The perfect barbecue with burning embers and cooking gloves
Spring can’t begin until you show off grills and carving forks! Spring means grills, barbecue and open-air lunches with burning embers.
Thus, dust charcoal and cooking gloves and if you want to become the King of Barbecue, follow our suggestions!
Few gold rules to obtain a perfect grill able to satisfy even the most demanding palates, for its taste and cooking. In fact, it seems easy to grill, but it isn’t because there is the high risk to turn a barbecue in a lunch to forget: burned meat, danger of blazes or few embers.
6 gold rules for a perfect grill
1. Pay attention to the burning embers
A barbecue has to start far before the meal. It is necessary to turn the fire on, at least an hour before to create the necessary embers to cook the meat. It has to be cooked not on the logs or in direct contact with the fire but on the embers created after a slow combustion of the wood.
A trick to give more taste? We suggest you to add logs of cherry, cedar or alder wood to give unique tastes to the meat or fish.
If you use charcoal, pay attention that it is burning and turned on. Finally, place the embers under the entire grill to guarantee a uniform cooking of the food.
2. Grill, hotplate or soapstone
Chose the right base! Grill is perfect for fat meats, as pork, hamburgers and würstel, but if you have a beautiful beefsteak, why don’t you try soapstone? It gives a good external searing keeping the meat soft and juicy inside. The hotplate is preferable to cook cornmeal mush, vegetables or cheese to avoid burnings (that are dangerous for your health) and dripping on the embers.
3. The right seasoning
It could be chicken, beef or ribs and pork steaks, but remember to season them in the right way. The best way to season them is the marinade. Before cooking meat leave an hour to marinate in a mix of oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, aromatic herbs and garlic. When it is time to cook the meat, oil the grill and let’s go with the sizzle!
While cooking, sprinkle the driest pieces of meat, like chicken and steaks, with the marinade.
4. Perfect cook: no black parts!
Burnings, besides ruining the taste of the meat, are dangerous for the health. Thus, avoid to carbon the food paying attention to the right height of the grill (at least 5 cm above the embers) and avoiding the direct contact with the fire.
Do not forget the meat, turn it often and move it the sides for a sweeter cooking, if the temperature of the grill is too high. Pay attention also to the order of the meat on the grill: chicken needs more time to cook, sausages and ribs less time, shorter time are perfect for beef steaks, to not make them to stringy.
5. The right tools
First of all, use fireproof cooking gloves to avoid burnings on the arms. Choose tools with a long handle, and avoid the meat to avoid absolutely plastic, that can melt in contact with the heat. A suggestion? Avoid the carving fork, the meat if perforated can loose its internal liquids, becoming dry and stringy, better a metal spatula and tongs.
6. Variety wins!
An entire barbecue with pork can be heavy, just a beef steak is boring and all chicken is not luxurious! And without vegetables and side dishes it is not a real barbecue! Thus, the watchword is: variety! Mix ribs and pork sausages with chicken thighs and wings, beef steaks and mixed skewers.
Moreover, do not forget zucchini, belt peppers and aubergines as side dish and the unavoidable cornmeal mush. To give a tasty touch to your barbecue adds stringy “tomino” or slices of Dobbiaco cheese.
