How many people do you expect? You don’t need a specific number, but you do
need to know if it will be 10, or 25, or 50. Makes a huge difference in
what and how you prepare.
Main course(s).
Burgers, hot dogs, steaks or various other meats. Most often, for a larger
group, burgers and hot dogs are the way to go, unless you want a higher cost,
fancier kind of event.
Buy GOOD INGREDIENTS!
Whatever you do, don’t skimp on quality: hamburger 88% lean is
best. There is enough fat for flavor and to be juicy, but not too
much. 93% is too dry for good grilling. Use only all beef hot
dogs: preferably Hebrew National, or Costco’s Kirkland jumbo beef are very
good. Read the package! No cereal fillers, chicken, pork or beef
“parts.” ALL BEEF is what you want.
Burgers for medium size
buns: 4 to 5 ozs uncooked. This is a full ½ measuring cup of ground
beef…slightly rounded.
Burgers for large buns: 6-8
ozs uncooked. Use a ¾ measuring cup slightly rounded.
Avoid making meatballs!
Some folks prefer to hand pat their burgers. I like to make them into a
ball, and then place the ball in between a folded sheet of aluminum foil.
Use a heavy wooden cutting board to press them flat. Round the edges with
your hands and make them uniform in size, shape and thickness. I hate
grilled burgers that are round (not flat) and do not fill out the entire
bun to the edges. Match your bun and patty sizes, realizing there will be
some shrinkage in the meat. The pressing method gives you a flat patty
rather than a round one. making hamburger patties
You can add finely chopped
onion (or other herbs and spices) to your meat if you wish. Personally, I
prefer to have just the meat and possibly use a really good dry rub lightly.
Often, I just use Lawry’s Seasoned Salt in place of a rub. Too many added
ingredients will take away from the flavor of the beef.
Cooking time: Cooking
time varies. Err on the side of undercooked rather than overcooked. You
can’t do anything to fix overcooked meat. On a grill that is
approximately 500-600 degrees, 3 to 4 minutes per side is adequate. Watch the
Food Network’s series, “Chopped.” Overcooked meat will get you chopped
quicker than about anything. Remember meat will continue to cook after you
remove it from your heat. I don’t care what you hear or read, if you wait
until the juices in the burger are perfectly clear, you have overcooked your
burgers. They will be dry and tasteless instead of juicy with flavor. No
Bueno! Personally, some red/pink is preferable, but for some it is not.
For a larger cookout where you can’t make everyone’s burger to order, I shoot
for just under medium. They will finish nicely for most folks. You can
use an instant thermometer if you’d like. They are easy and very helpful
if you aren’t experienced enough to know exactly how long to cook your
meat. For hot dogs, I like the color to be right. I want a nice dark
golden brown…not black. Hot dogs are already fully cooked, so raw is not
the issue here. Keep rolling them back and forth on the grill if you want
even color. If you prefer grill marks, let them set for several minutes
before turning them. Again, good even color is what you want to achieve
with hot dogs.
Heat source: The
grill. I can’t encourage you enough, that when you purchase a grill, get
a good one. That doesn’t mean the one with the most auxiliary burners, a
wine cooler chest and a blu ray player and sound system on it. Get the
best, and largest cooking surface you can afford. I will show you my gas
grill….and I love it! Of course, a real charcoal grill is hard to
beat. The taste is sensational.
My grill: purchased at
“Barbeques Galore” in the Phoenix metro area. It is a quality bbq grill
store.
The Grandhall Odeon 32
gas barbecue uses four powerful Crossray infra-red burners to
evenly spread the heat across the whole cooking area. The heat penetrates the
food and cooks it from the inside out. Which locks in moisture and enhances the
flavour. It’s also safer to use then traditional BBQ’s. The burners
aren’t under the food so there is less smoke and almost no flare ups. So you’ll
always have evenly cooked food. The Crossray infrared burners are
also 40% more efficient than traditional burners since they are hotter, faster
and use up to 40% less gas/Co2.
This is not the cheapest
grill, but it is a moderately priced good one. I use it often and want it
to perform. I purchased the previous year’s model as soon as the new ones
came on the market and got it at nearly half the original price. It was
still about $800, but worth every penny. As you can see, I can
easily cook 20 burgers and a dozen hot dogs at one time on this
grill. That size lets you cook for a pretty large crowd without having to
be at the grill for a long period of time. This grill also gets really
hot, which is a good thing. It sears quickly at temps well in excess of
600-800 degrees. Great for steaks and burgers. Back it off for chicken. I
learned that the hard way.
Trial and error is the best
teacher, but with these few hints, you should increase your chances of having a
successful cookout in a short period of time. There are many other
cooking tips and tricks. Make it a hobby to learn all you can.
Happy grilling!
The Gatekeeper
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