Grill Seasonig Tips

Grill Seasoning Tips - Home Made is Healthier Than Bottle, Make Your Own

By Natasha Marks

You want to go barbecuing, therefore you start preparing. The list in your mind or on your paper should include the grill, the meat, the corn on the cob if you are in love with it, and of course the grill seasoning. Some people prefer to grill their meat after having added to it only pepper and salt as the flavor of grill seasoning mixtures takes the deliciousness of the barbecue away, they say. Others however, can not have a barbecue without the grill seasoning as, having gotten used to it, they consider the meat cooked without it tasteless.

Why Homemade Grill Seasoning Is Healthier than Bottle Seasoning

There is a great number of recipes for the grill seasoning, each to appeal to various types of people and each to go with a certain kind of meat. The shelves in supermarkets are full with bottles of seasonings and mixtures of spices and herbs, yet many people prefer to make their own grill seasoning at home. One reason for this is that these seasoning bottles contain a lot of unhealthy ingredients which, even though make the meat very tasty, should not get into our habit of regular buying. However, if you insist on buying grill seasoning, then checking for additives and unhealthy ingredients before going to the store would be a good recommendation. The next one would be to read the label, check what the main ingredients are and also avoid choosing from the cheapest of the products.

Grill Seasoning Recipe

In case you are interested in making your own grill seasoning, then you should know that it is so easy to prepare it yourself. All you need is to mix is:

1. Pepper 2. Salt 3. Onion 4. Garlic powder 5. Coriander 6. Red pepper flakes.

Recipes are all over the internet nowadays so it will be much cheaper for you to Google search than to buy recipe books. The recipe mentioned above is very simple and it very much resembles what you usually add to a nicely home made steak. Usually when making a steak at home, you want it to have the best of flavors. And of course you tend to add garlic and onion at least beside the salt and the pepper.

Storing Grill Seasoning

As for storing the grill seasoning, they recommend keeping the mixture of spices in an airtight container and in a place that is not very warm. In case you follow this tip, you will ensure that your grill mixture will preserve all its qualities for the next-to-come grill.

Here are some secrets of cooking with seasonings and how it can help you lose weight A Beginner's Guide To Cooking With Seasonings

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Roll With It: Tips For Rotisserie Chicken

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There's something about a rotisserie chicken.

They're everywhere these days in supermarkets - slow roasting by the dozen on display in industrial cookers the size of your guest bedroom. But the truth is if you have a rotisserie kit (it may have come with that fancy new grill and is now in a box in the attic somewhere) it's actually pretty easy.

Every attempt we made with our gas powered Sam's Club spit and electric motor set up ended with incredibly succulent and golden brown bird. There's only about four ingredients.

First start with a clean bird - Chicken and small Turkey seem to work equally as well. Rub lightly (watch for too much salt) with BBQ Tricks house seasoning UNDER the skin and over the entire outer surface of the skin. Rub seasoning generously inside the cavity of the bird (remove any "spare parts." Let the bird rest (upright if possible) uncovered in the refrigerator for about four hours to allow the seasoning to take and also to dry the skin a bit (this helps to crisp the skin later). My hunch is you could bypass all the above and still have an incredible meal but the little things do make a difference.

Remove the bird and let it come to room temperature about an hour before you plan to cook. two or three hours before you plan to serve.

Before you put the chicken or turkey on the spit mark the location of the grill's burner with two marks (with a Sharpie Permanent Marker) so you'll always know exactly where to slide the meat in the future.

The most important thing to accomplish is to balance and secure the bird firmly on the rotisserie prongs so that the entire mechanism rotates smoothly on the spit. Use trussing to help if needed. Test it by rolling the spit ends on a flat surface or even on your hands. After you have it on a hot grill it's very difficult to adjust. Also use pliers to secure thumb screws. You don't want an end to slide.

Finally make sure the spit is secure in the motor mechanism. Confirm there is no way for it to slide out (does it sound like it happened to me?)! After you start the spin and cook come back and sight check everything after five minutes. Let it Cook til golden brown checking infrequently for one to two hours. Our 4.72 lbs chicken took just over two hours.

When golden check the temperature with a good thermometer and remove to a cutting board to rest.

BBQ Tricks House Seasoning
2 Tablespoons Kosher Salt
1/2 Tablespoon Fresh Ground Black Pepper (grinding is a little bit more work but worth it)
1/2 Tablespoon Garlic Powder

4th Revision BBQ Rub - The Best Recipe

When you're working on getting the PERFECT flavor for a BBQ competition recipes get tweaked and adjusted to perfection. Rubs are a little like the spelling of the word barbecue (try barbeque, B-B-Q, Bar-b-que, etc) there are a lot of ways to do it. This versatile barbecue rub has endured it's fourth revision and it's ready for the public.

A few special ingredients help for the "barbecue trick" here. The turbinado sugar (Sugar In the Raw is available with free shipping with Amazon Prime) may be tough to find but the large crystals don't burn as easily on ribs and on other meats on the grill. The cumin is also something that adds a robust flavor that is this recipe's secret.

4TH REVISION BBQ TRICK RUB

• 4 Tablespoons Paprika


• 1/2 Tablespoon Chili powder


• 1/2 Tablespoon Cayenne (optional for heat)


• 3 Tablespoons Tony Cachere's Cajun Seasoning


• 4 Tablespoons Sugar In The Raw
  
• 1/2 Tablespoon Cumin
  
• 1 tablespoon Brown Sugar

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and blend thoroughly with forks, slotted spoons, or fingers (eliminating all lumps).

Almost Award Winning BBQ Sauce

This barbecue sauce recipe didn't really come close to winning any awards with competition judges. Likely because of the strong kick of heat provided by a dose of chipotle and cayenne. It just crossed the line out of "mainstream" in the heat department. A few judges seemed to love it with high ranks for chicken and ribs and all of our B-B-Q Tricks home samplers were ready to take a bath in the stuff. It's that good.


The best thing about this "Almost Award Wining Sauce" is that it's a perfect sweet heat finishing sauce that will caramelize perfectly as the finishing touch to ribs and chicken. Feel free to temper the heat by dropping the cayenne or chipotle.


2 tbs. Vegetable Oil
1 large clove of Garlic (crushed/minced)
1 medium Onion minced
1 Chipotle Pepper (from can) minced
1 tsp. Chili Powder
1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 cup Ketchup (we use Heinz)
2 tbs. Dijon Mustard (Grey Poupon)
5 tbs. Dark Molasses
3 tbs Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp fresh ground Black Pepper
2 tsp. Hot Pepper Sauce (we use Texas Pete)


Heat the oil in a deep sauce pan and then add garlic and onions until they soften. Next add all peppers and heat for 20 seconds before stirring in the remaining ingredients.


Cook on low heat for 20 minutes until thickened to your liking.

If desired: When cooled strain to remove chunks (garlic and onion).

Stores air tight refrigerated for approx. 6 days.

Award Winning Potato Salad

Emeril just wrapped up a big contest/feature on "Good Morning America" where he named the "Best Potato Salad Ever."

The recipe they chose broke from tradition for us at Barbecue Tricks. We're not used to much bacon in the mix. But when it's there most BBQ lovers DO like the flavor.

Here's the recipe followed by the runner up with a bit more tradtional and creamy salad. The third runner up was different too... she oven roasted the potatoes... neat idea.

Ingredients:
8 large red potatoes

6 hard boiled eggs, chopped

1 lb. bacon

1 large white onion, chopped

2 c. mayonnaise

1 c. sour cream

3 tbsp. milk

2 ½ c. shredded lettuce

2 large tomatoes, chopped

2 c. Shredded cheddar cheese

1. Wash and boil potatoes until tender. Let cool.
2. Chop and cook bacon and onion together, until bacon is crispy. Drain grease into a bowl and reserve.
3. In a small bowl mix mayonnaise, sour cream, bacon drippings and milk. In a large bowl, combine potato, eggs, and the onion-bacon mixture. Add mayo mixture to potato mixture and toss. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
4. Served topped with lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese.

Kickin' Cheese Biscuits

Need a quick side to cap off a BBQ feast? This is a quick cheese biscuit recipe that has an emphais on quick. You could roll the dough and cut into neat rounds (trick: use an old clean soup can with both ends out for perfect round cuts) but these "drop" buscuits are a bit rustic and taste just as good.

• 2 cups bisquick baking mix


• 2/3 cup milk


• 1/4 Sour Cream


• 3/4 cup Kraft Mexican Cheddar Jack with Jalapeno


• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda


• pich of salt


• 1/4 cup butter, melted


• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Heat oven to 450. Mix baking mix, milk, & cheese until a soft dough forms; beat vigorously for 30 seconds. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cooking sheet. Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Mix butter & garlic powder. Brush garlic mixture over warm biscuits before removing from cookie sheet. Serve warm. Makes 12.
Serving Size: 4

Eating Around The Web

It's great to get to know new fans of barbecue and all types of food. Blogging seems to be a great way! Hello to my new friends joining in from the Great Cooks BlogRoll and SimpleDailyRecipes.com. Recipes look pretty budget friendly! Explore their sites and you're sure to find some good eats.

Carolina Pride

North Carolina and South Carolina are an odd pair. Yankees almost see the duo as the same State... "Carolina." But there are differences... especially when it comes to barbecue sauce.

It's somewhat regional but everyone has his or her own favorite. Up North East they like a close to pure vinegar version of an ultra thin sauce. I've even seen it clear (although usually using cider vinegar).

South Carolina has it's hands in different styles... but their claim to fame (thanks to Maurice Bessinger and family) is a tangy sweet mustard based sauce.

In the Piedmont area... or out West it's also vinegar. But there's a good squirt of tomato or ketchup in the mix.

We'll cover all of them here... but first

Here's a Barbecue Tricks version of a Western Carolina Vinegar sauce. Tart, hot and a bit sweet but thin enough to mix quietly into a pile of pulled pork without getting in the way of the smoke in the meat.

Barbecue Tricks Western Vinegar
I like to pick up a full 16oz. bottle of good cider vinegar for this sauce. Get it in the glass bottle so you can funnel the finished sauce back in. Get a good sized kitchen funnel. You'll have some vinegar left... so you may choose to double the amounts and make extra sauce to serve and have a full bottle to save for later.

Simmer the following in a small to medium pot for ten minutes. Let cool before serving:

1 Cup cider vinegar
1/2 Cup Ketchup
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (secret: McCormick's Worcester's flavored)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1 tablespoon Plum Sauce (option: substitute dark molasses)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Perfect Measuring Trick

Creating the perfect sauce for barbecue often involves some sort of syrupy sweet ingredient that can make of break the secret flavor. I just saw Pat Neely of the world famous Neely's BBQ on TV and he had a great trick for measuring heavy syrups and thick liquids like honey or molasses (two common sauce staples).

The next time your measuring corn syrup, honey, or even maple syrup just give the measuring cup a good spray of PAM or a similar non stick oil spray. Not only will it keep your measurements consistent... there's less waste and it makes post sauce clean-up a bit less sticky!

Sweet Southern Brisket

That name may be a bit confusing... beef Brisket has always been a Texas thing. Mesquite, slow slow smoked, a tradition down there.

Here's a Barbecue Tricks version of the brisket that tastes great with HICKORY smoke and a bit of sweet heat to give it a southern twist.

We used a Brinkmann Gourmet Electric smoker that keeps the smoker a low 225 degrees and also used a combination of chunk and chipped hickory for smoke.

Brisket is an all day affair... so using a true smoker (with a good drip pan) will really save you some peace of mind. Electric smokers are offensive to purists (no charcoal?!) but if you keep it smoking with pre-soaked wood chips (in a foil pouch) you can't tell the difference.

Start the night/day before by separating the FLAT portion of the brisket from the tip. Trim away most of the excess fat (down to about 1/4 of an inch covering the flat). This will cut the cooking time way down and give you more smokey surface area. Continue by rinsing clean and rubbing a 5 to 10 pound brisket with a simple RUB. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate until morning. It should "cure" 4-12 hours for best results.

Give yourself extra time for the smoker and restrain yourself from lifting the dome lid more than you absolutely have to. Lifting the dome lid will add at least a half hour to the entire process every time you release the already low heat. Hopefully the smoker has a side door to replenish chips and drip pan liquid.

Remove your meat, unwrap and allow to slowly come to room temperature (about an hour). Start your smoker and give it 40 minutes to heat up.

Place the meat - fat side up - over the drip pan to avoid messy drips.

After smoking 5 or 6 hours we enlisted our Barbecue Trick: sprinkle the brisket liberally with brown sugar and paprika. Place it upside down (fat side down) on aluminum foil and coat the other side. Check the internal temperature. Wrap tightly with foil and put back on the smoker.

The entire smoking process will vary but our Flat cut was finished (internal thermometer to 190 degrees ) in about eleven hours (opening the lid only once). The Point cut took an additional 2 hours to get to internal 190 degrees (the lid was often opened for testing).

One you remove from the smoker you STILL will want to wait another 40 minutes to allow the meat to rest and retain coveted juices. Remember YOU NEED TO ALLOW A LOT OF TIME for this entire process. Back time from meal time and make sure to include an hour for "heating up the smoker" and getting the chill off the meat. Plus another hour for the final "rest".

It's an all day affair. Our tested brisket started as a 10.5 lbs piece of meat but when the flay was separated it was two approximately 5 lbs. pieces. Flat took eleven hours on the smoker. The point was thicker and a bit bigger and took thirteen.

It's also important to note that -IF YOU CAN WAIT- some say it's best to refrigerate and re-heat the next day for the best results (good luck with that waiting!)

Here's The Rub

If you're looking for a quick and easy all purpose rub this is it. It's simple... and once you make it you'll want to keep it on hand to sprinkle on everything from chicken to ribs. I even like the sweet heat on popcorn! It qualifies as a trick because of the super simple secret ingredient: Tony Chachere's seasoning available in most grocery stores.

Barbecue Tricks "Anytime" Rub

• 2 tablespoons Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning


• 4 tablespoons dark brown sugar


• 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper


• 2 tablespoons sweet or smoked paprika

Mix thoughouly with fork and store any remaining rub in and airtight container or jar for up to one month.

How To: Skin Tomatoes

A lot of barbecue masters will use skinned tomatoes for different sauces. This is a great trick to get the thin skinned fruit peeled without testing how thin YOUR skin is!

Why peel it? Some say the skins add a bitter flavor to recipes.

Start with a very clean tomato without any stem:

1. Get a large bowl of ice water handy. Half ice - half water. Save for later.


2. "Score" or lightly cut a cross or X on the end of the tomato (this will help peeling later)


3. Boil a pot of water. (Not the ice water... that's still set aside).


4. Carefully submerge tomato in boiling water


5. Use a slotted spoon o get it out once you can see the skin pulling off


6. Drop it in the ice bath


7. Let the tomato chill for about five and a half minutes


8. NOW you're ready to peel. Use a small knife to get under and grasp the edge of the skin at the X you made. And yes, after all this... it can still be tricky to get it totally skinned!

Where There's Smoke There's Not Fire

Sometimes the simple things can make an ordinary recipe a "secret" recipe. I've discovered one "trick" that adds a special kick to all sorts of sauces and marinades. Liquid Smoke. It is hard to believe they can bottle the stuff... but it's simply condensed smoke. Made almost like moon shine condensed from the smoke of all sorts of hardwoods but mainly hickory and mesquite. It's filtered and then sold somewhere between the ketchup and hot sauce.

Many a pit master will swear they can taste liquid smoke loud and clear and think it's a complete rule breaker. In my book it can serve you well as a time saver (try it in the crock pot with a brisket or butt - not the same as the real thing... but works for some) or as a secret ingredient.

Just remember it's strong stuff. A little goes a long way.

My favorite use for liquid smoke is in a steak marinade. If you love "Dale's" or "Moore's" liquid marinade you'll probably love this "not so secret" marinade that I first used for flank steak in fajitas and later found it great for London broil too. Add a dash of liquid smoke to your favorite light soy sauce (regular soy becomes too salty for thinner cuts like flank or skirt). A few sliced onions add additional flavor to the marinade.

NOT SO SECRET STEAK MARINADE:

one - 15 oz. bottle of light soy sauce

one - half teaspoon hickory liquid smoke

one sliced whole onion