Dry-Heat Cooking Methods

Dry-heat cooking refers to any cooking technique where the heat is transferred to the food item without using any moisture. Dry-heat cooking typically involves high temperatures, meaning 300°F or hotter.

Brown is Beautiful

Note that the browning of food, as when bread is toasted, can only be achieved through dry-heat cooking. This browning in turn leads to the development of complex flavors and aromas that can't be attained through moist-heat cooking techniques.

Sautéing & Pan-Frying

Sautéing requires a very hot pan. When sautéing, it's important to heat the pan for a minute, then add a small amount of fat and let the fat get hot as well, before adding the food to the pan.

Steak: Flavor & Seasonings

Few things in life beat the flavor of a properly grilled steak. The smoky beef flavor, tender and with just a hit of that sweet fatty taste. But there is so much more that can be done with a steak. Seasonings from rubs, marinades or sauces can turn an mediocre steak into a great steak. Rubs can be as simple as fresh ground black pepper or a complex mixture of a dozen spices and herbs. Marinades can make a tough steak tender and a plain steak spectacular. Sauces added after the grilling can finish a meal and fix any flavor.

Pork Chop's

Before getting into some great pork chop recipes it is first important to know that there are a number of cuts labeled pork chops. Bone in or boneless, loin or rib chops, the most important factor to consider when grilling a pork chop is the thickness. Thin cut chops (under 3/4-inch thickness) need to be handled differently from thick cut pork chops (anything over 3/4-inch thickness). Thin chops will

dry out faster so they need to be cooked quicker, while thicker chops need time to get cooked through the middle without drying out the surface so they need to be cooked slower. It sounds backwards, but it works. Before we get grilling pork chops though we need to maximize moisture, tenderness, and flavor.

Grilling Prime Rib

The promise of prime rib has built more than one Restaurant Empire. Sometimes it seems that the city of Las Vegas was built on prime rib. But frequently this promise ends up delivering a dry and tasteless cut of meat that just doesn't satisfy. This is a shame since this is one of the most flavorful and expensive cuts of meat you can buy. If you love prime rib, then the best solution is to cook one yourself.

Maillard Reaction

Definition:

The Maillard reaction is a culinary phenomenon that occurs when proteins in meat are heated to temperatures of 310°F or higher, causing them to turn brown.

Named for the French chemist Louis-Camille Maillard who discovered the process at the start of the 20th century, the Maillard reaction is similar to the process of caramelization, where carbohydrates like sugar turn brown when heated.Pronunciation: my-YARD

Also Known As: "Caramelization." Note that while caramelization is not the identical chemical process as the Maillard reaction, only the most pedantic hairsplitter would actually take the trouble to correct you on it. Also simply referred to as "browning."

Examples: The Maillard reaction is the principle behind the browning of meat when it is seared as a prelude to braising it. This process creates a thick, dark-brown crust on the surface of the meat that enhances its appearance and flavor, and can only be created by high-temperature, dry-heat cooking techniques.

Searing

Before I get started I need to make two disclaimers. First, if you like your steak more than medium you shouldn't try searing your steaks. You'll end up with a charred piece of dry beef. Second, I'm going to get a lot of email about this article because what I'm going to say is controversial. Now that we understand each other, we need to define a couple of terms and then explore the process of the properly searing.

First of all, searing is not simply for steaks. The secret to a great prime rib is to start it at a high temperature to sear the surface and then lower the temperature to finish it off. Pork chops, chicken, and roasts all benefit from searing, though maybe not the way you think.

Debunk Those Myths that are keeping you from being a Great Outdoor Cook

What if I told you that searing that steak doesn't hold in the juices? Neither does setting aside the fork in favor of the spatula. Is mayonnaise a sea of bacteria waiting to ruin your cookout? Should you spray down that flare-up? There are a lot of myths out there in the barbecue and grilling world and some of them are preventing you from being the best cook you can be. Let's debunk those myths and get cooking.

Searing Locks in Juices

It seems reasonable. Get that grill as hot as it will go and throw on a steak to sear in the juices. With the surface of the steak cooked hot and fast the juices will stay inside. Right? Wrong. The moisture in meat is inside the individual cells, not floating around like in some kind of balloon. Heat causes these cells to contract draining juices from the meat and causing it to get dry. The more you cook the dryer the meat will get. Searing won't affect the moisture of the meat. What it does do is brown the surface of the meat in processes known as caramelization and the Maillard reaction. These processes affect amino acids and sugars on the meat giving it that rich, sweet flavor. So sear for the flavor, not the juices.

Three Simple Barbecues

This is the quick guide to barbecuing three different meals. These three simple, enjoyable barbecues use the same techniques required for all barbecues. You are going to produce some great BBQ to share but don't be tempted to cook for large numbers of people straight away. Practice these and you will have the building blocks to cook whatever you want. As you practice you will begin to understand what is happening inside your barbecue. As you develop that sense then invite a couple of extra people to join you.

Lesson 1 - Sausages

Why sausages first. Well it's simple. They are cheap, forgiving on the grill and tasty!

Light some charcoal in a starter chimney the amount will be determined by how much you are going to cook. To find out more about this there is a guide to lighting your barbecue. If you are going to cook a packet of sausages for upto four people 1/2 a chimney of lumpwood or a 1/3 of briquettes will be enough. Your charcoal is ready when there is a light grey covering of ash over all of the charcoal.

Sides

Sides

• Potato
• Rice and pulses rice, pasta, cous cous etc
• Salad

Potato Recipes

You can even barbecue potato.

Rub and Marinade Recipes

Dan's Pulled Pork Rub

Spicy with a hint of smoke

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp Paprika
• 1 Tbsp ground white pepper
• 3/4 Tbsp of coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsp of chilli flakes
• 3/4 Tbsp of Provencal herbs

Cooking Method

• Give the meat a good rub with the mix
• When the meat is nearly cooked use some apple juice and some left over rub to make a paste

Rotisserie

My preference for rotisserie chicken is to cook it in front of my chiminea. However, many barbecues are suitable for cooking rotisserie chicken. You will need to use the same technique as hot roasting in a barbecue. If you are going to use a chiminea here is what to do;

A small fire is lit inside the chiminea and to that larger pieces of wood are added as it begins to get going. The wood added is ideally a hard wood as this contains much less resin which makes a lot of smoke and can taint your food. The fire needs to be red hot in the bottom before it is hot enough to cook in front of.

While the fire is taking hold you can prepare the chicken. If you are able to take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before lighting the fire it will start to come towards room temperature. You must be careful with chicken as it is has a high chance of poisoning you if you do not take precautions. Roll a lemon on a chopping board to soften it. This breaks down some of the segment walls inside the lemon and helps it to release it's juice. Cut the lemon in half and and cuts that half into quarters. Put these lemon wedges into the chicken cavity. Take care not to pack them in. And any other herbs you like such as rosemary, thyme or peeled garlic cloves.

Low and Slow or Smoking

The Low and Slow or Smoking cooking technique is not a difficult technique to do. However, you will need to understand how your barbecue works and you will need to know how to keep it under control for the duration of the cook. Low & Slow simply refers to the Low cooking temperature and the Slow cooking time. Larger pieces of meat cooked in this way will quite literally fall apart under their own weight and yet be so tender and flavoursome that you will want to do it all over again. This is the technique to use if you like Pulled Pork, Brisket or ribs.

If you are fortunate enough to own a Weber Smokey Mountain or similar or even an offset smoker I guess this page isn't going to help you too much. If, though, like me you don't have room for those barbecues but you do want to enjoy Low & Slow this is a method that can achieve very similar results on a kettle barbecue. I use a Weber 22 1/2" kettle and I think this is the minimum size kettle barbecue to be able to cook in this way.

Start a chimney full of charcoal briquettes in the Starter Chimney as usual. There is some snobbery around the use of briquettes but in my opinion the briquette is what makes this Low & Slow possible in a kettle barbecue. Charcoal is going to burn hotter and faster so will require constant monitoring and small adjustment. You are welcome to try. As part of my KISS approach I recommend charcoal briquettes at this stage.

Grilling

Grilling is the easiest way to barbecue your food. It is quick to setup and the range of food that you can cook in this way is probably the greatest. Certainly this is the best technique to begin with as it will let you develop your barbecue skills and let you cook some great BBQ. You may have heard of direct cooking, well I like to adapt that technique as I think this is a more reliable method for cooking.

When you grill you will typically be cooking over a high heat, relatively quickly and you will have smaller items to cook such as sausages, steaks, chops or kebabs. The direct cooking that is described in barbecue manuals or that you seen on the TV or internet will show the food directly, which is why it is called that, over the heat. Once you have finished reading the next few paragraphs I think you will understand why my technique will help you produce good BBQ and why the direct method is not something to be taken too literally.

The secret to not burning your food is quite simple;

Hot Roasting

If you have a kettle grill or a gas barbecue with a lid you can try hot roasting. Typically this will take longer than grilling so it is worth planning this in advance. By using the lid of the barbecue you are creating an oven where the heat will circulate around your food cooking it evenly. With a chicken it will have hot air in the cavity too helping it to cook from the inside as well as the outside. Some barbecue manuals will refer to this method as indirect cooking.

Charcoal barbecues are very easy to set up for the indirect or hot roasting method. The two outside 1/3's of the charcoal grate are used with the centre 1/3 being left empty. Once the charcoal is hot enough to cook, the food grill is put in place and the food put above the centre third. If you are using a starter chimney, charcoal is placed evenly in to each side. If you are not using a starter chimney the barbecue will, in effect, be made up of two smaller fires.

Hot smoking using a kettle barbecue

What is more irresistible than hot smoked food cooked using some charcoal and wood chips in a barbecue? Not much. There are no adaptations required to hot smoke in a barbecue as long as it has a lid. All you need in addition to the usual barbecue prerequisites is some wood chips.

You can use most hardwoods to smoke over, the wood from fruit trees are generally great woods to smoke over. Oak, Apple and Manuka are my favourites but Mesquite, Pecan and Hickory are all quite readily available from your barbecue equipment supplier. Avoid evergreen or wood from trees that have a sticky sap like pine.

First of all you will need to light some charcoal. This is quite easy but if you need some help lighting a BBQ. You don't need too much charcoal, half a chimney or four or five big handfuls will do it. While the charcoal is getting going take your food out of the fridge to come up to room temperature.

When your charcoal has a grey ash covering put some wood chips on to the charcoal. It is a myth that wood chips should be soaked before you put them on to hot charcoal. If you put wet wood chips on to hot charcoal the heat will drop and it is counter productive. Chances are you could soak the wood chips all night and in reality they will absorb little moisture really. When you add some wood chips to the charcoal they may start to flame but when you put the lid on to the barbecue they will die down.

Techniques

Techniques:

Barbecuing encompasses four or five distinct types of cooking techniques. The original technique is cooking using smoke at lower temperatures (usually around 240–280 °F or 115–145 °C) and significantly longer cooking times (several hours), known as smoking. Another technique is baking, utilizing a masonry oven or any other type of baking oven, which uses convection to cook meats and starches with moderate temperatures for an average cooking time (about an hour plus a few extra minutes). Yet another technique is braising, which combines direct dry heat charbroiling on a ribbed surface with a broth-filled pot for moist heat, cooking at various speeds throughout the duration (starting fast, slowing down, then speeding up again, lasting for a few hours).

By contrast, grilling is done over direct dry heat, usually over a hot fire (i.e., over 500 °F (260 °C)) for a short time (minutes). Grilling may be done over wood, charcoal, gas (natural gas or propane), or electricity. The time difference between barbecuing and grilling is due to the temperature difference: at the low temperatures used for barbecuing, it takes many hours for the meat to reach the desired internal temperature.

Rotisserie

Rotisserie chicken is without doubt a crowd pleaser. There is no reason not to cook a rotisserie chicken on a charcoal grill if it can be rotated so that the heat is radiated from the back of the grill or if the grill itself is large enough to have two piles of burning coal either side of the grill so when the chicken drips those drips can be caught in a tray. Keep topping up the charcoal so that it continues to burn down and rake the ash from the bottom so it isn't able to blow up on to your chicken.

Kettle barbecues can also be adapted to cook rotisserie chicken though hot roasting a chicken in a kettle barbecue will render very similar results. With a chicken placed on a grill inside a small baking tray the chicken sits above it's cooking juices which evaporate and help keep the chicken moist.

Many larger gas barbecues are even supplied with the necessary rotisserie equipment. If you have a gas grill with rotisserie I recommend you refer to the instructions, if you have them. Though with a little lateral thinking you should be able to work it out. With the lid of the gas barbecue closed the heat will build up very quickly. If you have a thermometer built into your gas barbecue keep an eye on the temperature and don't let it get too high. From experience a whole chicken can cook in around 1 1/2 - 2 hours depending on it's size.

Barbecue Care

Caring for your barbecue is quick, easy and if carried out correctly your barbecue should last for years.

When you use your barbecue make sure that it is clear of ash. You might have to take the cooking grill and charcoal grill out and tip it up. You may have air vents at the bottom of your barbecue that let you push the ash through. It is crucial that you clean the barbecue before eash use. Don't keep the few pennies worth of charcoal left behind either. This charcoal is no good and not worth keeping. By removing the ash your barbecue is able to allow air to circulate. Air needs to be able to get to the burning charcoal in order for it to burn down correctly. Generally speaking if you barbecue has vents in the bottom open them all the way. Replace the grills if you have to take them out in the same sequence as you removed them.

Once you have added charcoal to the barbecue you can use the heat from this fire to clean the cooking grill. I don't worry about this too much and neither should you. Make sure that it gets hot, particular if the barbecue hasn't been used for sometime, and use a wire brush to remove any loose remnants of your last barbecue.

Lighting a barbecue

There are two primary methods for lighting a barbecue; Using a starter chimney or in the grill. My preference is to use a starter chimney as I believe this to be a quicker and more reliable method to get the charcoal to a consistent cooking temperature. With the starter chimney you will also more readily have a measure for the amount of charcoal you are using for a barbecue. In the recipe section of this website I will reference the amount of charcoal against the volume of the starter chimney. However, you may not have a starter chimney but you do have some meat in the fridge, a bag of charcoal and some friends turning up in an hour or so.

Just to point out what some may consider the obivous. You are now lighting a fire. Be careful to do so on a surface that won't catch light, is not close to something that can catch light or indeed under something that can catch light.
Lighting charcoal in a starter chimney

Starter Chimney

A starter chimney is a great investment. Don't worry if you don't have one but I recommend that you buy one. You can light and have perfectly good barbecue without a starter chimney, see Lighting to find out how. A starter chimney will make lighting a barbecue quicker and give you a few minutes to check that your barbecue grill is clear of ash.

Another use for a starter chimney is to give you a measurement of charcoal which will probably lead to you using less charcoal for a barbecue than you would otherwise have used. Since it is my preference to use a starter chimney you'll find reference to the quantity of charcoal in relation to the starter chimney's capacity.

Tools

There aren't too many tools required for cooking BBQ. For all types of barbecue you will need a wire brush to clean the grill. Otherwise, depending on how your going to cook, here is a list of items that you will need;

Tools for Grilling

• Tongs but a fork will do
• A plate for cooked meat
• Aluminum foil

Tools for Hot Roasting

• A small baking tray with a grill to fit. About the size of a chicken
• Heat resistant gloves or oven mitt
• A skewer or a thermometer if you want to be certain of food temperature
• Aluminum foil

Barbecue Charcoal

In my opinion there is a time and a place for both charcoal and briquettes when barbecueing. For me, the principal consideration is what you can easily purchase at a local (or perhaps not so local in our internet shopping era) store. If you can buy barbecue lumpwood charcoal or barbecue briquettes it is useful in some cases to be able to use one over the other.

Some people will say that briquettes are an inferior barbecue fuel to lumpwood. The reasons given are that briquettes are full of filler and other undesireable contaminents. However, I do not really buy that it harmful. After all in our litagous society a barbecue briquette manufacture is hardly going to want to be found to be poisoning it's customers. And, notwithstanding this point, I don't detect a different taste when I barbecue with briquettes.

Meat buyers guide

There are so many cuts of meat available for you to cook on the barbecue and to some extent you have to decide what it is you want to achieve before deciding what cut of meat you are going to buy. Sometimes you will need to choose an alternative because you can't source the cut of meat you want to cook. Unless you really have your heart set on cooking something in particular it is always a good idea to have a "Plan B" ready.

What might surprise you is that in some cases it really doesn't pay to buy the most expensive cut of meat for your barbecue. Instead, when selecting meat to cook on the barbecue you should be considering other factors including fat content, ageing, size and shape of the meat and the amount of BBQ meat required. Pork shoulder will often out perform a loin for moistness because it is better suited to being roasted on a barbecue. Similarly a rib eye steak or even a really well aged rump steak will often grill better on a barbecue than a fillet steak, the most expensive steak you can buy.

Equipment

To be able to barbecue you really don't need much to produce good BBQ food. A barbecue, of course, some charcoal, a match, a pair of tongs or a fork and something to cook. You don't need gadgets, BBQ gizmos or any other paraphanalia that is supposed to make your end result better. The reason is that you, perhaps with a little help, are more than capable of producing great BBQ food. Later, when you decide to try low and slow barbecue techniques you will need a few items to help you. You might need a new barbecue or just a couple of pieces of hardware.

On these next pages you will be able to learn more about;

• Meat buying guide
• Charcoal
• Starter Chimney
• Types of barbecues
• Rotisserie
• Tools
• And how to care for your barbecue

BBQ Types

There are many barbecues available and some are better than others depending on what you want to cook, the space you have and your particular preference. Barbecues fall in to three groups;

• Charcoal or Gas Grill
• Kettle
• Portable

Charcoal is really the essence of barbecue and there is some snobbery amongst charcoal barbecueists (Is that a word?) about those who prefer gas. And I must admit to falling into that school of thought too. Charcoal imparts a wonderful flavour into you food that gas simply can't. Charcoal cooking really doesn't need to be a dirty or messy business but I see the instant heat a gas barbecue has to offer as potentially advantageous. Certainly charcoal barbecues can appear complex if you don't know what it is all about but if you do get to know your charcoal barbecue you will cook great BBQ with that distinctive smokey flavour. Grilling really refers to the technique of placing meet over hot coals. You will learn more about that on the grilling page.

BBQ FAQ

Some of the most commonly asked BBQ related questions answered.

How do I light a charcoal barbecue?

Depending or not if you have a starter chimney there are a couple of ways. Firstly, and most simply, fill a charcoal starter chimney and place over a couple of lit firelighters. Tip the contents in to a prepared barbecue when the coals on the top have a grey ash covering. The second method is to place a couple of firelighters on the grate and place charcoal over the top. When the charcoal is covered with grey ash put the cooking grill on and begin cooking. For more on lighting your charcoal, including a couple of videos, take a look at the BBQ lighting guide.

Do I need to cook my food before putting it on the barbecue?

In short, no. By ensuring that your charcoal is up to temperature and by using the right cooking techniques there is no need to pre-cook food before putting it on the barbecue. Depending on what you are going to cook you will need to select the most appropriate cooking technique to cook you bbq properly.

What Is a Barbecue?

Barbecue (also barbeque, BBQ and barby/barbies) is a cooking method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of charcoal.

While there is a vast degree of variation and overlap in terminology and method surrounding this form of cooking, the generally accepted difference between barbecue and grilling is in the cooking time and type of heat used: grilling is generally done "hot and fast" over direct heat from low-smoke fuels (with the flame contacting the meat itself), while barbecuing is usually done "low and slow" over indirect heat from high-smoke fuels (with the flame not contacting the meat directly).

Barbecuing is usually done in an outdoor environment by smoking the meat over wood or charcoal. Restaurant barbecue may be cooked in large brick or metal ovens specifically designed for that purpose. Barbecuing has numerous regional variations in many parts of the world.

About Me

Hello to all the Foodies out there.

The only reason to start this Blog is to guide you into Barbecuing 'N' Grilling the most Salivating, and Succulent Meat.

Am also a  gourmand who is on the lookout for the most interesting food on the circuit.