by Grillers Gold | BBQ, BBQ Pellets, Grilling
While America justly claims barbecue as its own today, there’s history to this cooking technique. And it goes way back in time – to the days when cavemen (and women!) discovered the kind of miraculous combination of meat and heat. The idea of roasting food over a fire was embraced by many ancient civilizations around the globe.
First, let’s travel back about 200,000 years.
That’s the age of the cooking artifacts found near Carmel by archaeologists at Israel’s University of Haifa. The evidence there tells us that large, meaty hooved animals, such as cattle, deer, and boars, were on the menu. Our ancestors would have probably first just thrown the meat into an open fire, then eventually discovered the effectiveness of green, inflammable wooden skewers to hold the meat over the flame.
Things inevitably got more sophisticated.
(It’s a long way from a green stick to a wood pellet grill!) Wooden frames held larger pieces meat far enough away from the flame so as not to incinerate dinner and cookware alike; this approach mandated slower cooking times and added the flavor of smoke. With that taste came preservative qualities: smoke reduces the moisture that allows bacteria to grow, so perishable meat could be smoked, dried and salted for future consumption. In ancient China, India, and Japan, smoking food has been popular for thousands of years. Ceramic urns for smoking are called kamados in Japan and tandoors in India.
The use of spits and metal implements in ancient Greece is documented in Homer’s Iliad and The Odyssey. Then there’s the gridiron, the precursor to today’s grill, which was developed early in the Iron Age. Note that the Greeks basted the meat in wine and salt, and feasted outdoors. Sound familiar?
Look in the Hebrew Old Testament books of Exodus and Leviticus for references to burnt offerings of animals. The smoke rose to God, but the meat of the animals was eaten by Moses and company.
Fire plus food – that’s the simple, but absolutely brilliant idea.
No wonder barbecue has endured, and pleased the world’s palates, through the ages. If you’re looking to add even more flavor to your BBQ, check out our bbq series, Sauces of Honor: Chicken and Sauces of Honor: Pork.
Thanks to our source for these historical facts, amazingribs.com. If you want to dig into a great big fun serving of their barbecue scholarship, visit the site and check out the best-selling Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling, authored by website founder Meathead Goldwyn.
Come back to this blog for more history lessons in the months ahead!
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by Grillers Gold | Flavor, Grilling
Take advantage of great weather, cook with easy cleanup after work and school, enjoy menus that reflect the abundance of the harvest. What’s not to love about grilling in autumn?
Side dishes get really interesting during fall. It’s harvest time, and the farmer’s markets are simply overflowing. The choices, flavors, colors and textures are never better than in the autumn. What’s especially abundant?
- Apples and cider
- Squash
- Sweet potatoes
- Figs
- Pears
- Pumpkins
- Cauliflower
- Sage leaves
Here’s a sample of recipes for a dream fall dinner, with a leading part played by your grill.
Pork’s taste and texture provide a perfect ‘canvas’ for an array of flavors. As the temperature drops, we crave more assertive, warming, spicy notes. And there’s not much that’s more popular on the grill than pork. Yes, this recipe has it all for autumn grilling.
Grilled fruit always adds great taste. And this apple salad features dressing made with another seasonal ingredient, apple cider.
Get the microwave going for this sweet, satisfying side dish to accompany your grilled goodness.
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by Grillers Gold | BBQ, BBQ Pellets, Flavor, Grilling
The burger is the American griller’s favorite food choice. Surveys from organizations like National Cattleman’s Beef Association and Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association say so year after year. How much better can it get for the burger? A few food writers at the Detroit Free Press and Huffington Post shared their tips and perspectives to do better by your burger. Here’s how to upgrade your hamburger grilling game.
Look at all the elements together.
The meat, the condiments, the toppings and the bun. Choose all with equal care. Get creative!
Burger meat needs fat.
Experts generally recommend a mix that’s typical of ground chuck: 80% lean meat and 20% fat. Ground round is a bit leaner, 85% meat to 15% fat. Ground sirloin is usually labeled 90% lean. If you’re cooking with grass-fed beef, check out these helpful tips here.
Season your meat.
Don’t add too much in the way of ingredients, just spices.
Handle the burger as little as possible to avoid making the meat cook up rubbery.
Less is more! Mix the burger meat and seasonings gently, shape patties with a soft touch, and resist the urge to squeeze the juices out with a spatula.
Form the perfect patty
Use about 6 ounces of meat in a patty that is at least ¾” thick and 3-1/2” diameter. Put a little dent in the center of the raw patties with your thumb so the burgers don’t puff up on the grill; it works!
For a great burger using condiments and toppings that come from Greek cuisine, try the Olympian Burger recipe from beefitswhatsfordinner.com
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by Grillers Gold | BBQ Pellets, Competition, Flavor, Grilling
If the idea of natural wood flavor and smoky goodness gets your taste buds all excited, but you don’t have the latest and greatest pellet grill gear in your backyard yet, there’s no need to despair. Here’s the good news: you can buy accessories to use wood pellets on the gas or charcoal grill you already own.
These affordable products are generally called ‘smoker boxes’ or ‘smoker tubes.’
They’re made of metal so they can take the heat. They’re also easy to use! Just fill with a few BBQ pellets, place onto your grill grates, and be amazed at the added flavor your bbq acquires. Because smoker tubes and boxes are simpler devices, they’re not nearly as versatile as a fully engineered, dedicated BBQ pellet machine. But for the same reason, you’ll pay a whole lot less for smoker boxes and tubes.
Ask your local hardware retailer about smoker tubes and boxes or browse Amazon.
The SmokinCube is one great example of the bountiful selection you can find online. These accessories can kick off a long and beautiful relationship with pellet grilling. We hope you enjoy the journey. (We’re pretty sure you will.)
Now that you know how to get great smoky flavors, what are you going to do with them?
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by Grillers Gold | BBQ Pellets, Grilling
When you read about cooking with indirect heat on charcoal or gas grills, it’s all about moving the food around relative to the heat source—putting your big beautiful brisket in between or off to one side of the coals or burners. But let’s face it: that’s not indirect heat, it’s UNEVEN heat. And your cooking will be off-kilter as a result of the surface of the food that’s closer to the heat getting ‘hot spots,’ while the midsection is not nearly so well done.
Good news: a wood pellet grill does not use direct heat.
It’s convection cooking, the only true kind of indirect heat. Under the wood pellet fire box, there’s a fan that circulates heat throughout the cooking chamber, creating even temperatures all around. In fact, the temperature is so consistent that you don’t really have to turn your food. You only flip your food on a wood pellet grill to create nice-looking grill marks or to baste.
Wood pellet grilling is a pretty perfect solution for slow-cooking outdoors, including not just roasts and braises and briskets, but smoking and even baking.
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by Grillers Gold | Grilling, Holiday
1. Memorial Day: it’s about more than grilling
Memorial Day was first observed in the years after the Civil War, though it only became an official federal holiday in 1971. We honor the men and women who fell in U.S. military service with parades and public ceremonies–and at gatherings in backyards across America. Summer doesn’t begin on the calendar until the second half June, but in American lifestyles, it starts now. And that’s something to celebrate, too.
2. Who invented hamburgers?
Seymour, Wisconsin, is the home of the Hamburger Hall of Fame. The community of Seymour is one of several American towns that claims to be the historic birthplace of the American hamburger. But it’s actually in the city of Hamburg, Germany, where a cooked flat patty of ground beef was dubbed the ‘Hamburg Steak.’
3. When hot dogs get really hot
When grilling season begins, consumption of hot dogs increases in a big way. Americans typically consume about 7 billion hot dogs in those 3+ months – or 818 per second.
4. America loves grilling!
According to a recent Forbes magazine piece, 75% of U.S. adults own a grill or smoker. You are not alone!
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