Grill Cleaning Tips and Hacks

July is National Grilling Month so I decided to pass on a few tips to keep your grill in tip top shape. Since this weekend is July 4th, many part time BBQ chefs will try to fire up their neglected grills. I suspect those grills are not in the best shape and need a little love. The performance of your grill can diminish over time if has not been maintained properly. Low temperatures, uneven heat, hot spots and food sticking to grates are all possible side effects of poor grill cleaning and maintenance.

Most of the year I use my grill at least two times a week. I try to keep my grill clean and ready to go. I give my Weber a thorough cleaning in the spring and fall and also follow these tips from Weber.com monthly. I also have provided 10 grilling hacks to help you become a grill master. So get out there, clean up your grill and cook up some great food this weekend.

Happy Grilling!

Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Burger

Grill Cleaning and Maintenance Tips:

1. Wipe the outside of the grill lid with a paper towel and cleaner (glass cleaner for porcelain-coated lids and stainless steel cleaner for stainless steel lids). If your grill is stainless steel, you’ll get the best results by buffing with the grain, not against, using a microfiber towel.
2. Clean side tables with a microfiber towel and stainless steel cleaner. Again, make sure to buff with the grain. If your tables are made of theromset plastic, use a mild dish detergent and warm water instead.
3. Cleaning a cook box may seem tricky, but it’s actually extremely simple and can have a big impact on the way your grill performs. When your grill is completely cool, carefully remove your cooking grates and Flavorizer bars. Then, using a stainless steel grill brush, brush all excess grease and debris from inside the cook box into the bottom tray. From here, it will be easy to discard.
4. It’s a good practice to burn off any food residue left on your grill by turning all your burners to high for 15 minutes before grilling. When your grill reaches these high temperatures, food debris will turn to ash, and will then be easy to brush off using a stainless steel bristle brush. Courtesy of Weber.com

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Grilling Hacks

1. Use an onion to clean and oil grill grates. Place 1 tbsp of oil in small bowl. Cut onion in half and soak cut side in oil. Use fork to rub onion on grill grates. Cleans and oils the grates and adds a nice flavor.
2. Bring marinated meat to room temperatures and pat dry before grilling. Excess marinade on meat will cause it to steam and not grill, even at high temperatures. Baste with sauce if needed.
3. Place meat on a platter covered with plastic wrap before bringing to the grill. After placing meat on the grill, remove plastic wrap. You have a clean platter ready to serve cooked meats.
4. Bring all meats to room temperature before grilling.
5. Make sure your grill is hot before starting.
6. KEEP THE LID CLOSED as much as possible to retain heat and create even cooking.
7. Brush sauces containing sugar on the meat the last five minutes of cooking. Keeps the sauce from burning.
8. Cook all meats to proper temperature. Nothing ruins a party like under cooked meats.
9. Check gas level before starting to grill. Keep and extra tank on hand. I have my grill hooked up to my homes natural gas so I never run out.
10. Sear meat on high direct heat then finish cooking meat on indirect heat to ensure moist even cooking.

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Cherry Habanero BBQ Sauce

I’m sure everyone has had one of those weeks. I’ve had one of those weeks, maybe too. Can’t seem to get anything accomplished and cooking sounds like work. Not good when you are a food blogger. Then our refrigerator goes out on Tuesday. In truth, it has been dying a slow death since February. I am just to cheap to buy a new one until it is completely broke. Well there was no doubt that it flat-lined on Tuesday. “Hey (No Name Company) should a compressor die after 8 years?”  When you open up the freezer at 6:00 am and the ice cream is soft and when you touch the fridge, it is hot: you have a problem. I don’t make big decision easily, so trying to find the best appliances and price became a full-time job the past few days. But of course the new toys can’t be delivered until next Tuesday. Lucky I have a second fridge in the garage and a full size freezer in the basement.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Fire Sticks with Cherry Habanero BBQ Sauce

This is the fantastic recipe to go along with my  Cherry Habanero BBQ Sauce. I was a little long-winded with that post so I will keep this one more focused on the food, instead of my rants. Check it out, it’s a good read and you will learn how to make an awesome sauce. This would be a great dish to make next weekend for Father Day..

I am very lucky this week to be co-hosting Fiesta Friday #72 with Naina @ Spice in the City. She has a great blog with an international flavor.  I’ll be bringing this to Fiesta Friday number 72; Fiesta Friday is an ongoing blogging party put on by Angie of The Novice Gardener. Stop by today and bring your virtual dish. 

If you’re a blogger and you haven’t yet joined in the Fiesta Friday fun, what are you waiting for? It’s a good way to share recipes with a great group of bloggers and show off your great creations. It’s easy and here’s The Guidelines – just make sure to link properly on your blog and Fiesta Friday’s so we can find you. And if you’re not a blogger, I know you’ll enjoy seeing all the posts and maybe you could be featured. Happy FF!!

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Ingredients:

Smoked Chuck Roast or Brisket

It finally warmed up here in Ohio, at least for few days. I usually grill year round, but using my Weber as a smoker is a little more difficult when the weather is cold and windy. My grill is on my deck, which sits 10 feet above the ground and we are on the top of a hill. It can get very windy. I am remodeling my deck this spring and I need to incorporate a wind break, behind my grill, in the design.

With this weekend being Easter and Passover, I decided to post this recipe as a nice alternative to lamb, ham or turkey for your Holiday meal. I am not Jewish, but if making this for Passover you could use a Kosher beef brisket, instead of the chuck roast. If I am not correct in my understanding of the Passover meal I apologize.

This is a unique way to cook a chuck roast that creates a very tender piece of meat, with a nice smokey flavor. Enjoy your Holiday and hope you give this a try. It would be great any time of year.

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Ingredients:

2-4 lb chuck roast or a 4-6 lb Brisket (side or flat cut)

Crock Pot Buffalo BBQ Chicken Sliders with Ranch Slaw

There are many versions of Buffalo Chicken Sliders on the internet. My version is made in the crock pot using bone-in chicken breasts, Sweet Baby Ray’s Buffalo Wing Sauce and Honey Barbecue Sauce. I add the barbecue sauce because when I make wings my kids like a mix of buffalo and barbecue, instead of the heat of straight buffalo.

My recipe is a little sweet with just the right amount of heat. If you want to spice it up, just splash more hot sauce on your individual sliders. This recipe would be perfect for a cold Saturday watching March Madness basketball with friends. The ranch slaw adds a nice tang to the slider. Easy to make and kid friendly.

BBQ Chicken Pizza on Garlic Parmesan Focaccia

Last night I grilled four large split bone-in chicken breasts for dinner. We only used two so I decided to use the leftovers to make this quick and easy BBQ chicken pizza. This recipe would also work great with store-bought rotisserie chicken. A quick stop at the store, 25 minutes, and you have a great dinner the kids will love. The only prep work is slicing the green onion and shredding the chicken. This would also make a great appetizer.

Grilled Chicken Breast Glazed with a Habanero Pepper Jelly BBQ Sauce

There is a saying around Ohio and probably used in other parts of the Midwest. The saying goes something like this “Ohio weather nothing better, give it 24  hours and it will change”. Last Thursday it was 81 degrees here in SW Ohio. By Friday the high was 41 degrees. Yesterday it had warmed up to a balmy 65 and I decided to smoke a pork shoulder on the Weber.

Grilling season is here, so today I decided to try a new grilled chicken recipe. The pepper jelly I use in this recipe is from habanero peppers I grow in my garden each year along with the essential ingredients to my homemade salsa.  Habanero jelly is not as hot as you think, but is does have great flavor, especially in this homemade BBQ glaze. Any type of pepper jelly will work with this recipe. Reserve some of the marinade to glaze the chicken as it grills. I served this with simple brown rice and grilled corn on the cob. Gotta love grilling season!

Enjoy!

Crockpot BBQ Chicken

If your family is like ours the weekdays are extremely busy. Our kids play soccer, baseball, gymnastics and our oldest referees. Needless to say providing a good healthy meal during the week is a challenge.

Earlier this week I wanted something different to cook in the crock pot. Often Tyson chicken is on sale at the local Kroger and so I will stock the freezer. I decided to use two packs of drumsticks and one package of thighs for this dish. Any combination of chicken pieces will work. The great part of this recipe is you can put the chicken in the crock pot frozen. This is a great tip for any chicken crock pot dish.  You might need to defrost the chicken a few minutes in the microwave. This will allow you to remove the chicken from its packaging and remove the skin.

This is a very inexpensive meal that makes a large quantity of shredded BBQ.

Throw it all in and walk away.

Serve with a green salad and mac n cheese for the kids.

Enjoy!