How To Barbeque The Holiday Turkey

My mother never liked turkey.  Loved Istanbul.  Hated the bird.  I don't really know whether it was the taste, the size, or the preparation that bothered her.  Could have been the memory of getting a bustard, in Australia when I was six, because they didn't have turkeys, and how poorly that meal turned out.  Maybe it was because we never really lived near any extended family and I spent much of my youth abroad, that the Thanksgiving tradition in my home was always kind of flexible.

When I was growing up, we were as likely to have duck a l'orange or rack of lamb for Thanksgiving or Christmas as most people were to have turkey or ham.  Maybe that's why the tradition in my household is constantly evolving.  Our house, now, is the hub of activity and we've been hosting events like Thanksgiving for quite a few years.  We enjoy experimenting and inventing new traditions all the time, if we feel like it's more inclusive, more fun or may just taste better!  After all, who really loves the taste of cranberries and sweet potatoes with marshmallow on top?  Don't know of too many people having that more than once a year!  Our daughter is grown and lives nearby, and she enjoys bringing new ideas to the tradition, whether it's a new soup recipe, side dish or dessert.  We nominate what we like and want to keep from the new additions and add another piece in search of the perfect meal for our table.  

One of the traditions we've kept, was introduced to me by a neighbor, must be twenty years ago, and that was how to barbecue a turkey.  That was back when I was just developing my own style of barbecue and I took to it like a kid with a shiny new toy.  I know, it's a strange concept for a lot of people, who grew up with gramma roasting the turkey, with the vegetables around it and stuffing inside it.

Anybody ever think that the reason for that was because there just isn't enough room in the kitchen to cook all of the necessaries for a meal of that size?  And with all of that stuff in the oven, there's no way that bird stands a chance of coming out tender and juicy.  Gotta be in there for three hours or more. I don't care how much you baste it!

But those were different times, and with the more equitable distribution of labor today, everyone in my house needs to participate!  Now, it might be a little scary, the first time Dad offers to do more than carve the bird.  Actually preparing the turkey might mean missing some nap time on the couch in front of the Lions' game and letting the people in the kitchen have some breathing room for a change.  So, if you don't want the pressure, or the glory, this approach may not be for you.  But if you grill, you're gonna try it at some point, and you'll kick yourself once you know how easy it is and how great it tastes!

Now, I've had all kinds of people at my table, and I've been to fair few others where I've had roasted, rotisseried, baked and deep fried turkey, because I'm always open to new ideas.  But, in my honest opinion, the smoky flavor of a barbecued turkey takes the prize, every time.  All of the others have their pros and cons, but for the preparation and simplicity of this method, it's the one I stick with.  Heck, I even had some friends over who asked me if I'd do a turkey for them on the Friday after because they were upset I wasn't gonna give them all of my leftovers to take home!

Now, I'm a charcoal guy, and if you've read any of my other articles, you know I'm big on the how, rather than the recipe, and you can get all of the information on how to do the equivalent on a gas grill out my Layman's Guide To Great Barbecue, so, for the sake of brevity, I'm only going to relate how I do this on my grill.

I use a grill that has an adjustable grate and pretty large cooking surface, made out of cast iron, divided into four sections.  What I love about my grill is that I have a lot of ways to control the heat, which is the most important aspect of successfully cooking outdoors.  Turkey, as like any fowl, gets cooked over indirect heat at my house.  Make sure that your bird is completely defrosted and resting at room temperature before you put it on the grill.

If you're unsure about indirect and direct heat cooking methods, you need to study up and get some practice before you jump in with the Thanksgiving turkey. Fair warning!  You can look at other articles hear in the blog about managing your heat, or you can sign up and get the aforementioned  guide.  But, turkey is cheap, so maybe you want to practice on one before the big day, to make sure you get it right and avoid surprises.

Preparing the turkey is pretty easy.  About an hour before I light the coals, I unwrap the bird from the plastic casing.  For the last several years, a permanent guest and great friend of mine has always ordered a turkey through the mail, 14-16 lbs., which arrives the day before Thanksgiving, usually in the afternoon...just to scare us. It's never not arrived, so we're getting a little more comfortable with it! Of course, it's packed in dry ice, so we need to make sure it thaws thoroughly.

I remove the neck and innards and giblets, stuff I want nothing to do with, and give it to the wife.  Maybe she can make stock with it, or maybe she feeds it to the cats...I really don't want to know!

I start by coating the bird in olive oil, like rubbing baby oil on an infant.  It's messy, and a little disturbing, but it needs to be done and results are good.  Then I take as many spices as I think the bird can handle, some Mediterranean sea salt, Jamaica Me Krazy salt, lemon and pepper, garlic pepper, poultry rub...whatever you feel like, and completely cover the bird, top and bottom, not missing a single crevasse.  Your not doing stuffing in the bird, so if you want to throw some lemons or oranges or apple inside, feel free to experiment.


Time to fire up the grill.  I like to use two charcoal chimneys, filled to the brim.  I remove the top grates, prep my chimneys and light them at the same time.  They take about fifteen to twenty minutes, and when the flames are licking the top coals, they're ready to dump.  Now, I take an aluminum 9 x 12 disposable drip pan and put that on the ash grate in the center, below where the bird will sit. I keep the adjustable grate as far away from the grilling surface as possible and, wearing my gloves, I dump the coals on either side of the drip pan, spreading them evenly.

Now, I put two of my four cast iron grilling surfaces in the center, leaving the sides open so that I can access the coals, if I need to.  Using my method, I usually don't need to add any more coals during the cooking process, but that is dependent on the size of the turkey and your weather conditions.  Picking up the bird is a messy task and I just keep my gloves on and clean them afterward.

Place the bird on the center of the grill, above the drip pan...breast side down.  That's right, as though the bird was standing, before someone chopped off its feet.  You can do the bird, breast side up, like it usually is in an oven, as I did for years, but once I flipped it over, probably by accident, two things happened.  The cooking time per pound decreased and the bird got juicier.  Nope.  Not just luck.  Been doing my turkey that way ever since.   Close the lid and don't even look at it for forty minutes, unless you see smoke billowing out the air vents. (Which means you've got too much heat in there and the juices caught fire!)

So, the "how come" in me provided what, I think, is a pretty reasonable explanation.  The assumption is, keep the breasts as far away from the heat as possible to keep them moist.  That's okay...in an oven.  There, it's stuffed with things on the inside that need to cook, that will hopefully keep the bird moist through steaming, because it's going to be in there a long time, and it's easy to collect the juices and pour them back over the top.

On the barbecue, the heat is more intense, and the bird is going to cook faster anyway, plus there's no stuffing inside.  Sitting breast side up, my turkey used to take 9-12 minutes per pound, depending on size and conditions.  When I flipped it over, the cooking time dropped to 6-8 minutes per pound.  Here's how I see it: heat converts fats to juices; gravity pulls juices downward; dark meat contains more fat, therefor more juice; juices collect and heat, rather than escape and cook the bird faster, while keeping the meat moist.  Seems pretty logical to me.

So, you can try it both ways and see for yourself.  If there's a difference in taste, I'd say that the breast side up method get a little smokier, but I compensate for that by adding some water soaked wood chips to the mix.  At 6-8 minutes per pound, I find I don't need to add any more coals, where as about an hour and twenty minutes in on the other method, you should have another chimney going.

Whichever way you decide to cook your bird, use a meat thermometer to test the internal temperature. Most of the time, you can wiggle the legs to see how loose the bone is, but still test it.  The thermometer will tell you it's done at 165F, but if you leave it that long, it'll be dry.  I like to take mine off at about 145F and let it sit for about fifteen minutes.  The internal temperature continues to rise while it rests in its own juices, but without the heat, it doesn't dry out.  It takes a long time before the internal heat registers on the thermometer, but be prepared...once it registers, the bird will rise about a degree per minute, as long as you're not fussing with the lid and letting all your heat get out!

So, what could be simpler?  A great tasting turkey, smoked, tender and juicy, plus, you get the credit, freed up some time and space in the kitchen so they could enjoy themselves, too, and I bet you hardly miss any of the game, because this is a no-fuss job!  Go ahead and carve that bird with pride and see if this doesn't become an annual tradition.  Maybe you'll even have turkey more than once a year!

Nothin' Beats Barbecue...

How To Barbeque - Cheap Cuts of Beef (Part 1)

A lot of you out there love to barbecue, but don't do it as often as you'd like because you think you either don't have the time, the patience, the skill, or the money to put food on the table from your grill as often as you'd like.  Well, I'm here to tell you, that's just not the case!

I've already told you how to start your fire with a chimney, if you're using charcoal, so that saves a ton of time in the start up process, and if you're using gas, I know you're not going down that road! Impatience is something that you overcome with confidence and knowledge and goes hand in hand with the skills that you're learning on this site, because you never mind waiting for something good.  So, what about the money?  How do you overcome that?

A lot of people think that, if they're going to learn how to grill, they need to buy either steaks to impress everyone, a slab of ribs for the summer holidays, and burgers and hot dogs for the weekend games.  Truth is, they're missing out on the whole middle range of great meats that don't cost an arm and a leg.  So, when I talk about cheap cuts of meat, I'm usually referring to the  "$2.49/lb or less" variety.   It's not often you can get any kind of steak cut for that kind of money, and if you figure on about a half to two thirds of a pound per person, plus your sides, we're really talking about a quality home cooked meal, serving meat off the grill that tastes like steak, for about $4.00 a plate!  Do I have your attention?


I'm going to focus on two particular cuts and how I prepare them, even though I've said a hundred times, I'm not your recipe guy.  I would far rather teach you how to drive your car, than tell you what car to buy and where to drive it.  Grilling is about using your knowledge to create something you can be proud of, so feel free to experiment!

One of my favorite cuts is boneless or country style beef ribs.  I get mine at the big box store, because they go through enough volume to keep the price low and the stock fresh.  Sure, sometimes I buy more than I can use at one time, but they freeze just fine.  A lot of people don't eat beef ribs with any regularity, probably because, if you go down to your local rib shack, they specialize in pork or baby-back ribs, and the sauce that smothers them.  (I know, a lot of people love the sauce, and there's a lot of great sauces out there, but once you get used to having flavorful, tender, juicy meat, pork or beef, you may want to leave the sauce in the bottle!)  Besides, a lot of rib shacks don't do enough volume in beef-on-the-bone ribs, so they buy a cheaper cut that's tougher and fattier, then don't cook it right, so nobody orders it again!  Vicious cycle.

Anyway, out here where I'm at, I can get a nice cut of boneless beef ribs, nicely trimmed, in strips about six inches long, an inch and a half wide and two inches thick.  'Bout half a pound apiece.  We have a local sauce out here, called Chaka's MMM Sauce (We call it Mmm, Mmm, Mmm sauce in my house!) that I use as a marinade and it goes with just about everything...except some fish, I've found.  Comes in Zesty or Original.  I like the Original just fine. Doesn't have hardly any sugar in it, so it doesn't set your grill on fire and you can baste with it, or cut up your meat, dip it and put it back on the grill.  I put my meat in the marinade about the same time I'm startin' up the grill, so the meat reaches room temperature while the sauce is soaking in.  I like to put some steak salt on the ribs too, but you can use whatever's clever!

Fifteen minutes later, the coals are ready, I spread 'em out, nice and even, as low down as I can get from the surface, then close the lid.  Give it about five minutes to melt any residual grease, then give it a quick scrape, then a brush and we're ready to go.  Place the ribs over direct heat, correct side up, as in the way they were packaged!  Remember, they are a little thicker than they are wide.  Give 'em about ten to twelve minutes each side, depending on your weather conditions, fuel source, ventilation, distance between heat and grill and grilling surface.  (All that stuff you already learned in my "Layman's Guide to Great Barbecue" ) Roll them in Chaka's when you flip 'em, then again before you serve 'em.

If you're serving a larger gathering outside, you can slice these up on the grill and, believe me, you'll get a whole bunch of hungry on-lookers wanting tasters.  Put the slices in a bowl and nobody needs to worry about cutting up the pieces. ( No need to add any more Chaka's on top or let the meat swim in it.)  If it's just the four of you, take it straight to the table and let everyone pick their own piece.  Honest truth, every time I serve it and there's someone new at the table, I have to explain to them that it's not steak.  Looks, feels and tastes just like sirloin.

So, what do we have?  As far as most are are concerned, a steak dinner ($10.00). About forty minutes total time, light to bite, assuming maybe some rice ($3.00) and a salad ($4.00) with some garlic bread ($2.00)?  Low maintenance, quick and easy, one pot clean-up, under five bucks a head.  You couldn't get out of the McMeal grill for close to that!

Looks like that's all I'm going to get through right now, but look for Part II of this mini-series and I'll take you through another one of our family's favorites!

Why The BBQ Pit Is Man's Territory

 Let's face it gentlemen, man has been playing with fire for over twenty thousand years. We like the power of fire. We like the potential that a fire represents; it can protect us from outside intruders while we're huddled in our caves; warm us on those harsh, sub-zero, blizzard nights; light our way through treacherous caverns; feed us the warm protein of cooked meat we need, when we're sick of eating the tubers the gatherers collected...and we like that it can destroy almost anything in its path! It's a readymade disaster, waiting for us to tame it.

Men like to destroy stuff, blow stuff up, figure out how stuff works...and if we're lucky, swear a lot and get really dirty in the process. Don't fight it or deny it...it's in the genetic code. So...knowing that about you, me and guys in general, it's only natural that we're attracted to something as mystifying and hypnotic as the barbecue grill.

But, what else does it represent, and why is strictly a man's domain?

It doesn't matter to me what you cook, what you cook it on or how many you want to cook for. You can call it a job, a chore, a challenge, an art, or a learned skill, but what you'll find is, however you view it now, once you get good at it, you think of it like dating, marriage, parenthood and even sex, if you want, and get a whole lot more satisfaction out of it!

Now, I'm not talking about lavishing new tools and diamond studded accessories on your grill, or getting crazy with sauces and trying to do bananas flambé on your grill...though that sounds like a cool challenge...I'm talking about your attitude toward grilling.

Something about providing… preparing, caring, tending and nurturing, whether it's for another person or cooking a good meal, strikes a visceral chord in us, akin to our flight or fight response.

Pride in man is overwhelming, because we want to be appreciated for what we do, what we can accomplish and what obstacles we can overcome. If you don't think that's a strong inner sense, let me know how you feel when you burn the dinner! Does it feel like abject defeat?  Maybe, dejection and self loathing? Pretty close, huh? That's why you take her out to eat when you're dating. If the meal's bad, it's not your fault.

Let me tell you how to take your barbecue experience one giant step in the right direction and make a lasting impression. Don't just be A Man and do what's expected of you, be The Man and do as much of the whole dinner as you’re able, yourself. There's nothing worse than going to a barbecue and watching some poor guy's wife slave over every detail, just to hear him get the credit for starting a fire and managing not to burn the meat beyond recognition.

If you're going to host a barbecue the right way, then you need to know:

• How many people are coming? 
• How much each person will reasonably eat? 
• What's the best fare you can provide on your budget? 
• Does anyone have any allergies or meat issues? 
• What cut or types of meat you will provide? 
• How should you prepare and season those meats? 
• How long before cooking time should that be done? 
• How long will each type of meat take to cook? 
• How much room will that take up on your grill? 
• What needs direct heat versus indirect heat? 
• What sides can you grill at the same time? 
• How can you get everything to hit the table at the same time?

(My personal opinion is that, the inability to figure out the answers to these questions, not taking the time and energy to learn things which, to us grill masters, is second nature, is part of the reason that most people don't host parties, of any kind any more. I can't tell you how many people I've invited for dinner parties and barbecues where the invitation isn't reciprocated in some way. Could be my company, I suppose, but they keep coming back to my house! Maybe my barbecue tastes so good, they'll put up with my company! Maybe they don't reciprocate because they feel they can't measure up. Or maybe, just maybe, they haven't figured out the answers to the questions I laid out, basic to any kind of entertaining and don't know how to do it!)

Once you have a grasp of these barbecue entertaining and hosting basics, you can figure out the best places to buy your meats, seasonings, rubs, seafood and produce to get the best quality for the best price and start worrying about what people will want to drink, have for appetizers and what you can listen to while entertaining...and no, that doesn't mean keeping the game on in the background and eating on the couch...unless it's a tailgate party, of course! (Part of your new education may involve listening to music that wasn't necessarily popular when you graduated High School!)

Now, when you've got all that figured out, when your wife, or special someone, asks you what you need them to do, you can go pour them a glass of that whatever-they-like and tell them to put the music on, put their feet up and relax for a while. You've got it all under control...because now, you're The Man. Don't that feel good...?

In my house, we believe in sitting at a table for a meal (unless there are too many of us, which'll happen at a barbecue) and having a conversation, and we have trained our kids to do the same. We also seem to have trained a lot of their friends; judging by the way they still like to come around at dinner time! As for background noise, that's what a stereo is for...not a television.

Need some other benefits to being The Man? I've never figured out the fight over division of labor in the house between a man and a woman. There is no way possible that it can ever come out fifty-fifty, and I don't care how you break it out! Mowing the lawn equals doing laundry equals doing dishes equals taking out the trash equals making the bed equals grocery shopping equals...and on and on, using some non-definable point system! As long as you're both participating and not complaining about it, and as long as you feel appreciated for doing it, life is good.

One of the rules in my house is "if you cook, you don't have to clean up". I'll cook before I clean, any day of the week! I take the time to shop for what I want to cook, about an hour before I want to cook it (yeah, takes about fifteen minutes...). I hate trying to remember to take stuff out of the freezer. What I know is, if I barbecue, not only is it going to taste great, I'm going get the ephedrine high of being the appreciated provider, my lovely didn't have to stress out after getting home late from her tech job, we get quality time with the kids…and there are hardly any pots and pans, so even the kids will do the dishes without complaining...much!

Don't panic...I know it seems like a lot to learn and do, changing attitudes and responsibilities…sharing…plus having a personality transplant and all, but believe me, once you've got this stuff down, there isn't anything you can't handle on the grill. Plus, it's a great reason not to let her wrestle the tongs out of your hands! That's like attacking your manhood!

Oh yeah, one more thing...some people take the "Hey, get your damn hands off my grill" thing a little too seriously and think that no man should ever let another man cook on his grill, like it's adulterous or something. Let me tell you: I've got family and friends, all over the country, and because people know I love to barbecue, especially for large groups, and they know I'm good at it, they want me to take care of it for them. I personally grill with charcoal, but that doesn't mean I can't work with propane. Variety is the spice of life!

New experiences create the opportunity to overcome new challenges, and with that come confidence and pride. I'm proud of my grill master status and it's a sign of acknowledgment when other people, even other grill master friends, ask me to wield the tongs for them and their group of family and friends. 

Feed them right and you'll have them eating out the palm of your hand...gladly!

How To Barbeque - 10 Simple Rules

Nobody likes rules, I know, and if you don’t want to follow them, that’s up to you.  Maybe you want to consider them “best practices” instead.  Great grill masters are more like artists, anyway, but if you talk to them and watch them, you’ll see that they treat their barbecue the way a restaurant chef treats his kitchen…with precision.

Rule 1:       Keep your grill clean

• A clean grill will give you better tasting food and is less likely to cause your food to stick to the grate.
• If your grilling surface is cast iron, use mineral oil to keep it from rusting in the off season.  It's tasteless, odorless and natural, so it won't hurt anything  
• It’s easier to clean the grill after the coals have heated the grilling surface, so if you don't want to miss out on the food and conversation, you can do it when you fire up the grill the next time!

Rule 2:       Don’t turn your food too often when using direct heat

• It has a tendency to dry the meat out.  
• If it sticks, you are probably turning it too early, or the food was too cold when you put it on the grill.  Let meat get to room temperature for the best results. 
• Never turn a steak more than once, unless you’re searing!  You can sear in flavorful juices by turning the steak after a minute, then again, then leaving it to grill for six to eight minutes per side. 
• If you're doing a Tri-tip, or any cut of meat that's thick, like a roast, turn it after ten minutes on the meat side and eight minutes on the fat side, and baste it with marinade every time you turn it, so it doesn't char. 

Rule 3:       When using the indirect method, you must keep the lid closed. 

•  The temptation, while grilling, will be to keep opening the lid and checking on your progress.
• Remember, opening the lid allows heat to escape, so keep a balance between checking and flipping.
• Every time you open the lid, it's like opening your oven door, and it takes some time to recoup that loss of heat.
• A confident griller knows when to flip his food and minimizes heat loss.

Rule 4:       Don't leave your grilling unattended for any length of time.

• A flare-up can occur at anytime and leave you with charred food if you are not there to attend to it, and you don’t need that aggravation!
• Try not to leave your grill if you you are using the direct heat method
• If you are using the indirect method, you have more leeway, but if you don't have a pan beneath to catch drippings with something to absorb them, you can end up with a fire under your food.

Rule 5:       Know how many coals to use

• Most rookie barbecuers think, the more coals they use the better, probably because they like the taste of lighter fluid!
• Too many coals creates too much heat, burning everything, like putting a roast in the oven on broil, instead of bake.
• Learn how to control the temperature of your grill
• Build an area for direct cooking and an area for indirect cookin 

Rule 6:       Do not use a spray bottle of water to control a flare-up

• Stuff falling onto the coals, into a pan that doesn’t have something in it to absorb or dissipate the flammables, or just collecting on the grilling surface, represents a fire waiting to consume your meat.
• Trimming excess fat from the meat and moving the meat to a different area of the grill when turning is the best way to control flare-ups. 
• Water just moves the grease fire around, since oil and water don’t mix. 
• Move the food to a cooler area on the grill until the flare dies down.  
• Small flare ups can be controlled by closing the air vents (wear your gloves!) and closing the lid.
• Sometimes it’s better to leave the lid open if you have a large flare up and can move the food out of harm’s way.  The accumulation will burn off faster. 

Rule 7:       Most BBQ sauces contain sugar, which caramelizes and causes meat to burn 

• If you plan ahead, which I don’t, you can apply the sauce and let it sit overnight so the flavor gets into the food and the sugar is absorbed.
• If you don’t, then only apply it towards the end of the cooking process and monitor closely for flare-ups.
• Try to find a non-sugar based marinade that has great flavor and works on all kinds of meat.  Since applying the marinade to indirect cooking foods leaves the lid open too long, causing heat loss, I wait until the food is done, then apply the marinade generously, again, and throw it back on direct for twenty to thirty seconds before serving.

Rule 8:       Spice and marinate your food about one hour before grilling 

• Try to use marinades that don’t have too much sugar or oil in them.
• It’s ok to leave the food out.  It reacts to the grill better at room temperature and sticks less.
• Trying to spice things on the grill usually ends up missing the food, over applying in some places and wasting a lot of spice
• The best way to spice your meat, if you're not using a marinade, is to use a rub
• Aged beef requires no spices or marinades, just careful grilling and appreciative taste buds.

Rule 9:        Do not use a fork to turn your meats

• Only rookies, who know nothing, and pros, who know everything, use a fork to turn their meat.
• Forks puncture the food, releasing oils and fat that are stewing inside, so you'll never see a pro do that.
• Pros pre-poke sausages so that, as they heat up, the juices can seep out and not split or blister the skin.
• Same applies to whole poultry, which you shouldn't be turning to begin with!
• Poking some foods while on the grill, may cause juices to shoot out and either cause flare-ups or hit inquisitive little Johnny in the eye!
• A long set of tongs is the best for turning steaks, chicken and other cuts of meat. 
• A long handled spatula is best for burgers.

Rule 10:       Make sure that meats are completely thawed before grilling

• If you forgot to take the meat out of the freezer, but it didn't thaw in time and you decided the grill would cook it any way, whatever meat it is, will look great on the outside, but be raw on the inside.  
• You can cheat a little with chicken (but not much) as long as you’re cooking indirect, but you need to turn it more often and cook it a little longer.  Better to just go get more, fresh, or use the microwave to defrost.
• Frozen pre-made hamburger patties taste like cardboard anyway, and have a high fat content to help you burn them, so do those one more time…before you learn how to really cook!

How To Barbeque - Appetizers

I’m sure your magnetic personality and charm are enough to draw the hoards to you as you carefully nurture and tend to the grilling, but if the silly hat and apron don’t do the trick, then you can step into the pro arena of barbecue mastery and try your hand at some appetizers!


You can prepare tasty appetizers such as mini pizzas, mini tacos, Buffalo wings and potato skins on the grill and they will be tastier than if you prepared them in your oven. The main difference between cooking appetizers on the grill and cooking them in the oven is that a grill has a much more intense heat, even if you are using the indirect method. But if you coat the cooking surface with oil, use indirect heat, the upper rack and keep a close eye on your food, you will have everyone eating out of your hand...literally!

A tool that can be very useful when grilling vegetables or appetizers is the grill topper. It’s a tray-like device that won’t impede the heat from your grill.  You can find grill toppers at hardware and department stores and once you put it to use, you'll keep on using it! You can use it as a tray and transfer everything to the preheated grill at once, then, when  the food is cooked, just remove the grill topper and serve, straight from grill to table!

The trick to making the best appetizers for your gathering is to do as much of the preparation as possible in advance. (Once your wife knows that you can handle the heat, she won’t mind helping you out.) You can prepare most of them a day or more ahead of time and refrigerate, or even freeze them.  The mini pizzas, potato skins and Buffalo wings can even be bought "ready to cook" and will just require a little heating on the grill, and nobody will be the wiser. The grill will heat them up fast too, so you won't need to stay around the grill…too long.

Just like at any party, you want the appetizers to compliment the meal and not fill people up so they don’t enjoy the rest of your efforts.  If you can, get pre-marinated chicken or beef strips, skewer them with some mushrooms or light veggies and dip.  They taste great, but aren't filling.

Virtually anything you can do in the oven, you can do on your grill.  I already enjoy doing corn, mini bell peppers, mushrooms, Belgian endive, cabbage, crook necked squash and any number of legumes on the grill for our sides.  (All using the indirect method, of course.)

Use your imagination! Once you feel confident in those, try doing some of our favorites, like stuffed jalapeno poppers, or roasted artichoke with aioli dip.  There's a special tray for the poppers that makes things a breeze and you you make several different fillings (indirect, 15 mins.)  The roasted artichokes need to be boiled for ten minutes first, then seasoned, indirect heat for ten minutes, then direct for five.  Look up any recipe for the aioli dip or use Hollandaise or French Onion, or whatever dip you think you can do with confidence.  It's different and it's fun, and everyone has to eat with their hands!

Start paying attention to menu appetizers, particularly those you enjoy at some of your favorite restaurants.  Usually the servers are pretty good at spilling the beans on what goes into some of their specialties.  But, if you’ve been paying attention, you won’t have any trouble modifying or replicating your appetizers, just through experimentation.

Hopefully, as you apply the techniques that I have presented in this series of articles, following the rules and the tips, you’ll gain confidence in using your grill as more than something to send smoke signals with and experimenting with new flavors and techniques will become second nature.

How To Barbeque - Bubba's BBQ Boot Camp Secrets

Learning to master the grill can take years and years of practice, depending on how often you do it.  You know the old saying… “there’s no substitute for experience”.  But, nobody said the experience has to be your own, so I’m going to throw some tips at you so that your learning curve is going to be drastically shortened, and your friends, family and neighbors will wonder what Barbecue Boot Camp you went to!

Whether you are using a charcoal grill or a gas grill, there are certain tips you need to know that will make your experience more enjoyable and put you on the path to being a grill master. I don’t recommend that you start out using these additional techniques, but once you’ve gained a little confidence and think you can handle some “controlled experimentation”, you may enjoy them.

The addition of wood chips and chunks to your coals can add awesome smoked flavor to your food. You should soak mesquite, alder, hickory, or pecan chips for one hour before scattering over the hot coals.  Soak wooden skewers in water, also, for an hour before use. They are best used for foods that can be cooked quickly, like vegetables and fruits.  Use flat metal skewers when cooking kebabs. It’s harder to turn food on round skewers.

I hate overcooked vegetables, because they get mushy. Tomatoes in particular, so I make my meat skewers and vegetable skewers separately.  Beef goes over direct heat and gets flipped once, like steak.  Lamb and cubed chicken over indirect heat get flipped twice.  Vegetables on skewers, over indirect heat, flipped once.   Not as pretty on the skewers…but it sure tastes better!

Roasts, turkey, leg of lamb and anything else you may rotisserie, requires more time and therefore, some additional, sometimes tricky, temperature control.

• To lower the cooking temperature, you can raise the cooking grate (or lower the coals), spread the coals farther apart, or adjust the vents to half-way closed.
• If you need to raise the temperature, you can lower the cooking grate (or raise the coals), tap ash from the coals, move the coals closer together, or adjust the vents so that they are opened further. You can also add more charcoal to the outer edges of the hot coals.
• When the weather is cold or damp, you will need to use more briquettes to achieve an ideal cooking temperature. Grilling will also take longer.
• Wind will tend to make the fire hotter.
• On a humid day, the coals will burn slower.
• The colder and thicker the food, the longer it will take to cook.
• Fires using hardwood will burn hotter than charcoal briquettes.

Until you are confident and have enough experience, use a meat thermometer to check if your meat's internal temperature.  That applies especially to roasts, chicken, turkey, lamb and pork.  It may be a little embarrassing when your guests ask for “a little more fire”, but you’ll overcome that a lot easier than if everyone calls the next day to see who else got sick!

As a rule, I like my chicken bone-in, skin-on, dark meat. Thighs are my favorite.  I do those over indirect heat, flipping the cut bone-meat side after ten minutes and the skin side after eight, for an hour.  Comes out perfect every time, and people say they’ve never tasted chicken like it…tender, juicy, rich and flavorful, with a hint of smoke.  But, that’s just me…and everyone I know!

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, for you health fanatics out there, don’t have anywhere near the flavor or character, regardless of how much you try to marinate and spice them up.  Why’s that?  Because the skin is fat, and fat translates to flavor.  But, if that’s what you do, cook it indirect, flipping every five minutes, for twenty minutes and everyone will pretend to enjoy it as long as you don't dry it out!

How do you like your steak?  If you said something beyond medium rare, then you really don’t like steak, you just don’t like the idea that your meat isn’t dry and gray, which represents cooked through to you.  I recommend that you never order Filet Mignon!  I love Rib-Eye, but a New York will do in a pinch.  I like them an inch and a half thick, with nice marbling, for that full, rich flavor and lip-smacking crispy fat edge.  Some people like to sear in the flavor (one minute, flip, one minute, flip, then normal cooking time), but mine come out tender and juicy on direct heat, seven to nine minutes a side, depending on conditions.

Standard rookie mistake…?  Cutting into the steak to test the doneness!  If you must test, do it under the guise of “chef’s taster prerogative”, and cut a piece off of the end for yourself, or whichever drooling dinner guest is sitting closest.

If you don’t want to cut an end off, or don’t think that’s appropriately manly, you can stick your eyeballs down close to the grill surface and lift a corner of the steak to take a peak.  If the grill has left a nice, black char mark, it’s probably good to turn.  After a while, you can tell what’s going on, on the bottom, by what’s happening on top.  I look for the juices forming on the top of the steak, if I forgot to check exactly what time I put the meat on or I have been enjoying the witty banter and a few adult beverages.

I know you all have different cuts of beef, depending on where you live, so these are general rules that should apply to most every steak.  I’m not going to engage in a discussion on aged beef, other than to say…it’s worth the money!  But don’t try it until you’ve achieved Master status.

The problem with Porterhouse and T-Bones…which, I know, are many people’s favorite cuts of meat, is that they are almost impossible to get right.  Ever notice, when you cook one, or order one at your favorite steakhouse, that the meat one side of the bone tastes completely different than the meat on the other?  That’s because they are two entirely different cuts of meat that taste different and react to cooking differently.  If you get the New York side of it medium rare, the filet side is too rare.  If you get the filet side medium rare, the other side is medium…as in tough and tasteless.  My wife loves Porterhouse, and so I’ve figured out how to do the happy medium-rare for her, but it takes a lot of attention and careful placement, and I still don’t know if she’s just being polite!

Boneless beef ribs and boneless pork ribs (country style), are some of mine and my guests’ favorites.  Do the beef on direct, flip once after ten to twelve minutes.  Tastes like steak!  Boneless pork, do indirect, flip every eight to ten minutes, depending on thickness, thirty to forty minutes.

Here’s something you ought to try to do…!  Nope, I told you I wasn’t doing recipes.  Whenever meat is served at a large barbecue gathering, your guests are stuck using nasty little plastic knives to cut it.  That takes a lot of enjoyment out of the experience.  Do your guests a favor and invest in a good, sharp, serrated, barbecue knife.  Your grill surface makes a fine cutting board if you let the knife pass between the bars.  Put on your gloves, grab the ribs with your tongs and slice them into manageable little pieces, small enough to put on a plastic fork and eat whole (guys) or take a bite off (gals).  The appreciation level will go through the roof!  Don’t dare do it for steak, though!  Have enough steak knives on hand, for that.

Doing a Tri-Tip?  Cook it on direct, forty to fifty minutes, total time.  Flip every ten minutes, but monitor the fat side to make sure your not burning it too bad. It can always be cut off, if you do as mentioned with the boneless ribs, but if you keep it moist by applying some marinade to it every time you turn it, it’ll come out perfect!

What kind of sausage do you like?  Most sausage you get today is pre-cooked and comes in a great variety of flavors: Cajun, pineapple, sun-dried tomato, pepper and cheese-stuffed, etc.  Poke some holes in the skin or run a knife across the top a few times, so that the skin doesn’t explode or blister as the juices in the sausage heat up and create steam that needs to escape.  Use indirect heat, or the top rack if you have one, turn every five minutes, for ten to fifteen, total.  Italian sausage or chorizo, or anything else that isn’t pre-cooked, same as above, twenty to twenty-five, total.

How much meat can you cook...?   Well, my grill is about 32" wide and 20" deep, and with one funnel of coals, I can do twelve chicken thighs (indirect), boneless beef ribs (direct), a tri-tip (direct), boneless pork ribs (indirect) and sausage (top rack), all arriving at the table at the same time, enough to feed twenty-five people and still have some left-overs! True, I can't get the sides on the grill, but I may have already done some appetizers!  Besides, with that many people, someone else can deal with pot-luck sides, or I can pick up salads in bulk!

That ought to be enough to get your mouth watering and give you plenty of things to practice on.  When I think you’re ready, we’ll talk about doing Baby Back Ribs, the Thanksgiving turkey and using the rotisserie for prime rib, leg of lamb and roasts.  But, speaking of appetizers...check out How To Barbeque - Appetizers for some cool ideas!

How To Barbeque - Grilling Methods

Probably the most important aspect of barbecuing, once you know how to control your heat is understanding what needs to be grilled over direct heat and what needs indirect heat, and how long it will take to achieve the desired result.

If you think about your barbecue as an oven, because now you know how to control the heat, the area directly over the heat is likely to be somewhere between 450-500 degrees F.  The indirect area is more like 350-375 degrees F.

If you’re cooking something that has a higher fat content, or that has been marinated in oil of some kind, the drippings are going to create flash fires, so if you walk away from the grill, and the lid is closed, be prepared to come back to a black charred mess when you realize that smoke is billowing out of the air vents.  That’s one of the main reasons why you use tongs instead of a fork, to turn food.  Don’t puncture the food while it’s cooking…don’t release the grease.

Cooking with indirect heat affords you more time to attend to other things. It’s also more forgiving because you are cooking your meat at a lower temperature, so as the time approaches for everything to hit the table at the same time, you can test it and if it needs a little extra heat, you can move it over the direct heat source.  The grill should always be kept covered when cooking with indirect heat.

Direct heat cooking is uncomplicated. Learning the temperature of the coals is the only real skill. If you are using a gas grill, you just need to set the heat settings at the proper level. The coals are ready when 3/4 of them are gray and coated with ash. You can check the temperature of a charcoal grill by very carefully holding your hand just above the grilling surface and counting the number of seconds it takes before the heat becomes uncomfortable enough for you to pull your hand away.

• 5 seconds equals Low Heat
• 4 seconds equals Medium Heat
• 3 seconds equals Medium-High Heat
• 2 seconds equals High Heat 

You can use the following descriptions to check cooking temperature by observing the coals:

• When the ash coating thickens and a red glow is just visible this would equal a low heat.
• When the coals are covered with light gray ash this would equal a medium heat.
• When the coals have a red glow visible through the ash coating this would equal a high heat. 

A simple and effective method for indirect heat cooking on a charcoal grill is to place an equal number of charcoal briquettes on each side of the grill pan and leaving a space in the center. If the food is likely to drip fat or oil, place an aluminum dripping pan under the food.  Some like to put water in the pan to prevent flashing, but I prefer to put some used ash in the pan to absorb anything that may be flammable and likely to flare up.

For indirect heat cooking on a dual burner gas grill, set the drip pan on the porcelain briquettes, or lava rocks, on one side of the grill and add about a half inch of water. Preheat the other burner on high for 5-10 minutes. Turn the temperature down to medium, then put the food on the rack over the drip pan and cover the grill. 

For indirect heat cooking on a single burner gas grill, preheat the grill on high for 5-10 minutes. Turn the temperature down to low, and place a large foil baking pan on the rack. You can also line half of the cooking rack with a double thickness of heavy duty foil. Place your food in the pan or on the foil, cover and cook.

Now that you know how to prepare your grill for direct and indirect cooking methods, and have the right tools at the ready, let's talk about what you should cook over the two distinct methods.  You can find that information in How To Barbeque - Bubba's BBQ Boot Camp Secrets.