Barbecue Cookery

Barbecue cooking is one of the favorite ways of cooking food outdoors in the hot summer months. This can be done in several ways – over a charcoal fire or by using a gas grill. Beef, pork and chicken are the main meats cooked in this way. Wieners for hot dogs hamburger patties and potatoes are also commonly barbecued foods. Since the meat is raw when it goes on the grill, you do have to take care in the way in which you prepare it. If you have frozen meats, you should allow them to thaw in the refrigerator.

You have to make sure you wash your hands before and after you handle the raw meat for barbecuing. The temperature has to be just right so that the food is not burned on the outside, yet uncooked on the inside. This is often harder to do with thick burgers than it is with steak. Burgers have to be cooked all the way through. To make sure you have the right temperature for cooking, you should start the barbecue so that you have plenty of time to let the heat build up before you place the meat on the grill. The charcoals should be a gray color, rather than red and there should not be any flickering flames that will scorch the meat making it look as if it is cooked.

Special care needs to be taken when cooking chicken on the barbecue. When you want to test to see if the chicken is fully cooked, cut into the thickest part of the meat. If it is still red or pink, you have to continue cooking it for a longer period of time.

There are many vegetarian and vegan options that can be barbecued such as veggie burgers and sausages, veggie kebabs etc.. Many delicious dishes can be made vegetarian. Often when doing a barbecue for vegetarians it is advisable to use separate utensils and trays and even a separate barbecue to prevent cross contamination with the meat. Your veggie guests will be grateful.

Barbecue cookery also involves the use of spices and sauce. You can marinate the meat in the refrigerator overnight to add a spicy taste. When you put it on the grill, you liberally cover it with barbecue sauce, which comes in a variety of flavors. Some of these flavors include onion and garlic. Spread the sauce over the meat on both sides and keep turning it over, adding more sauce as needed until the meat is fully cooked.

Baked potatoes are one of the side dishes often served with barbecue food. You can either bake these in the oven in the home or on the barbecue. You need to scrub the potatoes so that there is no dirt remaining on the skin and then wrap them in tinfoil. Poke holes in the tinfoil with a fork and either lay them in the oven on 350º or place them directly on the charcoals.

Barbecue cookery would not be complete without fried onions and mushrooms. You have to slice the onions and fry them in butter of oil over low heat, stirring them from time to time. Once the onions a re cooked so that they are soft, you can add mushrooms, either fresh or canned and let the mixture fry a little longer.