Grilling fanatics - try hickory

[Brando19]

Soooooo funny this is a topic today! Today is my wife's birthday and my dad grilled out....he used hickory pieces and the taste of the burgers were amazing! Pretty crazy this is a topic today.

Son, is that you?

Brando....you better watch what you say from now on.

I don't know...Patler...were you at Spring Break '83?

Is that "18" or "19" ? ?

Haha...that was a good one! :P

[SnakeLH2006]

Dry rub or soak..either gets the meat ready.

Must pre-do something. Then cook on an open flame. That's the key. I suggest no matter what you cook, do some sliced potatoes with garlic and beer (yes beer preferably shitty beer) in a tin-foil wrap too. Goes good with anything grilled...Chicken, brats, burgers, steaks...etc. Gotta have some garlic-beer potatoes. Good stuff for ANY grillout.

[Deputy Nutz]

So I felt a bit inferior due to this thread, so I decided to go ahead and try the low and slow method. I did a fucking great job cooking those ribs, only problem was that I hated them, now piss off.l

[Patler]

I did a fucking great job cooking those ribs, l

...Apparently NOT!

[GrnBay007]

Oh Grilling Wizards......

Tell me something about grilling salmon steaks!

Never done it and want to try. Are there any secrets?

[MichiganPackerFan]

Oh Grilling Wizards......

Tell me something about grilling salmon steaks!

Never done it and want to try. Are there any secrets?

I grill salmon quite often, but generally do fillets rather than steaks. One of my favorites was when my fiance brought home fillets and I had not prepared for them. Examined the cupboard and made a glaze of equal parts brown sugar, olive oil and natural maple syrup. Carmelized very nicely without overwhelming the salmon.

[Patler]

Oh Grilling Wizards......

Tell me something about grilling salmon steaks!

Never done it and want to try. Are there any secrets?

I cook salmon a lot, grilied poached, backed and fried; "straight-up", marinated and planked.

The only "trick" i have learned relating to grilling any fish directly on the grates is a way to prevent sticking. Rub the grate with oil just before you put the fish on (nothing insightful there) but after it sits for just a few seconds and before it starts to stick, slide it back and forth parallel to the grates. If your grill is quite hot you may have to do this immediately as you put the fish on. This burnishes the grill marks before it sticks, and you can let it sit there to cook and it will not stick. Do the same thing when you flip it over. You can cook it nice and flaky but not have it fall apart from sticking.

I am becoming a real fan of cooking fish on planks.

[Partial]

these posts are making me thirsty.

[MichiganPackerFan]

Oh Grilling Wizards......

Tell me something about grilling salmon steaks!

Never done it and want to try. Are there any secrets?

I cook salmon a lot, grilied poached, backed and fried; "straight-up", marinated and planked.

The only "trick" i have learned relating to grilling any fish directly on the grates is a way to prevent sticking. Rub the grate with oil just before you put the fish on (nothing insightful there) but after it sits for just a few seconds and before it starts to stick, slide it back and forth parallel to the grates. If your grill is quite hot you may have to do this immediately as you put the fish on. This burnishes the grill marks before it sticks, and you can let it sit there to cook and it will not stick. Do the same thing when you flip it over. You can cook it nice and flaky but not have it fall apart from sticking.

I am becoming a real fan of cooking fish on planks.

To treat my grate, I keep a 1 cup wide mouth mason jar full of olive oil near my grill. I have a 1" think chunk of sponge that I keep in there. When I am ready to put the fish on, I use tongs to squeeze as much oil out of the sponge as possible and then sponge it onto the grate with the tongs. It gives me a really nice seasoned grate and I have not had any fish stick to it. It also helps to make some great (no pun) grill marks.

[SnakeLH2006]

these posts are making me thirsty.

Damn, Partial, that's just nasty. We are talking about Salmon..not....oh well.

Personally, Snake grills alot. Plenty of salmon too...Unlike burgers, brats, chicken, etc....salmon is one thing you don't want to pre-soak/rub else you rob it of it's natural taste.

Generally, I use a simple salt/pepper/garlic blend sprinkled on the salmon (or at most a lemon-pepper herb with a touch of tobasco) then a simple spray of PAM or any spray oil, before applying it the grill. Fantastic. Sometimes simpler is better, esp. with seafood. Enjoy.

BTW, anyone have a good/simple way to prepare Smoked salmon? Haven't had that in years...Thanks.

[MichiganPackerFan]

...Unlike burgers, brats, chicken, etc....salmon is one thing you don't want to pre-soak/rub else you rob it of it's natural taste.

Generally, I use a simple salt/pepper/garlic blend sprinkled on the salmon (or at most a lemon-pepper herb with a touch of tobasco)

Best way to do a quality steak is to go simple to. Sea Salt, Fresh ground black pepper. Hot grill. Done.

[GrnBay007]

Wow! I'm so happy....I cooked these incredible ribs on the grill tonight!! Kids start school tomorrow and told them I would cook whatever they wanted for dinner tonight and they said they wanted me to make ribs on the grill. ...lil farts were fully aware my last attempt about a month ago failed horribly.

I started them out using this rub recipe I got from foodnetwork....Aaron (can't remember his last name) called Big Daddy's House. The rub is called Big Daddy's Rub (HA....sounds fun, eh? :P )

Shared some with the neighbor too....who came out to find out what smelled so good! lol

[pasquale]

I have a bit of a late start to this thread, but I figured I'd throw in my two cents:

Ribs - dry rub overnight in the fridge and never apply BBQ or glaze until they are almost done, otherwise they will burn.

Low and slow on indirect heat is the key for sure. Some people like to describe their ribs as "fall off the bone." This means your ribs are OVERCOOKED and is usually achieved by too high of direct heat. You still want some resistance left from the collagen connecting the flesh and the bone. This starts melting at 160 and stops at about 180. The slower that temperature increase happens, to more juicy and flavorful the ribs will be, and it's all thanks to perfectly broken down fat. Never trim any fat off the ribs beforehand. Most of it cooks away and helps with the process and gives you great ribs.

Cooking over too high of heat causes your ribs to dry out. 225 degrees F is about as high as you ever want to go. Any more than this and too much evaporation occurs...any lower and well, it'll just take way longer. One easy way to combat this is to put a foil pan of water on or under the grill rack. No, you will not be steaming the ribs if you keep the heat >225, but what little water vapor there will be in the air, will stick to the ribs, preventing the meat from pulling out moisture from the inside.

Next to that pan of water, make a foil pouch of the hardwood chips. Another aspect of great ribs is the smoke ring - to much of my surprise over the years, people know nothing about. It'll look like a reverse seared piece of meat, with pink on the outside, and they cooked whiteish grey in the middle. You can only achieve this by having smoke present, and no, you don't have to have visible smoke to achieve this.

Once your meat is cooked to about 170, then you can apply a glaze (if desired - this will give you a good "bark" - the crispy outside) and crank it up to high direct heat for about 10 mins.

Never boil ribs before hand. This does save on time, but a perfectly better alternative is to braise them in the oven and save the juices for a glaze.

This is from my personal experience, and I don't think my methods are better than anyone elses, I just like my ribs more than most peoples


Salmon - one trick I've picked up is to put it skin side down on a paper bag and cut around it to make a perfect fit. Make sure the skin is a little wet before you do this. Then grill it, paper bag side down. The bag and the skin basically become one, and when you are done, you just peel both off completely.

[MichiganPackerFan]

Does everyone have their grilling plans made for sunday?

I'm keeping it simple. Brats that I have in the freezer from the last time I was in wisconsin on homemade bread. Possibly a side of german potato salad.

[MJZiggy]

London broil.