DH has a big Green Egg. These smokers/grills make delicious meals. But DH doesn’t use it very often. It’s a hassle, and time consuming. For a couple of years, I have been asking him to teach me the art of grilling, but it never happens. When we moved D2 into our cottage we owned in DH’s college town, we bought her a little Weber gas grill. She became a grill master, and kids loved to come to her house for her dinner parties. Some of her guy friends would come over on Sundays and grill their week’s worth of meat; in return, they would bring her a bottle of wine or replenish the propane tank.
For Mother’s Day, D2 told DH to get me a Weber gas grill, and he listened. I was so happy to see my little two burner gas grill! I’ve been using it almost every day since. D2 gave me a lesson with some chicken breasts. I’ve cooked flank steak, shrimp skewers, swordfish steaks, burgers, brats, and today, chicken thighs. I’ve been using YouTube and the internet as my tutor.
Today I thought about CC and figured some of you must be grill masters. If you have tips or special recipes, I’d love to hear them! Tonight I did chicken thighs according to a recipe I found: you sear them on medium high heat for a couple of minutes, them move them over to the other side, which has been turned off (after being on high to clean the grates earlier). So they are cooking on indirect heat. After about 35 minutes or so, they were ready, and they were delicious.
What are your tips or favorite recipes? Veggies? Seafood? Other unusual dishes?
I use those cheap disposible aluminun grill grates and make veggies on the bbq. We like to do zucchini - don’t peel - make slices - baste with oil and spices. We also do those little sweet peppers - again just coat with oil and salt and grill on the disposible grate
Grilled Avacado! Halve avacado, take pit out, poke with fork, olive oil & S&P. Grill face down, about 2-4 mins depending upon how ripe they are. Smooth, creamy…delicious!
Actually, we give the olive oil & S&P treatment to asparagus, potato slices, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes…
We have a BGE too and since it’s usually just H and I it seems a bit labor intensive to use it much. Luckily, we have friends with younger children who also have BGEs and are really skilled with them! So easy to eat brisket or spatchcocked chicken that someone else has cooked.
I have a little cordless rechargeable leaf blower and H figured out that using it as a bellows really speeds up the fire process for the BGE. He blows it in through the bottom vent. As much as I would like a gas grill, there is nothing like a wood fire and some hickory smoke…
I’m bookmarking this to follow along. Novice griller here, though I have a two-burner gas grill in the backyard! DS liked using it before he went off to college, but I am a little phobic about lighting the gas! Also, is turning the heat up high all you need to do to clean the grills – you don’t have to take them off and scrub them? I see a new hobby possibly opening up for me this summer!
@jollymama, yes, I have been using the grill brush to clean the grill off before cooking. My hairdresser is a major griller and he said that after he uses his grill brush, he wipes the grill down using wet paper towels or rags to make sure any grill brush strands are removed from the grill lest they make their way into the intestines and wreak havoc.
I watched a Youtube video tonight showing gas grilling half chickens, and they were BLACK when the guy lifted the grill lid. He was saying “Oh, yum, these look great!” I thought they looked awful, and the comments were talking about the carcinogens left behind by all the black marks. Lol, I was trying to leave sear marks on my chicken but not black crusty stuff.
We’re currently enjoying a week with friends at their cottage in Maine. They not only have a big Green Egg, our woodworking friend has built it in to an amazing eight-foot-long outdoor island that would fit perfectly into any professional kitchen. The Egg has completely replaced their indoor oven – for everything. We arrived on the island Friday night in time to enjoy “Pizza Night,” a tradition that started after the Egg arrived. Our friends make the dough and sauce, and about 30 regulars troop over with their various toppings and our friend turns out the most delicious pizzas for the crowd. Then, every Monday morning, the regulars return at 8AM with their coffees to enjoy hot-off-the-Egg cinnamon sticky buns. We may never leave.
DH gave me a copy of Weber’s Greatest Hits, which I just started. It sounds very similar to the book BB referenced.
I’m noticing that in a lot of recipes, you are instructed to begin cooking on a medium high grate, then move to a grate where you have just turned off the flame (but you leave the flame burning on the first grate). This is called grilling on “indirect heat.” Do most of you grill masters cook your food this way, or do you usually just turn down the temp on all of the grates?
My grill only has two burners because it’s the Weber 200 Spirit series gas grill. Cooking the chicken thighs on indirect heat last night worked pretty well.
@3scoutsmom, I was mulling over cooking cedar planked salmon tonight! Lately I’ve had trouble getting my broiled salmon cooked correctly. We like it crisp on the outside and medium/medium rare on the inside. Anything I should take into consideration?
When I cook bone-in chicken on the grill, I always parboil or poach it first until cooked most of the way but not completely then finish it off on the grill. I find it is the easiest way to ensure the meat is cooked through without burning, especially when using bbq sauces with sugar or other sweeteners in them which can burn easily.