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Charcoal Grilling 101!

Published by Charcoal on June 5, 2007 in Equipment and How-To. 0 Comments

Welcome to Grill Naked’s charcoal grilling haven!
If you grill with charcoal, want to grill with charcoal or you grill with gas and want to see what’s up with this “charcoal thing”, this is the place for you.

My name is Chris. I’m writing this series of articles to share my… let’s just say “enthusiasm” for cooking over fire. I’ve been grilling for 15+ years and have cooked everything from burgers & dogs to full breakfasts (careful orange juice burns easily) to pizza on the grill. Recipies & techniques are coming soon!

I have cooked on other people’s gas grills from time to time but these experiences have only solidified my opinion that CHARCOAL GRILLS RULE ALL! (I get to be biased here, It’s my article!!!)

Before we get rolling, let me say that this is my first set of articles EVER. I’m not a “writer” by any stretch of the imagination but I do have a lot of cool ideas and experience behind the grill, so hang in there with me. This is gonna be fun!

OK! Let’s start at the beginning. If you don’t have a grill…

Step One - Get a Grill!

Things to consider when choosing a grill:

1 - How many people will you usually be grilling for?
This helps determine how big the grill needs to be. If you cook for 2-4 people most of the time but occasionally throw a huge party you can still work with a smaller grill, you just need to plan ahead (a nice grill assistant doesn’t hurt either!).

2 - Where will you be grilling?
Think about where the grill will go. Somewhere near the house yet far enough away that you won’t burn down “said” house. Look UP! Make sure you have plenty of clearance above your grill (No tree branches full of dry leaves hanging down over the flame! That’s bad.)
You also want enough room around the grill for you to operate. LOTS of elbow room for working your tools in and around tender fillets of fish or for turning your food so it gets even heat as it cooks. You’ll be amazed at the positions you’ll end up in while creating art on the grill!

3 - Budget
How much do you want/have to spend? Keep an open mind here! Your basic (my basic) charcoal grill, the Weber One Touch Silver Kettle starts around $80.00.
(I’ve used other grills at the “Weber Kettle” level and have yet to come across one that compares.) With that said, there are plenty of grills out there for less and lets face it an inexpensive grill is better than no grill at all! From there, the sky’s pretty much the limit. Although the major “Home Centers” and hardware stores (unfortunately) don’t carry a huge selection of charcoal grills, there are many to be found online ranging in price from a couple of hundred to several thousand dollars. Look at the grill, not the price. Get something that will serve you well for years to come, don’t skimp!

4 - Features
From handles, vents for airflow, doors for fire tending/clean-out and side tables to work on, to hooks for your tools. Features are all of the things on your grill that make your life easier. Even the type of finish the grill has on it is an important feature to consider. You need a sturdy shell with air vents above and below the coal grate. The vents should be accessable and easy to open and close. A large cooking area is always good and the ability to add coals while cooking is a must. Beyond that it’s up to personal preference.

If you’re a beginner and don’t know what you need, I’d recommend the Weber One Touch Silver Kettle . I’m not trying to do a Weber commercial here nor is Weber paying me, It’s just a great basic grill that can be purchased almost anywhere and it has plenty of accessories to add on as your skills grow. I would also recommend getting a hinged grate so you can add coal while you cook.

5 - Other Thoughts
Safety, quality and ease of use are good to keep in mind as you shop. If you do shop online, try to find a local retailer that carries the grill you’re interested in. Actually playing with the grill will tell you more than any spec sheet. Move all the moveable parts. Make sure they work properly and will last for a long time. Also make sure removeable pieces come off and go back on easily (remember you’ll be moving some of these pieces when they’re HOT!) Shake it! Check the grill’s stability. A grill collapse while it’s hot could be disasterous!
Finally, get a look at the owners manual. I was all set to buy a grill that cost almost $300.00. I stopped in to look at the grill several different times. On my final visit, I glanced through the owners manual and read a line that said “Do not heat grill above 400 degrees.” If you don’t already know, a “hot” charcoal grill is supposed to be around 500 degrees! That was a deal breaker for me.

Finally! Grilling should be fun. With a little planning, a sense of adventure and a sense of humor, it will be. Now get out there, buy that grill and fire it up… not sure how? Check in for my next article: Fuels, Tools and Working With Fire!

Why Go Charcoal?

Published by Charcoal on May 31, 2007 in Equipment and How-To. 0 Comments

So you’re here because grilling interests you, or maybe it was that Naked part that caught your eye! We’re working on adding more of that too.
If you grill, clothed or naked, and you aren’t using charcoal, ponder these points before you choose your next grill.

Most people buy gas grills because they’re easy, fast and fairly clean to use. You go outside, touch a button, turn a knob, wait 10 minutes and cook your food. Convenient? Yes. Fun, rewarding, adventurous? Not in my book, and that’s why I grill!

Given. Gas grills are “cleaner” to use and less work from begining to end. But cooking with charcoal is cooking with real fire and cooking with Hardwood Charcoal (my personal preference) is almost like cooking over an actual campfire. You control the heat by adding coals or adjusting the height of the coal bed. You check the fire’s temperature by hand, not with a thermometer that’s usually wrong anyway. With a little practice, you check your meat’s level of doneness by touch. You develop skills that will let you cook food anywhere there’s a hot bed of coals not just on a backyard patio or deck. You develop a real sense for where to place the food, how long to leave it there, when to turn it, move it, add coals for more heat, etc.
When the food comes off the grill, you have a real sense of accomplishment because you did more than just lay the food on the grate, close the lid and wait! It’s about the experience and the journey, not just getting the food cooked in ten minutes so I don’t miss seeing who gets voted off American Idol tonight.

OK. If the Point Break like spirtual grilling argument doesn’t sway you, here are some facts!

Facts
- Using a “chimney” to light your coals will have them red hot and ready to cook in about 10 minutes. Around the same amount of time it takes a gas grill to heat up.

- Charcoal grills tend to burn hotter than gas grills which can give you shorter cooking times and better results.

- Grilling, is cooking over a dry heat. One byproduct of burning propane is water (I know we’re getting geeky here but I don’t like my burgers steamed!).

- Men who use gas to grill have been found to have higher levels of estrogen and some even experience enlarged or tender breasts! (Just kidding! I made that one up! Get the underlying message?)

All kidding aside, gas grills are a little less work but you are giving up a seriously great experience. In these modern times, where everything is instant yet nothing gets done fast enough, take a little time to slow things down and actually enjoy the process. Take a step back to when man cooked over an open fire and learn how to master that dying art. Hey! If nothing else, it’s a great excuse to crack open a beer! Give it a try!
Cheers!

Top 10 Coolest Grills of All Time

Published by griller on May 29, 2007 in Equipment. 0 Comments

In case you missed it last year, Neatorama had a write-up of 10 really fancy grills. Some practical, some impractical, some insane. Here’s a great example. Check out the original article for more.

Do you have “Grilling Genetics?”

Published by griller on May 26, 2007 in Grilling in the News. 0 Comments

According to an article which will appear in Monday’s LA Times, the health consequences of grilling just got a whole lot more complicated. In addition to how hot and for how long you cook your food, you might also need to get a DNA test done. Here are some of the facts:

Flame-grilled meat has been linked to cancer.

Fumes from burning fat, and smoke from wood or charcoal, have been linked to cancer.

A diet high in red meat is a known cancer risk factor.

Heterocycling amines (HCAs), a toxic byproduct of cooking with high heat, increase with increased cooking time. So cooking rare instead of “to death” might help.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), carcinogens formed by “the close relationship of food, fire and smoke” specifically associated with grilling, also increase with cooking time.

Several experts, including one at Harvard and one at USC, cast doubt on whether these carcinogens actually translate well to humans in real life (outside of the pure science of cancer research).

Still other studies are starting to link genetics to the conversion of toxic chemicals to cancer, specifically a metabolizing enzyme, for which those carrying the “fast” version of the gene have higher cancer rates.

In summary, EVERYBODY PANIC! but don’t stop grilling just yet.

For the Griller Who Has Everything

Published by griller on May 19, 2007 in Equipment. 0 Comments

For the griller who has everything, BeefEater now has something you don’t have. A gold-plated grill. Yes. I said a gold-plated grill. For a measly $12,500, you can have half your neighbors hating you for your extravagance, and the other half plotting to steal it. Fortunately, gold is heavy, so they won’t get far. I wonder if it comes with a cable-lock port. Click on the image for a larger view.

Wedding cake made of meat

Published by griller on May 11, 2007 in Grilling in the News. 0 Comments

Meatfreaks, you will LOVE this one.

A wedding cake made of meat. See the Craftzine Blog for the story.

Grilled Veggie Mix

Published by griller on May 8, 2007 in Recipes. 0 Comments

From user Enik -

Easy to make and very tasty. Veggie-haters in my family will even eat this.

- 1 package sliced fresh mushrooms
- Head of broccoli
- 1 large vidalia onion
- 2 yellow squash
- 3 tbsp butter
- Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning

Slice the onion & cut small broccoli florets off. Cut the squash into slices then quarter the slices.
Put all veggies in a foil oven bag or a pocket made from alumimum foil. Add several shakes of the cajun spice & the butter chopped into small squares.
Seal all sides and shake it up really good. Remove all or some clothing if desired. Grill in foil bag - check once or twice for doneness, Onions should be totally limp and browning.

May is National Barbecue Month

Published by griller on May 6, 2007 in Grilling in the News. 0 Comments

According to the Health, Patio & Barbecue Association, May is National Barbecue Month. I think in order to properly honor the occasion and better ourselves as grillsmiths, we should make it a goal to cook outdoors at least once each weekend in May.

There’s a great article on that site on grilling etiquette and IQ, you can learn a lot from it. But make sure you come back here afterwards.

Don’t Hurt Yourself!

Published by griller on May 6, 2007 in Grilling in the News. 0 Comments

Chicago Cubs pitcher Bob Howry can obviously afford a much bigger grill than I can. He managed to score a back injury from moving his grill on his patio last week. See the Chicago Tribune article for more details. The moral of the story here, kids, is if your grill is that big, you can probably afford to hire someone to move it for you. Be careful out there.

Choosing a Grill

Published by griller on May 5, 2007 in How-To. 0 Comments

We’ll start out this series with a brief discussion on choosing the right grill. We won’t endorse any brands (unless of course they pay us to do so), but we will give you an idea of what to look for.

Fuel:Before you even start deciding on models, decide what fuel you’re working with. Charcoal, Gas, Pellet. Most folks are buying gas grills these days, although there are a few purists who insists that meat tastes best when cooked over charcoal.

Gas — With gas grills, there are still several options. The most popular seems to be LP (liquid propane). Propane is ubiquitous. In my neighborhood you can trade-in used propane tanks at grocery stores, discount stores, hardware / home supply stores and even some gas stations. You’ll probably want to get two tanks up front, and fill them both, to avoid the hassle of running out of fuel while cooking for friends.

Another attractive option, if your house is powered by natural gas, is to run a permanent line from your home gas line to your grill. This should be done by a professional, but once it’s done, you’ll never run out of fuel. However, using this method makes it much more critical to ensure you turn off the gas supply to the grill after cooking. It’s one thing to run a tank dry, it’s another to get a bill from the gas company for thousands of dollars and risk blowing up your house. Keep in mind that not all grills support this option, but many of the higher-end grills do have LP to Natural conversion kits available.

A lot of gas grillers use smoker boxes, a metal box filled with wood chips that you put in the grill along with your meat to add smoky flavor.

Charcoal – Contrary to the propane industry, there are still a lot of people hooked on charcoal. Some
of the hardcore charcoal grillers use multiple grills for long slow cooking; doing their primary grilling on their main grill and heating coals on a smaller alternative grill for transfer when the coals get low on the main.

Pellets – Pellet grills are a newer contender. They’re energy-efficient and burn cleanly, and
pellets come in various flavors for flavoring your meat – hickory, mesquite, oak, etc. Some of them offer gas options as well, so that you can alternate between smoking and cooking at higher heat. Some of them even have temperature regulators. Imagine a grill that’s smarter than you!

Features and Quality

Whatever grill you buy, you want it to last. Find a display model. Move the doors and lid around. Wiggle it. You want a grill that demonstrates rock solid construction. Weak design, bad fit, or loose assembly are things to look out for. You don’t want to burn down your house because you chose a grill with badly-assembled legs and it fell over while you were smoking ribs.

You want a grill that’s easy to clean, inside and out, so pay attention to the surface construction. You want a grill with enough cooking surface to handle the amount of food you intend to cook. If you’re talking about gas or electric, you want enough burners to do the job and provide flexibility. You want a grill from a reliable company who can and will stand behind their product in terms of reliability and more importantly, SAFETY. And you probably want a grill that looks nice. You might want a grill with additional workspace surfaces on the sides, so you have a place to put things before and after cooking. A grill with cabinet doors and/or tool drawers down below allows you to store your grill tools outdoors safely. A removable grease trap keeps the grease off your nicely refinished deck., which also keeps the scavengers away. And make sure you get a
cover for your grill, to protect it from the elements.

Your grill will be a fixture in your outdoor life. Don’t skimp on it.

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