Strange Grilling Techniques...

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Tis the season for outdoor grilling adventures. Last night we over to a coworkers house for a 4th of July celebration and I saw some of the strangest grilling techniques. The first thing that really took me by surprise was this guy cleaned his grill cold. He came out of the house with an orange-scented cleaner and a roll of paper towels. Then he wiped it for a good 5 minutes until he had accumulated a rather large pile of paper towels. This I just don't understand. It's a gas grill, just clean it hot and it's ready to go... this has always been my motto.

So I let this go, even though I really wanted to ask. He put the sausages on the grill and I assumed everything was on track. He then says, "Oh I forgot the knife." And I'm thinking, WTF... a knife? He comes back and precedes to stab all the sausages four or five times. I asked, and he says "I hate flare ups." Needless to say, dinner was really dry.

Anyone else experience some crazy, possibly terrible grilling techniques?
 
Not a technique, exactly...
I had a lizard jump onto my hot grill while I was cooking burgers. He stuck instantly and, when I tried to knock him off with my grill spatula, he rolled right out of his skin (which was absolutely stuck and frying at this point).

Burgers turned out great BTW.

Happy 4th everyone.
 
I let a friend help with the burgers once, while I went to get a beer. He proceeded to use the spatula and pressed down on them and squeezed every tiny bit of juice out of the burgers. Major smoke and flare ups when i got back. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was the way he always cooked burgers. Dryest burgers I've ever had and inflicted on all the guests.
 
Not a technique, exactly...
I had a lizard jump onto my hot grill while I was cooking burgers. He stuck instantly and, when I tried to knock him off with my grill spatula, he rolled right out of his skin (which was absolutely stuck and frying at this point).

Burgers turned out great BTW.

Happy 4th everyone.


You should have peppered it and served it as wild game.
 
my mom used to boil ribs for an hour and then grill them for 20 minutes. she didn't remove the membrane. they were consistently like rubber.
 
My brother in law sucks at cooking on the grill. The last time he made bbq chicken and burgers. He was doing the spatula squeeze technique and then cook the piss out of them. It was the driest, charred burger I have ever had. Took a few bites and tossed it to try the chicken breast. Lets just say I should have gulped down that burger - I didn't even know chicken could be that dry, flavorless or chewy.

On a positive note - my wife has been trying to master the grill (she likes the idea of making 100% of dinner for me every night). I gave her a few pointers a couple of weeks ago; and she literally made me the best burger on the grill tonight that I have ever eaten. This is not praise I just hand out. I consider myself to be an excellent griller - I am appointed the grill master at all family events. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. This burger literally blew my socks off - after making beer bread with beer I made - and kicking back a homebrew with me.
 
My buddy's g/f always buys frozen hamburger patties when she has a Q. Even properly thawed they make shvtty burgers.
 
Not a technique, exactly...
I had a lizard jump onto my hot grill while I was cooking burgers. He stuck instantly and, when I tried to knock him off with my grill spatula, he rolled right out of his skin (which was absolutely stuck and frying at this point).

Burgers turned out great BTW.

Happy 4th everyone.
Sounds like a suicide mission to me...:drunk:
 
There is a strange instinct that people seem to have when grilling, or even frying. If it rises, smash it. It makes for dry burgers and super-dense pancakes. Please, resist the Hulk smash. You let Ballpark Franks "plump when you cook 'em," why can't other foods be afforded the same common courtesy?
 
Clean a grill??? what? Just crank up the heat, give it a quick brushing and you're good to go.

I have poked sausages, I have squished burgers, I have flipped a steak 10 times... just needs to be pointed out, or shown a better way.
 
my mom used to boil ribs for an hour and then grill them for 20 minutes. she didn't remove the membrane. they were consistently like rubber.

I boil my ribs sometimes. I use crawfish or crab boil and it comes out pretty dang good. Sauce it up and throw it on the grill for a few minutes and your good to go.
 
One should never grill frozen burgers at all.

Actually I buy ground beef in bulk, pat out .5lb burgers and freeze, and grill them directly from frozen. If done right, I think they turn out great. Not as good as a proper fresh one, but easier to grab and make.


Also I have a little unorthodox rib technique. Since I just have an electric kettle smoker that gets way too hot to properly "barbecue', I throw them in the smoker for 2 hours to get the smoke flavor, seal up in foil and bake at 225 for 2-3 hours, then finish on the grill for about 10 minutes, with or without sauce. Better than the ribs at most restaurants, if you ask me.
 
I have been guilty of smashing burgers, cutting open steak to see if its done, cooking on too high heat thus charring the outside and leaving the inside undercooked, etc...

I think the worst thing that I have personally done is flip a steak too many times, too soon, never got the grill marks, just kind of browned it...
 
My mom use to boil ribs too. Rib meat shouldn't hurt your jaws and teeth after eating it!

I use to be so paranoid about under cooking chicken that I would cut into the thick part of every piece. Now I just just a meat thermometer on the thickest part of the largest piece. I think I'll stay content with that.... As for steaks I think it might still be twitching when I take it off the grill.

When It comes to marinades I generally don't marinade over 1/2 hour to an hour. To me I think it makes the meat taste rubbery when you do the "over night" marinades.
 
For fillet steak on the BBQ : when the coals are ready pour 1/2 a cup of cooking oil onto the coals. It makes a huge flame which sears the outside of the meat and then dies down so the meat doesn't burn. Sometimes the oil smokes without catching - it needs an open flame from a lighter to get going.
 
I fry frozen burgers sometimes. We keep them on hand because we don't always have fresh meat on hand. I've never had a bad frozen burger. I've had plenty that weren't "Great", but they almost always been tender and juicy. Except when a friend of mine ordered his burger well cooked, all the way through.... yuck...

Just heat the grill up for a fee minutes and brush it off. Wipe with oil or butter if you want it nonstick. I usually just slide the spatula under the burger a moment after it hits and loosen it up a bit.

And NEVER stab sausages! My wife cooks them boiled and stabbed. And they are soo dry and chewy I pass on them completely.
 
If you want to be a gg griller you need to be able to know when meat is cooked to your liking or type by touch of the meat

I know the "finger to thumb" test for steaks is that the same for chicken?

For those who don't know what I am talking about Finger to Thumb test: Hold Thumb to pinky and feel the muscle on the base of your thumb on the inside of your hand... that is well. Thumb to ring finger medium, Thumb to middle finger Med-Rare and thumb to index rare.

Probably not the most accurate but works well enough for me
 
Not a technique, exactly...
I had a lizard jump onto my hot grill while I was cooking burgers. He stuck instantly and, when I tried to knock him off with my grill spatula, he rolled right out of his skin (which was absolutely stuck and frying at this point).

Burgers turned out great BTW.

Happy 4th everyone.
Did anyone taste the lizard??

My buddy's g/f always buys frozen hamburger patties when she has a Q. Even properly thawed they make shvtty burgers.
My wife seems to think the only way to get burgers is frozen or prepackaged. She was amazed when I bought a lb of beef one night and my the best bet burgers we'd had in a long time.

I know the "finger to thumb" test for steaks is that the same for chicken?

For those who don't know what I am talking about Finger to Thumb test: Hold Thumb to pinky and feel the muscle on the base of your thumb on the inside of your hand... that is well. Thumb to ring finger medium, Thumb to middle finger Med-Rare and thumb to index rare.

Probably not the most accurate but works well enough for me

Don't understand how that can be consistent at all. I have boney hands. I can guarantee a fat guy would have much "squishier" hands. What wrong with a meat thermometer?
 
There is absolutely nothing wrong with boiling ribs. If they are tough they are not done. It isn't from boiling.
 
I was always told to only flip burgers/steaks once but I'm beginning to think that's a bunch of hooey.

IME, it's difficult to get most grills too hot for anything but really thick steaks (for med-rare that is). I always let the steak sit out at room temp for a while before cooking and doing that plus an uber-hot grill (plus salt mentioned below) gets great crust and perfect, uniform doneness inside. Not more rare as you get nearer the center but uniform perfection all the way through, just inside the crust.

Salting beforehand or no? I think so, kosher salt a little bit beforehand draws a little protein-rich moisture from the meat to the surface which helps in creating a great crust. For me, a good steak needs nothing more than kosher salt and then some fresh, ground black pepper as it comes of the grill. I would never marinate a good steak.

For me, a really hot griddle or cast-iron skillet is the better than the grill but it's all good.

The 'finger-to-thumb' is just an example. If you're cooking a 2" thick filet mignon it's gonna feel very different than a 1" thick NY Strip. So use that guide at your own risk (with a grain of salt, etc.). Just always feel your meat and after a while you can just tell.

EDIT: and it's tongs/spatula only at the grill. No forks!
 
There is absolutely nothing wrong with boiling ribs. If they are tough they are not done. It isn't from boiling.

+1 to this....boiling is a wet cooking method and is good for breaking down connective tissue which ribs are full of. Those those who have had dry, chewy ribs after boiling I'm guessing because they were over-grilled, not over-boiled.
 
and it's tongs/spatula only at the grill. No forks!

Amen to that! In addition to the tongs, I have a rather large sugar cane knife that I sharpened along the top edge (for ease of flipping burgers) I use it for almost everything, great for moving briskets around on the smoker too! the hook is also good for moving the diffuser plates and grates around on my smoker.

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