Tips for picking out the best meat when you grill or Bbq For Beef Choose steaks or chops when grilling

CHOOSING YOUR MEAT

For Beef
Choose steaks or chops when grilling -big cuts like chuck roasts or whole tip roasts when barbequing.
Steaks and chops should be leaner in fat, roasts should have just enough marbling to lubricate the meat during long cooking
Look for bright, cherry red meat

For Pork
Choose chops and steaks for grilling, Boston butts and boneless loins for
barbequing
Keep leaner, thinner meats for grilling, thicker, heavier for barbequing
Always look for rosy, pink meat

For Chicken
Breasts make good grilling, whole chickens make good barbeque
Always pick out COLD , FRESH, good smelling chicken

CHOOSING YOUR FUEL

Charcoal
	-Burns hot
	-Great for grilling especially
	-Lightly flavored
	-Burn down to a white ash surface on the coals to make sure to burn
	off the starter fluid; add more coals if you need more heat

Wood
	-Always choose hardwoods, especially oak, cherry and 
	hickory for the best flavors
	-Use clean, well-aged wood with no rot, old bark or buggy places
	-Use smaller, hand-sized pieces, wide and flat to create more smoke
	-Soaking wood chips in water is unnecessary
	-Store and age wood under cover to help dry and prevent rot

Marinades & Rubs
Slow cooking breaks the meat fibers down and makes it tender, but you
can help by marinating or dry spice rubbing.

All marinades should have
-Acidity like vinegar, lemon, wine to break down the meat
-Enzymatic action from wine, beer, cider, soy sauce also help
-Oil for lubrication
-Some salt and spice are very helpful, also
-Most meats benefit from 4 - 24 hours marinating

Dry rubs
-Dramatically flavor the meat by drawing the spices into the meat
-Form a crust on the outside keeping meat's juices inside
-Are based on either paprika or coarse salt
-Are easy to make and modify

Choosing Temperature

Grilling-
-High temperature operation 350 F on up to thousands of degrees
-Sears the meat to keep in the juices and cooks very quickly
-Light flavors from the fire
-Best with tender steaks and chops, thinner meats to cook quickly

Barbeque-
-Moderate temperatures, 180 - 300 F
-Longer cooking times break down the meat and tenderize it
-Smoke penetrates the meats to deepen it's flavors
-Larger, tougher cuts of meat like shoulder, ribs, etc benefit

Smoking-
-A low temperature operation, from 80 - 180 F
-Smoke preserves the meat almost as much at the heat cooks it
-Works well on delicate meats like fish, or tough meats to be sliced
thin like ham and bacon

Starting Your Meat

Two Styles

-Put the meat in a very hot fire to seal in the juices
by searing the surface of a very large piece of meat;
this keeps the meat moist and flavorful.

-Start the meat at the same temperature you'll be cooking it,
that way the spices of the rub or marinade, as well as the smoke,
will draw into the meat.

Both styles can be successful. Here are a few other tips:

-Don't use a fork to turn or handle the meat-when you
pierce the meat, you lose the juices and the meat will dry out.
-If you've rubbed the meat, don't mop with any liquid until the
spices have been drawn into the meat, a third of the cooking
time is a good rule.
-Don't put Bbq sauce on the meat until it is through cooking;
the sugars will burn and make a acrid coating on the meat.

Tending Your Meat
Some people use a "mop" on their meats-
mop has oil, an acid like vinegar or lemon, and usually spice.
The mop keeps the meat moist, lubricates it and pulls the flavor
of the smoke into the meat.

Now is a good time for charcoal folks to add slivers of wood into the
fire to flavor the smoke. You can use them throughout the cooking.

Keep a pan of water, like a tin pie plate, in the Bbq box to humidify the air.

Don't turn the meat any more than necessary, it's best to let it rest
as long as it can cook evenly.

Keep the temperature of the fire even as you cook. This keeps the
meat from becoming overly crusty.

Finishing Your Meat
Chicken needs to be at least 180 F
and have clear juices running from a pierced thigh or breast.

Beef and pork should be in the 185 - 190 F range.

At the end of cooking, you can insert a meat fork
into the meat and twist to check for tenderness.

A classic scenario for a pork butt is to cook at 250 F
for 10 hours, and you should equal the above requirements.

Creating Side Dishes
Vegetables from the garden are perfect ON the grill-

You can marinate them in oil and lemon if you prefer
Cut them large so they can be turned on the grill easily
Judge your time by tenderness of the vegetables

Peppers, squash, mushrooms, slices of potato, eggplant, leeks
and onion, and corn in its shuck all work well

Time-honored companions like cole slaw, pickles, radishes, green
onions, etc., provide a cleansing acidity to the richness of the meat.