wood chips for the gas grill or chunks for the charcoal grill. Try a fruit wood like cherry or apple, or use oak or hickory.
• Also, you need a good meat thermometer.
• Most importantly you will need plenty of fuel. If you are using a gas grill you will surely need an extra, full tank on hand. If you are using charcoal, make sure you have plenty on hand and that you have a way of lighting additional coals for the fire outside of the grill. A charcoal chimney starter will help here and is a must if you use charcoal.
• It is important to have something to catch the drippings from the cooking turkey. You can use the drippings for making a sauce and the prevention of the drippings will help save your patio or driveway from unwanted stains. We recommend a shallow roasting pan to catch the drippings.
• You will also need time. Since you will be grilling your turkey at about the same temperature you would in an oven you will need about the same amount of time to get your turkey done. Remember that grilling isn’t as exact as oven roasting so times will vary. Make sure you can adjust for that.
  

Step by step grilling instructions:

• Step 1: Clean and Prepare Your Bird!- Prepare the turkey. This means removing everything from the body cavity, taking out any pop-up plastic timer devices and giving it a good wash in cold water. Pat dry. Do not bother with tying up or "trussing" the bird. Trussing will only slow down the cooking of the thighs which you want to actually cook more than the rest of the bird.
  
• Step 2: Season, or Brine the Bird! Season or brine the turkey as desired. See the brining section above. Remember if you do use a brine, be sure to rinse off any salt from the bird before you grill it.
• Step 3: Prepare Your Grill! When the time comes, prepare the grill. Remember that you will be grilling a large bird indirectly, using the indirect heating method. It is a good idea to take the turkey out to the grill before you light it to see about spacing and heating. This is especially important if you are using charcoal. With charcoal you will want to make sure that you build the fire up in the right place so as not to have the hot coals directly underneath the bird. If the bird is too close then one side could cook too fast. You will want a drip pan under the turkey to prevent flare-ups, to catch and save the drippings, and to prevent drippings from staining those expensive patio bricks or your driveway. Be sure to add add water to this pan periodically to maintain a moist environment in the grill and to keep the drippings from burning away. You can make great gravy from the drippings!!
• Step 4: Gas or Charcoal?! If you are set up for indirect grilling, using your rotisserie will be pretty easy. You just need to keep a tight eye on
  
  your bird to ensure that the skin isn't burning and that heat is getting into the bird. If you are not using a rotisserie and you are on a gas grill set the turkey, breast side down on a well oiled grate or v-shaped roasting rack. If your grill allows you to turn the heat on and/or off on either side with multiple burner controls on the opposite side of where you place the turkey then you will have an even heating area and you will only need to worry about turning the turkey in about an hour.
• If you are using a charcoal grill you want the coals in either a ring around the turkey or banked on either side of it. You want even heating so one side doesn't cook faster than the other. Regardless of the grill being gas or charcoal, try to keep the turkey away from the very edges of the cooking surface so that heat can flow around it.
• Step 5: Set Your Temperature! You are shooting for cooking temperature of around 325 degrees F. If you have an oven thermometer in the grill, set it close to the bird because this is the area you are most concerned with. If you are using a gas grill make the necessary adjustments to the control valves to hit your target temperature. If you are using charcoal you will want to keep a close eye on the temperature to keep it in the right range. Add additional burning coals as necessary.
• Step 6: Turn Your Bird! Depending on the set up or arrangement of your grill you will need to turn or flip the bird during the cooking time. If you have a dual burner gas grill you will need to rotate the bird after about 30 minutes, flip and rotate 30 minutes after that and rotate after another 30 minutes. This keeps the hottest part of the grill from burning one part of the bird. You will need to continue this rotation until the turkey is done. If you are set up to have heat all around the turkey or on two sides of it then you will need to rotate the turkey after about an hour. Of course this really depends on how fast the turkey’s skin is cooking. You don’t want the outside to cook too much faster than the inside. Use a meat thermometer to monitor the internal temperature. If the skin is getting too browned before the inside starts warming up, your cooking temperature is too high.
• Step 7: Check Your Bird's Temp! After a about 2 hours you want to start testing the internal temperature of your grilled bird!. Your target temperature is 165 degrees F. even at the coldest part of the turkey since you need every little morsel of meat at or above this temperature. Be sure to test in several places, but be patient and wait for the temperature to record properly, so don’t start poking your bird full of holes. As a rule of thumb, the internal temperature of a bird should only rise about 10 degrees every 15 to 20 minutes from start to finish using the grill temperature of 325 degrees F.
• Step 8: Remove and Rest Your Bird! Remove the turkey from the grill and let it rest for about 10 to 15 minutes before carving. The resting period allows the juices to flow back into the meat and creates the perfect texture for carving and eating.
  
• Step 9: Carve and Serve! Carve your bird. You will notice the second you start to carve your turkey that the brining has helped it retain moisture. The first bite will sell you on brining and grilling turkeys forever, and after you've tried this you will want to brine all your poultry. Serve, and eat!
• Step 10: Enjoy your Friends and Family! - Celebrate what has been given to us and the freedom we have to celebrate our healthy addiction to grilling!

Pizza on the Grill - Yes Pizza Can Be Grilled!

Pizza on the Grill! 

Grills mimic a wood fired oven than your conventional indoor oven. Whether using charcoal or gas, the smoke from the grill will help give your pizza more flavor. It’s also dead easy. No, the pizza dough does not fall through the grill grates. Assuming you've properly heated the grill, your dough will form a lovely lightly charred crust. The trick is that you cook the plain dough first, on one side, on the grill. Then remove it, flip it, brush the grilled side with sauce and toppings, and return the pizza to the grill for final cooking. It's a great idea for having the kids make their own pizza, a fun Halloween grilling activity, or anytime of the year!

Ingredients

Dough - Enough for 3 (16-inch) round pizzas:

• 16 ounces all-purpose flour, plus extra for countertop, peel and rolling
• 1 envelope instant or rapid rise yeast
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 10 ounces warm water, approximately 105 degrees F
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons for bowl
• 1 tablespoon malted barley syrup

Roasted Tomato and Basil topping - Enough to top 1 (16-inch) round pizza:

• 1 large ripe tomato, cut into 1/3-inch thick slices
• 5 to 7 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 2 cloves roasted garlic, minced (see our recipe)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2-ounce grated Parmesan
• 1 1/2 ounces part skim mozzarella, shredded
• 1/2 cup Parmesan Reggiano cheese, grated
• 4 to 6 large sweet basil leaves, shredded

Tools and Equipment

• Gas or Charcoal Grill
• Long-Handled Grill Tongs
• Pizza Peel
• Stand Mixture
• Patience

Preparation/Directions

Dough:

• Combine the flour and yeast in the work bowl of a stand mixer. Add the salt, water, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and malted barley syrup. Start the mixer on low, using the hook attachment, and mix until the dough just comes together, approximately 1 1/2 minutes. Increase the mixer speed to medium and knead for 15 minutes.
• Tear off a small piece of dough and flatten into a disk. Gently stretch the dough until thin. Hold it up to the light and look to see if the bakers windowpane, or a see-through, taut membrane has formed. The dough will be quite sticky, but manageable. Fold the dough onto itself and form it into a smooth ball.
• Oil the bowl of the stand mixer or other large canister with 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Put the dough in the bowl and roll it around to coat with the oil. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and leave at room temperature to double in size, approximately 1 hour. The dough will rise and double.
• Split the dough into 3 equal parts using a knife or dough scraper. Flatten each piece into a disk on the counter top. Form each piece into a ball. Roll each ball on the counter until they tighten into rounds. Cover the balls with a tea towel and rest for 45 minutes.

To shape and cook the Roasted Tomato and Basil pizza:

• Fire up and preheat a gas grill to high and make sure the grill grates are clean and free of debris.
• Toss the tomato with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the garlic, salt and red pepper flakes in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.
• Lightly flour the countertop and flatten 1 of the dough balls. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 16-inch round, rotating and stretching the dough as you go. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured pizza peel and stretch to re-shape if necessary.

• Oil the grill grates, by rubbing the grates with an olive oil soaked paper towel held by long-handled tongs. Decrease the heat to medium. Brush the dough with 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil and flip onto 1 end of the hot grill, leaving room for the tomatoes on the grate.
• Carefully place the prepared tomatoes on the grill, close the lid and cook until the bottom of the crust is golden brown and the tomatoes are softened, about 1 to 2 minutes. 
• Brush the raw (un-grilled) side of the dough with 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil, then immediately flip using the peel. Top with the grilled tomatoes, smashing and spreading the tomatoes to create a sauce. Sprinkle with the Parmesan, mozzarella and basil. 
• Close the lid and cook until the bottom of crust is golden brown and the cheese has melted, another 1 to 2 minutes. Using the peel, remove the pizza to a cooling rack and let rest for 3 minutes before slicing.

Smile and Enjoy your addiction to grilling and your newly found skill as the neighborhood Pizza GrillJunkie!

Winter Grilling Cleaning and Prep Up

Winter Cleaning and Preparation

Get your grill ready for winter.

As winter approaches each year, some of you may begin to think it's time to pack your grill away until signs of spring appear. There are a few things that should be done besides simply forgetting and just letting your grill sit under a foot of snow all winter. Of course that’s not what anyone plans on doing, however due to the quick onset of winter, especially in the Northeast, it frequently happens that way. The following will help you prepare your grill for winter and avoid finding your trusty barbecue rusted and populated with squirrels and field mice next spring. 

To those of you in warmer climates, we offer you the best of wishes during those mid January cookouts. Be sure to send pictures to encourage the rest of us GrillJunkies that hope is just around the “seasonal” corner. Those of you that live in lands of snow however are presented with a choice. You can pack the grill carefully into a nice dry corner of the garage or shed, or face potential frostbite by cooking outdoors in a foot of snowfall. 

After a long summer of grilling you probably have a good build up of black, greasy gunk in your grill. This gunk should be removed prior to winter storage. You will be glad you did come spring when that ad hoc cookout request comes along. In addition to cleanup, you should also make note of any part that is rusted through and is in need of replacement. It is always safe to assume that you may not be able to find those parts in the off season but you will know exactly what you need when the stores roll out their barbecue and grilling accessories selection next year. 

With the shell and all the components clean you can reassemble the grill, being sure that all gas connections are made you are leak free. Then Fire It Up one last time to make sure that it is completely dry. Now you can go over the metal parts with some cooking oil or spray. This little trick helps to repel any moisture that might build up during the winter. Now you should cover your grill and park it in a place where it will be sheltered from the elements. An important note about gas grills is that while a dry corner of the garage is the perfect place for the grill, it is not the place for the gas tank!. Never store propane tanks in an enclosed area. Even the slowest of leaks can flood an area with explosive gas. It's best to keep the tank in a well ventilated area, protected from the weather. 

If you have a charcoal grill the same basic rules apply. But because of the simplicity of a charcoal grill, you’ll have a much easier time of it. Charcoal grills and smokers tend to only need a light coat of oil over the cooking grates and don’t need to be oiled down like a gas grill. When spring arrives always let your grill or smoker heat up completely before you cook. This will burn off this protective oil covering. 

Be safe, be clean, and be prepared. Enjoy!

Houston, We Have a Flare Up! How to Deal with this Grilling Scenario

Houston, we have a Flare-Up. Please advise!

Do not fear flare-ups! Just respect them. The secret of flare-ups is to control them. First of all it's important that you understand that flare-ups are not as big a problem as you might think, if controlled of course. Controlled flare-ups are okay, it's when the fire gets out of control that you have a problem. There are several ways to deal with flare-ups.

It is important to not only plan on a flare-up, but more importantly prepare for them. The first step is to reduce the risk of or causes of a flare-up. One way in which to do this is by trimming any and all unnecessary fat from the foods you grill, but don’t go too crazy. 

For the sake of flavor, meats should be left with a little fat on them that also prevent meat from drying out while grilling. And it is important to note that fat not only comes in the form of meat fat, but can also come from such added sources as such oils in marinades or sauces. The key to avoiding flare –ups with marinade meats is that the marinades should be allowed to sink in fully, and marinated meat should not be dripping in oil when placed on hot grill. 

Again, herein lies the art of grilling, as you want tot strike a balance between flare-up control and fat removal. You can’t and, most importantly, shouldn't take away all the fat. Foods like chicken with the skin on, or a good thick steak or hamburger patties are going to have fat which when left on add to the flavor of the meal. However, that fat is going to melt and quite likely catch fire. That’s expected. What you need to be prepared for is a flare-up control plan.





Unless you are grilling enough food to cover the entire cooking surface of your grill, which is highly discouraged, you need to be ever-ready to move meats out of the flare-ups, to another part of the grate. This will provide you with the ability to keep foods out of the way of a flare-up, increasing the safety of your cooking, and of course prevent burning your much anticipated meal. 

Once you have cleared the area of a flare-up of food let it burn. You will find that fats exposed to flame and intense heat will burn away quickly. A tip would be to use upper warming racks, if available, to hold food temporarily while the flare-ups are dealt with. The Golden Rule would be, “If you can’t prevent it, be prepared to control it”.

What about a keeping a water-bottle close at hand? A water filled spray bottle is a flare-up tool of last resort. Many so called “experts” keep a spray bottle of water close at hand to put out flare-ups the instant they happen. There are several reasons you don’t want to use a spray bottle, and we may have learned this long ago in science class. 

Water and oil, or burning grease do not mix and you don’t put water on a grease fire. That’s rule number one. Secondly while the water may temporarily reduce or even put out the fire it does rid us of the catalyst, the grease in the grill. 


So the instant that the existing grease heats up again the flare-up will return. And finally, when you spray a grease fire with water, the grease does something very dangerous and undesirable, it explodes. The explosion causes splatter over your food, and, let’s face it, partially burned grease doesn't taste very good at all. 

If you are faced with an uncontrollable flare-up, and you want to avoid spoiling the food with a grease splatter, move the food out of the way, off the grill to a plate, turn off the burners and spray down the grease to put it out. From here, you are back in control and can start cooking again.


A clean grill really does produce fewer flare-ups. Once you have had that big flare-up it's a sign from the grilling gods indicating that it is time to clean out your grill. A good place to start is to fire up the grill and let it heat up good and hot in order to burn away as much grease as you can. Then after it has thoroughly cooled, get in there and clean out all the burnt grease and food from the bottom of your grill.

BBQ vs. Grilling! What Fires You Up?

What Fires You Up? Grilling versus Barbecue.

We would be remiss if we did not address the age old question regarding the differences between Grilling and Barbecue. In essence, what we are attempting to explain here is the difference between grilling and BBQ, or, as many refer to as the direct versus indirect method, while attempting to avoid taking a side among the purists of the two camps. At GrillJunkie we encourage the practice and experimentation of both methods, …..again fortifying our motto, “What Fires You Up!”

People often use the term barbecue when referring to foods that are grilled, but barbecuing and grilling are two very different processes.

Barbecuing

Barbecuing refers to foods that are cooked with a long, slow process using indirect, low-heat generated by smoldering logs, wood chips that smoke-cook the food. The fuel and heat source are separated from the cooking chamber, but the cooking chamber contains enough heat to slowly but properly cook the food over a long period of time.

Along with heat, the cooking chamber fills with smoke, providing the food with its characteristically smoky flavor, which varies depending on the type of wood that is used for the fuel. The best temperature for barbecuing is between 200°F and 300°F. If the temperature rises above 300°F, it is considered grilling.

Grilling

Grilling refers to foods that are cooked more quickly and directly over high heat. The fuel and heat source are not separated from the cooking chamber thus providing for an environment that provides for high heat.
Grilling temperatures typically reach 500°F or more, but any temperature above 300°F is considered a grilling temperature.The high heat of grilling sears the surface of meat, creating a flavorful browned crust.

What Fires You Up? Whichever you choose, enjoy and cherish your time with family and friends.

Top 10 Burger Burger Grilling Tips: Grill Like a Pro

Grilling burgers, like any other kind of cooking, is a combination of technique and art. Mastering grilling techniques is fairly straightforward and is learned with a little bit of patience and practice.

The art is where the real fun and addiction comes in and mainly involves the recipes, the toppings, and the side dishes. Unlike with an oven, where you can simply place the food inside, set the temp and timer, and walk away for a while, grilling requires that you remain ever engaged, proactive, and vigilant. With that said, here are a few rules of good grilling.

Rule 1: Keep It Clean

Always keep your grill clean. This is essential for good tasting food and safety! Scrape and clean your grill before and after each outdoor grilling endeavor.

Rule 2: Keep It Safe

Always keep a close eye on what you’re grilling and doing. Be proactive, watchful and in control. There are more distractions when you are grilling outside, so stay focused on the task at hand.

Rule 3: Location, Location, Location

Always place your grill in a safe and flat location away from anything flammable such as lighter fluid, fences, your house, etc.

Rule 4: Keep 'Em From Sticking

When grilling low fat meats and other foods that stick, use cooking oil on the grill grate. Never use a cooking spray directly on the grill. You can use a basting brush, or soak a few folded paper towels shaped into a 3 inch x 3 inch square with cooking oil and while holding it with a pair of tongs, rub the oil on and into the grill grates before and after grilling your burgers.

Rule 5: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Spray Bottles

Do not use spray bottles of water to control flare‐ups. Flare‐ups are caused by too much fat and too much heat. When cooking burgers, flare‐ups usually occur when the burger is pressed with a spatula, which, although seemingly fun, is not only dangerous but also squeezes the precious juices out of the burger. If a flare up occurs, move what you are grilling to a different part of the grill.

Rule 6: Don't Get "Burned" By Your Sauces

Do not add oil‐based sauces, or sugary marinades directly to meat on the grill. This inevitably causes a blackened char on your burger. If you must, wait to add your oil‐based and sugary marinades until the very
end.

Rule 7: Prepare Ahead of Time

Always allow yourself plenty of time to prepare and cook. Prepare ahead of time for things that need not be grilled such as added toppings, condiments, etc. Don't leave your family and/or guests waiting.

Rule 8: Spice it Up Before You Grill

Spice up your food a good hour or two before you hit the grill. This time allows the flavor to sink in.

Rule 9: It's All about The Tools

Use the proper grilling tools for grilling your burgers. The basics are a solid long‐handled stainless steel spatula, long‐handled tongs, an oven glove, a meat thermometer, and a fire extinguisher. We provide a more extensive list in the GrillJunkie Burger a Day Cookbook.

Rule 10: Have Plenty of Food To Grill

Always be sure to plan for and make more than enough food for everyone including unexpected guests.

The last thing you will need is an angry mob on your hands. Enjoy your burger addiction!

Houston, we have a Flare Up!

Houston, we have a Flare-Up. Please advise!


Do not fear flare-ups! The secret of flare-ups is to control them. First of all it's important that you understand that flare-ups are not as big a problem as you might think, if controlled of course. Controlled flare-ups are okay, it's when the fire gets out of control that you have a problem. There are several ways to deal with flare-ups.

It is important to not only plan on a flare-up, but more importantly prepare for them. The first step is to reduce the risk of or causes of a flare-up. One way in which to do this is by trimming any and all unnecessary fat from the foods you grill, but don’t go too crazy. For the sake of flavor, meats should be left with a little fat on them that also prevent meat from drying out while grilling. And it is important to note that fat not only comes in the form of meat fat, but can also come from such added sources as such oils in marinades or sauces. The key to avoiding flare –ups with marinade meats is that the marinades should be allowed to sink in fully, and marinated meat should not be dripping in oil when placed on hot grill.

Again, herein lies the art of grilling, as you want tot strike a balance between flare-up control and fat removal. You can’t and, most importantly, shouldn’t take away all the fat. Foods like chicken with the skin on, or a good thick steak or hamburger patties are going to have fat which when left on add to the flavor of the meal. However, that fat is going to melt and quite likely catch fire. That’s expected. What you need to be prepared for is a flare-up control plan. Unless you are grilling enough food to cover the entire cooking surface of your grill, which is highly discouraged, you need to be ever-ready to move meats out of the flare-ups, to another part of the grate. This will provide you with the ability to keep foods out of the way of a flare-up, increasing the safety of your cooking, and of course prevent burning your much anticipated meal. Once you have cleared the area of a flare-up of food let it burn. You will find that fats exposed to flame and intense heat will burn away quickly. A tip would be to use upper warming racks, if available, to hold food temporarily while the flare-ups are dealt with. The Golden Rule would be, “If you can’t prevent it, be prepared to control it”.

What about a keeping a water-bottle close at hand? A water filled spray bottle is a flare-up tool of last resort. Many so called “experts” keep a spray bottle of water close at hand to put out flare-ups the instant they happen. There are several reasons you don’t want to use a spray bottle, and we may have learned this long ago in science class. Water and oil, or burning grease do not mix and you don’t put water on a grease fire. That’s rule number one. Secondly while the water may temporarily reduce or even put out the fire it does rid us of the catalyst, the grease in the grill. So the instant that the existing grease heats up again the flare-up will return. And finally, when you spray a grease fire with water, the grease does something very dangerous and undesirable, it explodes. The explosion causes splatter over your food, and, let’s face it, partially burned grease doesn’t taste very good at all. If you are faced with an uncontrollable flare-up, and you want to avoid spoiling the food with a grease splatter, move the food out of the way, off the grill to a plate, turn off the burners and spray down the grease to put it out. From here, you are back in control and can start cooking again.

A clean grill really does produce fewer flare-ups. Once you have had that big flare-up it's a sign from the grilling gods indicating that it is time to clean out your grill. A good place to start is to fire up the grill and let it heat up good and hot in order to burn away as much grease as you can. Then after it has thoroughly cooled, get in there and clean out all the burnt grease and food from the bottom of your grill.

Grilled Salmon Recipe from our friends at Ground Up Gourmet

Check out this great Grilled Salmon recipe, using the GrillJunkie cedar planks, from our friends at GroundUpGourmet!

http://www.groundupgourmet.com/?p=37

Celebrate Your Addiction to Grilling!

Visit us on line for a few grilling tips, techniques, and free recipes.  Also check out our line-up of GrillJunkie t-shirts, steins and other accessories designed to help celebrate your addition to grilling and spending time with family and friends!

http://www.grilljunkie.com/

Grilling Basics - Top 10 Rules

Grilling 101 - The GrillJunkie Basics and Top 10 Rules:

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Grilling like any other kind of cooking is a combination of technique and art. Grilling refers to foods that are cooked more quickly and directly over high heat. The fuel and heat source are not separated from the cooking chamber thus providing for an environment that provides for high heat. Grilling temperatures typically reach 500°F or more, but any temperature above 300°F is considered a grilling temperature. The high heat of grilling sears the surface of meat, creating a flavorful browned crust.

The difference between grilling and cooking on the stove or in the oven is that grilling is, in essence, is a combination of both. A grill provides direct heat from the gas burners or the charcoal and indirect heat that fills the grill when the lid is down. An average gas or charcoal grill can reach 500 degrees in a matter of minutes. Unlike with an oven, where you can simply place the food inside, set the temperature and timer, and walk away for a while, while grilling you must remain ever engaged, proactive, and vigilant.

The high heat, both direct and indirect is the foundation of grilling.

You will want to leverage this heat to cook food, quickly. And due to this fact, foods cook fast on a grill you have to turn them in order to cook them evenly, without burning. However, this is where practice, experience, and the art of grilling come in, because if you turn things too often you will slow the process of cooking and this can lead to food that is tough and dry. The secret is turning only when necessary. When cooking a steak or a hamburger, and checking it for desired doneness, be sure to get down low, by the edge of the grill, be ever-careful not to burn yourself. Gently lift up the corner of the meat. When the lines from the cooking grate start to turn black it's time to turn the food.

Knowing when to turn and when things are cooked involved practice, experience, and is in essence, the whole art of grilling. The rest of it, like indoor cooking and baking, is recipes, marinades, and trick. Everything else is recipes, marinades, and tricks. The art of grilling is also the hardest thing to teach, and must be accompanied by practice and experience. You will not be able to learn the art of grilling simply be reading, you must take what you read and practice, make mistakes, experiment, and experience! As an example, ideally, a steak will be turned only once, however, if the steak is very thick (more than about 1 1/2 inches) you might need to do it three times to get it cooked through to the center.

Like with all things that take time to learn and require practice and patience, you must, start simple when learning the art of grilling. Keep those first few steaks a little on the thin side, and once well practiced move up to a filet mignon. This will help you get the hang of grilling and allow you to properly cook food with more enjoyment, and without a lot of trouble. As you evolve as a GrillJunkie, and become more experienced with the art of grilling, you can work up to more challenging techniques and dishes.

Here are a few rules of good grilling.

Rule 1: Always keep your grill clean. This is an essential for good tasting food and safety!

Rule 2: Always keep a close eye on what you’re grilling. Be proactive, watchful, and in control.

Rule 3: Always keep your grill in a safe location away from anything flammable like lighter fluid, fences, your house, etc.

Rule 4: When grilling low fat meats and other foods that stick, use oil or cooking spray on the grill grate However, never apply cooking spray to a lit grill.

Rule 5: Do not use spray bottles of water to control flare-ups. Flare-ups are caused by too much fat and too much heat. Trim excess fat and when you turn meat on the grill move it to a different part of the grill.

Rule 6: Do not add oil-based sauces, or marinades to meat on the grill. This inevitably causes burning.

Rule 7: Always allow yourself plenty of time to prepare and cook. Don't leave your family and/or guests waiting.

Rule 8: Spice up your food a good hour or two before you hi the grill. This time allows the flavor sink in.

Rule 9: Use the proper grilling tools. Using anything else, such as a table fork, which is good for eating, are not so good or safe for grilling.

Rule 10: Always be sure to plan for and make more than enough food for everyone including unexpected guests. The last thing you will need is an angry mob on your hands.

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