Summer BBQ Season Do's & Don'ts
When it comes to BBQ's, emmy award winning chef and TV host, Guy Fieri knows a thing or two about how to have a successful BBQ. Here are some of his tips:
Save the lighter fluid for the camp fire. Any type of combustible liquid (gasoline, diesel fuel, lamp oil) is unsafe and causes unwanted residual flavor on your meat.
Wait for the white. Avoid putting food on coals that aren’t burned through. As coals start to burn they will kick off a residue that’s not pleasing to the palate. You want your coals to form a white ash on the outside, not red flaming embers, so that you have consistent heat. Then, by piling the coals or lowering the grate up and down, you can adjust to increase or decrease heat intensity.
Sit tight to sauce. Apply barbecue sauce only in the final minutes of cooking. Sugars in the sauce tend to burn and darken your meat, creating unsavory smoke on a gas grill or a cloud of ash over charcoal.
source: Guy Fieri’s Grilling Tips from Guy on Fire, Tech recommendations for the BBQ season. Flato, 2014
Here is a great list of "don'ts"
1. Don’t start up the grill for the first time of the season without inspecting its gas hoses for cracks or holes.
2. Don’t grill indoors or in an enclosed area, unless it is part of your in-home range with proper ventilation.
3. Don’t grill in the path of strong winds, which may stir up the embers and make them fly.
4. Don’t use a charcoal grill on a wood deck without having a deck protector under it.
5. Don’t grill near anything that could potentially be flammable, such as piles of leaves or dry grass, gasoline containers, machinery containing gasoline, paint or aerosol cans, awnings, or trees.