Tips for Cooking Outdoors
Posted by Curt McAdams on Get Your Grill On.
I read lists of tips all over the place, so I came up with my own, my 9 tips for cooking outdoors:
1. Have a fire extinguisher handy.
Ok, first one is boring, but, really, have a fire extinguisher on hand. You never know when you need it, and even seasoned cooks have issues. When you’re cooking outside, you’re likely working with flame of some sort, and things do happen!
2. Take the time to determine what tools you like to use.
This is somewhat different than what I hear most people say; most want to tell you what tools to use. However, I think people do things differently. I’ll give advice now and then on something I happen to like, but if you choose something differently, that’s fine with me, too.
3. Learn how to cook with wood.
Whatever method or fuel that you use, learn how wood can be incorporated into the cooking you do. It will add flavor you can’t get any other way, and, most likely, you and your family/friends will love it!
4. Don’t do too much to the food!
What I mean by this is don’t poke it and prod it and stab it and cut into it all while it’s cooking. Leave it alone as much as you can while doing what you need to do to cook whatever it is you’re cooking. The more you mess with it, the more likely you are to do something to dry it out or even just mess up those great grill marks you finally got on that steak!
5. Let it rest.
This is one that probably everyone says, but it’s oh so true! I didn’t believe it at first, and I’d cut into a piece of chicken right off the grill, only to have the chicken end up dry. For grilled meats, let them rest, covered loosely in foil, for about 5 or so minutes before you even THINK about cutting into them. The juices will have redistributed, and the meat will retain them much better, making each bite more than worth that wait!
For smoked foods, they’re much bigger, usually, and I let them rest for sometimes an hour or more, wrapped in foil and placed in a warmed cooler. Again, worth the wait!
6. Throw out the grill fork.
This goes with number 5… Poking with a grill fork is never good. I know I said to find what tools you like, but make sure you don’t like the grill fork! Poking big holes in meat will only allow the juices to leak out!
7. Cook to temperature, not time.
This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but a pretty good general rule. Even once you can cook a steak without taking it’s temp, knowing how to get it to the right temp, knowing the feel of it done the way you like it, is best done by first taking the temp. You have to be careful, though; some of the probes are huge, and will work much like a grill fork, letting out all the juices. Most of the good instant-read thermometers have very small probes that don’t cause that problem.
Cooking with flame means that there will be variations in the temperatures; cooking the meat to temperature is the only way to really ensure doneness.
8. Don’t just cook meat!
You can use the grill and/or smoker to cook everything in a meal. One of the reasons for cooking outside is to not heat up the kitchen. Corn on the cob, onions, asparagus, green beans, potatoes… I can’t think of many veggies that don’t do well on the grill in one form or another. There are ways to set up your grill to act more like an oven, too, allowing you to cook covered dishes and desserts, too.
9. Don’t get in a rut.
This is my last item for today… And one that I don’t always do well. Keep some variety in what you cook outside. Always cooking the same thing will become boring quickly, and pushing yourself to do something else can result in finding new favorites to cook outside.
All in all, just enjoy the time you get to spend outside cooking for friends, family or even just yourself.
Here’s a bonus tip, though, which I’m not including in the list, as it’s for more than just outside cooking:
Forget about ’secrets’ in cooking. Unless it’s got commericial value, don’t keep secrets from others; tell them what’s in that rub you have, or how you got the crust on your break so perfect. Let them learn and enjoy if they want to try it, too. Most likely, they’ll always give you credit for it, and you spread around the enjoyment of cooking instead of setting yourself up to be an ‘expert’. Develop the attitude of sharing, not the attitude of one-upping.
