Confessions of a Gas Grill Smoker

If you are a die-hard charcoal grill user, you may not know that with just a few simple steps, the gas grill can be used as a barbeque smoker. And if you are a gas grill user, you may not have known this either. But why smoke your food you may ask. Well, once you smoke your food on a barbeque grill you will never ask that question again.

It used to be way back when, we humans had more time on our hands than we knew what to do with. It was back then that we didn't think twice about loading up the charcoal grill with briquettes and waiting the half hour or so for our coals to be ready. Then after our food was cooked, setting aside the time required to scoop out and dispose of our used charcoal. I'm up to about 45 extra minutes, how about you?

That was then. Today most of us don't have that kind of time so we have opted for the propane gas grill for its ease of use, convenience and time savings. What we have given up though in my estimation, is the range of flavors that smoking food on the barbeque grill afforded. What you will find though is that the Weber gas grill can do an excellent job smoking your food while retaining the convenience of the gas grill.

Smoking your food on the barbeque grill requires wood chips. Wood chips are soaked in water for about 45 - 60 minutes then placed in your grill inside a "smoking tray" which can be nothing more than a disposable aluminum tray that you can make with some aluminum foil. The important things to remember are to place the wood chips in your grill BEFORE you heat your grill and to make sure that your wood chips are not seeing any direct heat - that is do not put them on your burners. Tuck them into a corner of your grill away from the direct flame of your burner. Make sure that you purchase good quality wood chips that have been aged and make sure that you resist the temptation to continually add to the chips once your grill gets going.

After you have positioned your wood chips, replace your grate and preheat your grill by turning the burners full on. Allow your grill to come up to temperature for about 10 - 20 minutes until the wood chips begin to smoke.

At this point you are going to use a cooking method called the indirect cooking method. What this entails is turning off your middle burner and placing the food you will be cooking over the middle burner that is now unlit. Close the lid of your grill and keep your lid closed until all your food is cooked.

Feeling the need to apply barbeque sauce? Well make sure you don't apply it too soon. Do this and you risk burning the barbeque sauce and having it caramelize leaving a burned coating on your food that you probably won't like. Apply your barbeque sauce about 10 minutes before your food is ready to be pulled out of the grill. Be certain that you have a meat thermometer on hand to determine that your foods, especially your poultries and pork, are thoroughly cooked throughout.

Try experimenting with the different wood chips that you will find at any hardware store that sells grills. And see what you can come up with in the way of different barbeque sauces. You will find a slew of recipes online that you can whip up yourself.

Your question a bit earlier was why smoke your food. Try it once and you'll never go back.

 

Bet You Don't Know Jack? About Cooking Steaks on a Gas Grill That Is!

When it comes to cooking meat on a gas grill most folks just can't seem to get it right. For most of us, gas grill cooking is nothing but guesswork. I am sure you have often wondered just how your favorite steak house manages to serve up such mouth-watering, tender steaks that always seem to be cooked to perfection. We will attempt here to provide you with the tips and tricks to cooking steak on a gas grill that will have your friends and family begging for more.

Before you begin, you want to determine how the people in your family or party like their steaks cooked. Some like their steak cooked medium-rare to rare and some are going to opt for a steak that is medium to well-done. Now, I am going to tell you something that may seem completely counter intuitive to what you may be thinking but stay with me.

Question. If cooking a rare or medium-rare steak do you think the gas grill heat should be high or medium. Is that your final answer?

If you said medium heat, you would be incorrect. When cooking a rare to medium-rare steak you want your temperature high in order to sear your steak and cook it quickly on the outside. This process traps the juices inside and results in a steak that is super juicy. The medium to well-done steak on the other hand should be cooked over a medium heat to give the inside a chance to cook without burning the outside.

Preparing the cooking grate is important as well. I use a Weber gas grill that incorporates heavy cast iron grates as opposed to the thinner wire grates. These grates heat up evenly and hold the heat much better. You want to brush a bit of cooking oil on the grates before you fire the gas grill up. This keeps the steak from sticking to the grates and tearing the outside sear when flipping or removing.

The steaks themselves should have been removed from the refrigerator about an hour ago and allowed to come to room temperature. While the grill is heating up and before placing on the grill, you want to brush your steaks with a light coat of cooking oil as you did with the grates. This keeps the steaks tender and moist. Now rub in a little salt and pepper or a seasoning of your choice such as perhaps a bit of garlic powder or maybe a bit of cayenne pepper if you can stand the heat.

Most folks are not sure about when to flip a steak over. Here a bit of trial and error is in order but as a general rule of thumb, look for moisture beginning to seep out of the side that is facing you. Now cook the steak for about 1/2 the time you cooked it on the first side.

You can flip your steak multiple times if you are looking for those criss-cross grill marks that you see at the restaurant. Just angle the steak at a 45 degree angle to the original grill marks if you want to get all fancy.

Although it is not necessary to cook a steak all the way through as is necessary with poultry and pork, some guidelines are helpful to determine when your steak is done to perfection. You do want to avoid cutting your steak to check its doneness, especially if you plan on putting it back on the grill. This will cause the juices to run out and may result in a dried out piece of shoe leather.

1" Thick Steaks - Rare 8-10 minutes, Medium 12-14 minutes, Well 16-20 minutes
1 1/2" Thick Steaks - Rare 10-16 minutes, Medium 16-20 minutes, Well 22-26 minutes
2" Thick Steaks - Rare 12-16 minutes, Medium 18-22 minutes, Well 24-28 minutes

What you may want to invest in is a good meat thermometer or meat fork. The meat thermometer is longer and will enable you to get deep inside a roaster chicken to check temperature but the meat fork having shorter tongs, is ideal for cuts such as steak and pork chops.

Now don't think that your steak is ready to eat as soon a you remove it from the grill. The steak continues to cook for about 5 minutes after you remove it from the grill. Do let the steaks rest for 5 minutes before eating.

Don't let the challenge of cooking the perfect steak scare you. With just these few tips and a bit of preparation, you will have soon earned that "Kiss Me I'm the Cook" chef apron!