Summertime is the barbecue season across the neighborhood. People usually start the day with a grill and a feast on some homemade barbecue. To upgrade your game, here are some tips to make your guests drooling on your next barbecue!
1. Choose Your Meat
It is essential to choose the meat you’re going to use for your barbecue. Traditionally, most choose pork, while others use cattle and beef brisket. Barbecuing poultry is not uncommon, though it is less preferred compared to the two.
Fish is also on the menu, and for vegetarians, tofu can be grilled as well. Processed meat like hamburgers and hotdogs are also popular during a barbecue. The kind of meat you choose will determine the preparation time, the ingredients and sauce it would require.
Hamburgers and hotdogs can be cooked within a few minutes during your barbecue and then there are smoked baby back ribs which are usually smoked for hours. Choosing your meat will determine the day your barbecue will be held. The meat needs to be marinated and it usually takes a day for some meat to be ready to grill.
Remember, a great meal starts with good preparation! So keep in mind the essentials before you start grilling
2. Plan Some Side Dishes
To have a great barbecue, plan to make quick and easy side dishes. These help in balancing your meal. Make sure to put the side dishes that would complement your meat.
Pork barbecues are usually best served with grilled corn or corn salad. Poultry goes well with egg salads, while fish blends well with roasted eggplants.what’s good with side dishes is that it can be easily prepared along with your meat. It doesn’t take a lot of prep time and, better yet, adds flavor to your barbecue.
The usual and safest side dish to prepare is your homely potato salad. These are the usual mainstays when it comes side dishes and can be enjoyed with every type of meat used in the barbecue!
3. The Right Burner for Your Grill
A grill either has gas or charcoal as fuel. Gas-type grills are great since most of the equipment is easy to set up and enable you to start grilling. The problem with gas grills is that the smoky flavor that should be in a barbecue is not present.
Charcoal grills are the traditional mainstay for any barbecue. The charcoal being used come from different types of wood to capture that smoky flavor. But to add a more smoky flavor, wood chips are typically added.
For pork and fish, hickory and oak are the best wood chips to add to the flame. Cherry, applewood, and peach wood chips would be great to other meats since they give this fruity aroma as the charcoal burns. Keep in mind that charcoal grilling requires more effort compared to gas but that smoky flavor is impossible to resist.
4. Marinades
You can find a lot of marinade recipes and each of them can greatly enhance the flavor of your barbecue. Marinating helps to tenderize the meat and impart the flavor of your marinade. The usual issues with marinating are how long should you marinate your meat.
Having it marinated undertime will not infuse the flavors to your barbecue and soaking overtime soak will have it a mushy consistency. The basic ingredients for making a marinade are vinegar, mild flavored oils, flavoring, and some sweeteners. Red meat usually takes 3 to 24 hours to best ensure that the meat is tender. White meat and fish usually take 30 minutes to 3 hours max to have the flavors infused.
5. Making the Sauce
Barbecue sauce can be bought easily in any grocery stores or you can make one yourself. Keep in mind, not all barbecues require sauce. Texas style barbecues usually have the sauce rubbed to the meat before grilling, removing the need for a sauce afterward.
As for the sauce, it depends on what meat you’ll be using. Making the sauce can be based on your broth or marinade you made earlier. You can also try to make a specialized sauce, but make sure that it would compliment your barbecue. Keep in mind these easy steps and you will surely make your guests drool over the barbecue day!
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