I started out, many years ago, grilling with a good old fashioned Weber Kettle, the most popular
charcoal grill in American since, well...ever. đ
Sadly, these marvels of simplicity rarely get used to their full potential. Sure, you can grill up endless burgers, dogs, and bratsâŠand theyâll be awesome, but letâs look at some advanced (dare I say Home Chef?) techniques to take
this old classic to the next level!
I have used the Weber to make everything from jerky, to smoked salmon, to traditional Southern Pulled Pork, to authentic Texas-Style Briskets and Pork Bellies, and Iâm going to show you how to, as well.
Direct vs. Indirect
There are two basic styles of grilling, direct & indirect.
Direct GrillingÂ
Direct grilling cooks your food âdirectlyâ above the hot coals. Best for searing and charring foods that you want to grill quickly.
Of course, with this higher heat, you have to be more watchful to ensure that foods, especially those with sugary marinades or glazes, donât burn before theyâre cooked through. A double layer, direct fire on a standard kettle-style BBQ can get as high as 500F.
Rule of thumb: Thin foods, with low sugar and water content, and that cook quickly, cook best over direct heat:
- Steaks
- Fruits & Veggies
- Chicken breasts
- Hamburgers
- Fish fillets & shellfish
- Pork tenderloin
Indirect GrillingÂ
Indirect grilling uses an area of the grill that doesnât have coals directly beneath it. By placing your food over this âcoolâ zone, and covering it with the lid, your kettle becomes an oven, allowing you to bake, roast, or BBQ, foods that take longer to finish, without burning the exterior. Temperatures typically run in the 225f-250F range, making this method ideal for BBQ and smoking.
Rule of thumb: Thicker and sugary foods, and tougher cuts (especially of beef) that
requires longer cook times at lower temperatures:
- Roasts
- Ribs
- Whole chickens
- Large whole fish
- Pork shoulders, and loins
Single Zone Grilling
Single Zone grilling is your basic, direct heat method. Coals are layered evenly across the coal grate, the number of layers depending on the amount of heat you need.
2 Zone Grilling
As we saw above, 2 Zone grilling is best for âlow & slowâ techniques.
Prepared coals are spread over one side of the coal grate, while the opposite half (or more) is left clear. This letâs you âroastâ thick cuts of meat with burning, though youâll typically need to rotate large cuts at some point, so they cook evenly on both sides.
Another common technique for 2 Zone Grilling is to caramelize (char) the exterior of the meat over direct heat (all sides), then move it to the indirect area to complete cooking.
Tri-tip roasts, steaks thicker than 2âł, and bone-in chicken peices grill best by this method. Caramelization (the technical term is the âMaillard reaction*â adds tons of flavors to foods, and some believe that it can help deal in the juices of meats, to help prevent any unnecessary moisture loss. Itâs a fantastic method for roasting whole (brined) chickens, as well.
You can even serve grilled âbakedâ potatoes that will drive your guests crazy!
*Maillard Reaction:Â A chemical reaction
between the amino acids and the reducing sugars that gives browned and grilled
food its distinctive flavor.
This is the method I use most often, as it finds it provides the most consistent results (and
is most forgiving of my ADHD forgetfulness!) đ
Prepared coals are split evenly along the opposite sides of the coal grate, leaving a place (cool zone) between, large enough to move the meat to once the outsides are browned. This allows medium to thick cuts to finish cooking, while providing even heat from both sides, and save you the trouble of having to rotate the meat, halfway through cooking.
There are also times when you might prefer a three-zone âsplitâ fire, where the coals are separated into two equal piles on opposite sides of the charcoal grate.
This gives you two zones for direct heat (high,
medium, or low) and one zone between them for indirect heat. This
also works nicely for cooking a roast over indirect heat, such as pork loin or
beef tenderloin, because you have the same level of heat on either side of the
roast.
You can also use this method to create âHigh, Medium, and Lowâ zones in your kettle. By stacking two (or
more) levels layers of coals on one side (high), and single layer
on the opposite side (medium),
the middle section, with or without a water pan*, becomes the âLowâ zone.
Ring oâ Fire (low & slow/smoking)
Setting up for slow smoking
The ring of fire isâŠawesome! By layering your coals in a semi-circle around the outside of the coal-grate, and then lighting one end of the âringâ, you create a domino effect, as each coal lights the next, working itâs way around the ring for hours, and provided low, even heat.
To turn your Weber Kettle into the perfect smoker, just pre-soak a few chunks of your favorite hardwood, and space them evenly atop the first half to three-quarters of the ring.
Meat will only accept smoke for the first three hours or so, so thereâs no point in wasting the extra wood.
Plus, over smoking can leave meat with a bitter, acrid flavor, and a nasty tar-like coating.
While there are innumerable tips and tricks that you can (and likely will) learn as you spend more time
at the grill, letâs look at a few very simple, yet foundational principles that
can take your grill-skill from tragic to magic, quicklyâŠand without cost.
Just a side note â none of these tips are about the price of the meat. Grilling and, to a greater extent, barbeque, is all about taking the cheap (and
sometimes throw-away) cuts, and making them not just edible, but
incredible. You donât need to serve $30-a-steak rib-eyes, or fresh Maine lobster-tails,
to make a great meal on the grillâŠwatch and see.
Brining
In cooking, brining is a process similar to marinating, in which meat is soaked in brine before cooking. Brining makes cooked meat moister by hydrating the cells of its muscle tissue before cooking, via the process of osmosis, and by allowing the cells to hold on to the water while they are cooked, via the process of denaturation. (Thank you,
Wikipedia!)
How long to brine depends on the size and type of meat youâve got. Larger meats like a whole turkey need more time for the brine to do its magic. Small pieces of seafood like shrimp shouldnât sit in a brine for more than half an hour, or so.
Be sure not to brine meats that have already been brined before you buy them, such as âextra-tenderâ pork, which has been treated with sodium phosphate and water to make it juicier.
Meats that improve on the grill with a good brine:
- Chicken & turkey (whole or cut)
- Rabbit (or any non-red game meat)
- Pork (especially boneless picnic ribs)
- Salmon
Fatty meats like beef and lamb are generally not improved by brining.
My
basic brine = 1 cup coarse Kosher or sea salt + 1 cup
sugar (white or brown) + 1 gallon purified water.
Bring water to a high simmer, add salt
and sugar to dissolve, and allow to cool to room temp before adding the meat.
You can increase or decrease the amount of brine, as long as you have enough to
completely submerse the meat, by modifying the brine ingredients in these
proportions.
How much brine do you need?
Hereâs a tip: put your meat in the container youâre going to soak it in, and fill it with purified water until completely covered. Remove the meat, and use this water to make your brine. Clever, huh?
After brining, always rinse your meat and dry it well before cooking. Otherwise, your dinner is going to be super salty, likewise, donât salt the meat before, during, or after cooking, nor any sauces or gravies you make with the residual broth (which, btw, is freakinâ awesome.)
Lastly, make sure to keep a close eye when grilling meats that have been brined. Brining adds sugar to the meat and can cause it to burn faster, another reason to use a 2-step grilling method.
One caveat with brining is that whatever you put the meat in, it needs to fit in your refrigerator or cooler. Both the meat and brine need to stay below 40F at
all times. This isnât a big deal with a couple of pork chops but can present some logistical headaches when youâre roasting half-a-dozen turkeys, as I did last Thanksgiving.
In this case, youâre best bet is to sterilize a cooler thatâs big enough to fit the meat, brine and a couple of bags of ice.
General Brining Times
- Whole Chicken, Salmon fillet          4 to 12 hours
- Chicken Pieces, Pork Chops          1 to 1 1/2 hours
- Whole Turkey or Pork Shoulder        24 hours
- Turkey Breast, Rabbit                5 to 8 hours
- Cornish Game Hens                 1 to 2 hours
The beauty of a good brine is you can add whatever you want to it! I often add quartered lemons and chopped garlic to my whole chicken brine and Chinese 5 Spice to my pork brine.
The best flavored brines are often the simplestâŠcitrus juice and dried mint will add a nice Mediterranean flavor to chicken, while cracked black pepper and red wine vinegar provide a rich French flair.
~Chef Perry Â
