Today I think it's time to head out of the kitchen to the back yard. Yes even though the end of summer is fast approaching I think there is more than enough time to work on our skill on the grill! On that note I'm going to talk about what I feel to be one of the most important additions to your grilling and smoking arsenal. A good thermometer makes grilling easy and beyond rewarding.
My best friend while cooking on the grill is my Maverick wireless thermometer. This little beauty has 2 temperature probes, one for the cooking chamber and one for the meat. Let me start out by saying that little thermometer on the outside of your grill is probably little more than a cute decoration as far as the temperature of the cooking chamber, the accuracy of it if you are lucky is probably as much as 50 degrees off. Would you think of baking something in your oven at an unknown temperature? Then why would you in your outdoor oven? With the Maverick you can clip the probe so that it sits just above the grates of your grill and get a good accurate temperature of the area where you are cooking your meal. It also has another probe that you can put into your meats, so you know right when your favorite dish at the proper temp. Then the best part, is you can walk away and keep tabs on the progress right from your pocket with the wireless monitor. So for that low and slow smoking you will know when to add more coals, or turn up the heat from the comfort of your favorite chair. I always joke that my secret to grilling is doing as little as possible and drinking as much beer as possible. So being able to keep tabs on it without sitting right by the grill, or opening it up to check on it and having temperature fluctuations constantly is an absolute must.
They claim the range is about 300 feet for the wireless monitor, and I can't really tell you for sure, as I have a pretty small place and probably haven't traveled much more than 50 feet from it, but we don't really want to let our secret out, so we have to stay near the grill at all times anyway right? At least thats what I tell my wife so she will help cook the sides and get the table ready. So let's keep the fact that we can walk away from the grill our little secret.
My favorite thing to use this for is chicken. In the past I had a tendency to avoid cooking chicken on the grill, as I almost always ended up with something that was more dry than the Las Vegas desert. Because we all know you have to be sure and cook your chicken thoroughly, but without a thermometer, how are you really to know when it's done and not over done? The answer simply is you can't.
Let me start by saying I owe a lot to a man that goes by the name "Meathead" over at amazingribs.com. He turned me on to the Maverick and is an excellent resource for grilling recipes and tips.
I don't have a huge fancy grill(maybe one day), but I do have a decent size barrel grill, a CharGriller Pro barrel grill, and for me it's got to be charcoal. I also have the side firebox but I'll save the details of the grill for another time. Starting out, I get my coals going in my chimney, while thats going I prep my grill. First thing I do is add an aluminum pan filled with water on one side of my grill. I always put that on the side with the exhaust, so if I want to add some wood chips for that smokey flavor it has to travel over the meat to leave. I also put the BBQ probe on that side of the grill, that way it's in the same general vicinity of the meat, where the cooking will take place.
Once I have my probe and water pan in place, my coals should be getting good and hot in the chimney, at this point I can add them to the other side of the grill. If you are using a smaller charcoal grill you can do this by adding the water in the center and splitting your coals up around each side of your water pan.
The next thing I do is clean up the grates and prep them. Now here comes a little tip I saw on TV one time. I used to use cooking spray to help oil the grates, but this was always a little bit of a trick, because you had to avoid turning it into a flame thrower. The other problem that occurs is that most of it burns up before it ever even gets on the grates. So my new technique that I absolutely love, take some oil in a cup, then fold over a paper towel a few times, then with a pair of tongs hold the paper towel dip it in the oil and then spread it over the grates. Works like a charm and will help with things sticking to your grates.
I guess I kind of glazed over a step, and thats the prep of your chicken. I've tried a couple different ways, and you can go from simple to whatever you like, whether it's just some salt, or a fantastic rub. For this I'm going to try for a bit healthy and something I was quite impressed with. Mrs. Dash has a poultry seasoning mix, that I've used a few times. It's no salt so if you are on a low sodium diet it's a great alternative, and it turned out a quite tasty dish. So all I did was cover the chicken in some of Mrs. Dash poultry seasoning, and I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts too, so the end results were actually quite healthy.
Once your grill and chicken are ready, simply place the meat probe into the thickest portion of the meat, if you are cooking something with bones, be sure not to touch the bone with the probe as this won't give you accurate results as to when your chicken is done. Now place your meat on your grill over the water tray, and close your lid. Now for the hard part!!!! Take your wireless monitor with you, grab a beer, and sit down! When your chicken gets to about 165 as is the minimum temp your are supposed to cook it to, then you can go get it, put it on a plate and serve. Because you monitored the temperature and took it off before it was over done, it will be some of the most moist chicken you will ever have. And because you had a wireless monitor to oversee this, you've probably had the easiest time grilling you ever had.
This is one of those items that I think is a must, now the price tag is a bit high for a grilling accessory I admit, but I tried a cheaper thermometer and it lacked a probe for the cooking chamber, and it didn't last either. However I will give you this bit of advice too, this isn't just for grilling. Want to have the juiciest Thanksgiving day turkey too? Just use the meat probe while you are cooking your turkey in the oven, no need to check on it constantly either, and rely on the little pop up piece of plastic that lets you know when your turkey is dry enough for you!
Hope your grilling is a success!
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