Summer Cooking: Take It Outside
By Tom Richey, Grilling Enthusiast and Head Cook For His Competition Team, 7th Street Smokers
There’s grilling, and there’s indirect cooking. Grilling involves cooking food on a grate directly over a heat source. Meat, fire, spatula, apron — a lot of ink has been spent writing about that. Open up many more possibilities on your grill by learning how to set it up for indirect cooking. You can grill, smoke, roast, and even bake, which will allow you to cook anything on your grill that you would in your kitchen. Baking unifies ingredients; roasting amplifies single ingredients. With the right setup on your grill, you’ll be able to do both.
An oven is tall enough to have the heat source directly under the food without burning the bottom of whatever you’re cooking. Most grills aren’t made that way, but that’s okay — with a little thought and effort, most grills can be made to work like an oven. Baking a cake, making meatloaf, baking bacon, roasting corn on the cob — these things can all be done on a grill.
What’s so exciting about this? It’s a fun way to move heat out of your house during the warm summer months. Every degree of heat generated in your kitchen has to be pumped out of your house by your air conditioner. Cooking outside solves this problem! And you bought your grill because you enjoy using it, right? Whether you enjoy lighting charcoal, watching the flames of your gas grill dance across the burners, or simply turning the knob on an electric grill, you purchased it to enjoy it. Indirect cooking allows you to enjoy it more.
If you have a gas grill with multiple burners, you can light the burner(s) on one side and set the food on the other side. One burner might be enough — some experimentation and an oven thermometer are all you need to find your way. The same goes for an electric grill that has at least two zones. And a charcoal grill is no different — whether you have a round kettle-style grill or a rectangular grill, you can create an indirect cooking zone by putting the charcoal on one side of the grill and the food on the other. An oven thermometer works on a charcoal grill, too, so you don’t have to cook blind. But you do need to keep the lid on!
Once you’ve got the relative hang of it — you don’t have to aim for perfection — you’re ready to go. If you feel like baking, a basic box-mix cake is a cheap and fun way to start and say to your friends or family, "Look, we made this cake on the grill!" A pan of roasted vegetables or breaded chicken legs are also good choices — just try whatever sounds good and take your time, and you're sure to make a summer full of culinary memories.
Get Pro Results with These Simple Tips:
Give Yourself Time.
Use a Drip Pan Under Food.
Keep the Cooking Surface Clean.
Start Meat Open; Finish Wrapped in Foil.
Too Much Smoke is Too Much Smoke.
If you want to make some barbecue, a pork shoulder is a very forgiving piece of meat to learn on — the high fat content allows you to really cook it without drying out. If you have a meat thermometer, try cooking the pork shoulder uncovered until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees, then wrap it in foil and continue cooking until it reaches an internal temperature of 205 degrees. Don’t forget the rub! The following recipe is great on low temperature pork and beef roasts such as ribs, brisket, and pork shoulder.
Easy Rub Recipe
1/8 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon granulated garlic
1/2 tablespoon black pepper
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin