Grilling Chicken is a great choice for the recipes for the grill. The one sure sign that the weather is getting warmer and that summer is around the corner is the sight and smell of barbecued food. You can be sure on the first nice day of spring the local store will see a run on charcoal briquettes, the guy next door will be cleaning off his grill and the whole neighborhood will be filled with the delectable smell of barbecue. One of the perennial favorites for barbecue cooking is chicken and why not? Grilling chicken is easy, it’s versatile and it’s good for you to boot!

When grilling chicken, the first thing to remember is food safety. Raw chicken can contain many food pathogens that can make you and your family very sick, so it’s important to follow a few simple rules.

1. Clean and prepare the chicken on a single washable surface.

2. Always thoroughly clean this surface after the prep work is done.

3. Remember to wash your hands and any utensils used on the chicken before you move on to prepare any other food items.

4. Being careful and taking the time to follow these simple rules will guarantee that your barbecue guests will remain healthy and happy, and that you’ll be grilling chicken for a long time to come!

One of the great advantages of grilling chicken is its versatility. There are literally dozens of ways to prepare chicken for the grill. The key word here is preparation, because chicken marinates so easily, so wonderfully and in so many ways. One of the simplest marinades for chicken is olive oil, vinegar and garlic. Simply place cut up chicken pieces in a large Ziploc bag, add one cup of good quality olive oil, an eighth of a cup of vinegar and four or five cloves of garlic. Next, seal the bag and vigorously shake all the ingredients together. Finally, place the bag in the refrigerator for a minimum of three hours or, preferably, overnight. The chicken you grill the next day will be moist and flavorful – the best you’ve ever had!

Another way of grilling chicken is the beer can method. Beer can chicken? Definitely! You take a whole fryer chicken and wash it inside and out with cold water. Pat the chicken dry and season it to taste, again inside and out. (Rosemary and lemon pepper are a particularly great combo.) Next, take an empty beer can that has been thoroughly washed out and place the can inside the body cavity of the chicken. (Don’t worry if it’s not a perfect fit.) Place the beer can chicken over a moderately hot fire and grill for approximately 40 minutes, occasionally turning, until done. (You may find that this is the perfect time to empty another beer can or two in preparation for your next barbecue.) Take the chicken off the grill and serve promptly. (Remember to remove the beer can from the body cavity first!) It’s guaranteed this will be the juiciest, moistest bird you have ever enjoyed.

So, this barbecue season when you fire up the old grill remember that when you’re grilling chicken you’re grilling right.

Grilling Ribs is a favorite to the recipes of the grill. Is there any one word in the culinary lexicon that evokes so much happiness, controversy and memories? In a lot of ways, ribs are barbecue. They are where barbecue began. (The word barbecue comes from the French phrase “barbe a queue”, meaning “whiskers to tail” and hearkens back to the days when a cook-out meant cooking a whole pig, including the ribs, outdoors over hot coals). They are, for many people, where barbecue ends. Depending on where you come from, ribs could be pork or beef or even mutton! They could also be finished with a vinegar based sauce or a tomato based sauce or even not sauced at all. However, no matter where you come from, one thing is sure – the best ribs are cooked low and slow. This means the meat was cooked for a long time at a lower temperature. In this article, you’re going to learn this “low and slow” method so that the next time you’re grilling ribs, you’re grilling them right.

The first step when grilling ribs is to decide what kind of ribs you want to grill. There are a lot of choices which range from the type of meat to the type of ribs. One way to simplify the process is to go with pork and to choose a cut know as the spareribs. Pork spareribs are meaty, tender and generally available. Because they tend to cook evenly when treated right, they are a good choice for the beginning outdoor chef. When you get your spareribs home, rinse them with cold water, pat them dry and season them to taste. This seasoning, also known as a “rub”, can be any combination of flavorings, herbs and spices you care to use. A good rub is key when grilling ribs. Simply sprinkle your seasonings onto the ribs and, using a good amount of pressure, “rub” them in.

The next step in grilling ribs is setting up the grill. If you’re using charcoal (and you should), you want to start with a moderate amount of coals placed to one side of the grill bottom. Next to the coals place a foil pan. When the coals have ashed over, put on the grill itself and place your ribs over the foil pan. Next to the ribs, place another foil pan full of water. Why do it this way? Putting the coals off to one side, as well as not putting the ribs over coals, slows down the cooking process by indirectly grilling the meat. The foil pan next to the coals catches any drippings from the ribs, keeping them off the coals and prevents the coals from flaring up. Finally, the water in the foil pan next to the ribs will evaporate in the heat of the grill. This steam will help to keep the ribs moist during the time they are on the barbecue. So that’s it. Cover the grill and sit back. Enjoy your favorite cold beverage. You are now the pit master and, as master of your own pit, it is your job to keep the grilling ribs “low and slow” by occasionally replenishing the coals or the water in the grill as needed.

The final step in grilling ribs is the finish or the sauce. The ribs will be done when the meat is separating from the bone. (If you’ve done everything right, this will be three to four hours after you first put the ribs on the grill.) Now all you have to do is decide on the finish. There are a lot of good commercially prepared barbecue sauces out there. Choose one that matches your taste and apply it to the ribs just prior to removing them from the grill. Don’t leave the finished ribs on the grill. The sugars in the sauce caramelize and burn very quickly and will make your hours of effort at the pit a waste.

Remember, low and slow is the only way to go when you’re grilling ribs.

Grilling Vegetables – The Healthy Barbecue Option

Grilling vegetables is a healthy alternative to the recipes for the grill. Everybody enjoys a barbecue! There are few things better than being outdoors with family and friends, enjoying the warm weather, while a grill full of delicious food cooks in the background. A healthy, and often overlooked, cookout alternative is to try grilled vegetables along with, or instead of, more traditional barbecue options. It turns out that, when properly prepared, grilled vegetables can be among the tastiest things you or your family and guests have tasted. The best part is that preparing vegetables for grilling couldn’t be easier.

The first step in preparing grilled vegetables is learning which types of vegetables are best suited for the barbecue. While nearly every variety of vegetable is capable of being grilled, some are better than others. In general, larger vegetables cook evenly and are easier to manage on the grill than smaller vegetables. Also, sturdier vegetables tend to handle the grilling process better than their more fragile counterparts. This means, for example, that bell peppers are a perfect choice for the barbecue, while broccoli is not. Other good choices include onions, zucchini or summer squash, and corn on the cob. Don’t forget to experiment, however. Sometimes, more exotic, lesser known, vegetables are perfect candidates for the grill. Radicchio and endive are delicious when grilled, as is fennel. In each case, the bitterness found in the raw plant is tempered by exposure to the flames.

The next step in making grilled vegetables is proper preparation. Start by slicing the vegetables to provide maximum exposure to the heat from the grill. You first want to remove all end pieces, pulp and seeds and then halve or quarter the vegetable in question. A rule of thumb is larger, regular sized pieces work better than smaller, irregular sized pieces. In addition, some vegetables, onions and mushrooms in particular, benefit from the use of a skewer. Always use stainless steel skewers. They are reusable and easier to manage. Stay away from bamboo skewers which tend to burn. Once the vegetables have been cleaned and sliced, place them in a large bowl of cold water for 30 minutes or so. This allows them to soak up a bit of water which will help prevent burning once they are on the grill.

While the vegetables are soaking, fire up your grill. Vegetables grill best over medium heat, so the key here is to prevent the grill from getting too hot. If you can hold your hand several inches off the grill for for three or four seconds, you’ve got the temperature just right. Take your vegetables out of the water, pat them dry, give them a quick brush of olive oil and place them on the grill. Not all of the vegetables will cook at the same rate, so be prepared to take different vegetables off the fire at different times. You want to lightly char the vegetables, but not burn them. When the side of the vegetable closest to the fire has browned and is marked by the grill, it’s time to turn it over. Only turn the vegetables once. When the other side is also browned and marked by the grill, that vegetable is done and it’s time to take it off. Grilled vegetables taste best at or just above room temperature, so serving is easy. Simply place all the grilled vegetables in the same bowl or on the same plate and let them cool for ten or fifteen minutes.

Grilled vegetables are easy once you know the tricks. Remember, when you’re grilling vegetables, you’re grilling smart.

Outdoor gas grills offer everything, and can do everything, that a charcoal grill can do and more. Outdoor gas grills run on liquid propane. Liquid propane is basically regular old natural gas under pressure. The advantages of burning propane are many, but the main one is…(wait for it)…no charcoal! Yup no hassle, no mess, no waiting and no ashy clean up. Outdoor gas grills are ready to cook when you are. All you do is turn on the gas, hit the ignition button and voila! You’re ready to get grilling. Why? Because liquid propane is a very efficient heat producer, much more so than mean, old charcoal. Outdoor gas grills are at grilling temperature about five minutes after you light them. Uber-convenient, no? Also outdoor gas grills come with at least two burner controls. This means you can easily turn the heat up on one side of the grill while keeping a more even heat on the other side. Try doing that on a charcoal grill without an asbestos glove. Oh and did I mention, no ash?

The first thing to decide is charcoal or no charcoal. The charcoal grill has many advocates and its list of defenders is long. However a charcoal grill has one major problem – charcoal. (Oh, and lighter fluid and while we’re at it where did I put those matches?) The problem with charcoal grills is that they need charcoal to work. Charcoal that is heavy. Charcoal that is messy. Charcoal that you never have enough of just when you’re ready to grill. (Not to mention lighter fluid and matches…again.) Even if you do have enough of everything you need to get the fire going, you still have to wait for the coals to get hot, you have to move the coals around if you’re cooking more than one thing at a time and after you’re done what have you got? A grill full of ashes. Yeah, yeah I know that incinerating lighter fluid is one of the smells that brings back childhood memories, but how many things does a responsible adult buy based solely on smell? No charcoal. Let’s move on.

Finally, outdoor gas grills are really, really efficient. A tank of liquid propane will last the average outdoor chef an entire summer. Even the most maniacal flame junkie won’t run out for 4 to 6 weeks. Plus, propane is environmentally friendly. You are reusing and recycling the propane tank every time you get a refill, you’re saving trees (charcoal is made of compressed sawdust, sawdust is made of wood, wood comes from…you see where I’m going) and propane gives off way less carbon dioxide than charcoal. All the bunnies in the world will thank you!

See! Wasn’t that easy? Deciding to grill on outdoor gas grills really is a no-brainer.

Outdoor electric grills provide the heat of a charcoal grill without any open flames whatsoever. There is no charcoal, lighter fluid, matches or propane tanks to deal with. All that an outdoor electric grill requires is access to a power source and it is good to go. How is this possible? It’s fairly easy. Outdoor electric grills use an electrically powered heating element to provide the initial heat source. This heating element is similar to what you’d find on an electric stove. Electric barbecue grills then kick it up a notch by using parabolic reflective surfaces to intensify the heat produced by the heating element. The process is so effective that electric grills can match the temperatures produced by either charcoal or gas grills. That’s right. No matter what you may have heard, electric bbq grills can easily reach the 600 degree temperature necessary to sear meat. This means that there is no difference in the look or taste of food cooked on an electric grill and food cooked on traditional charcoal or gas grills. Well, except for the skill of the barbecue chef, or lack thereof.

Another advantage of an outdoor electric grill is the ease of clean up. Unlike charcoal grills, there are no ashes to clean up. This is especially important for people who are grilling in a small outdoor space like a balcony. The last thing you need is fly ash coming in through your balcony doors or, worse yet, your neighbor’s doors. Also, cleaning an electric grill is a snap. The heating element in the grill lifts out and easily fits in the sink or dishwasher. Plus, the smaller size of the average electric grill means that it’s a breeze to wipe out the interior.

An electric barbecue grill is also much more environmentally friendly than a charcoal or gas grill. A charcoal grill produces massive amounts of carbon dioxide when it’s in use. In fact, a charcoal grill produces so much carbon dioxide that it can be life threatening if used in an enclosed space like a garage. Not so an electric grill. Electric grills produce zero carbon dioxide when used. In fact, the only emission produced by an electric grill is the delicious smell of barbecued food. If you’re interested in helping the environment, an electric grill is one way to reduce your carbon footprint.

So what are you waiting for? Step into the new age of barbecuing. Outdoor electric grills are the greener, cleaner way to enjoy that great cook-out taste.