Grilled chicken is like a blank canvas for flavor. By itself, chicken is flavorless and bland. How can you avoid charred-on-the-outside, raw-on-the-inside grilled chicken? Here are our tips for grilling the perfect chicken breast. Preparing the chicken breast for the grill As we know, dark meat is more flavorful than other parts of the chicken. The legs are richer and fattier than breasts, and the extra bit of fat goes a long way toward keeping the meat from drying out. However, for chicken breast, we can prevent the meat from drying out by submerging the meat in a brine or a marinade before grilling. Regardless of which cut you are…
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How to Choose Wood and Fuel for Your Smoker
Choosing the type of smoking wood and fuel for your smoker doesn’t have to be difficult. Probably the most frequently asked question we get is do you smoke with lump charcoal or briquettes? Honestly, our answer is, “it depends.” Both have their benefits, however, both have disadvantages as well. More importantly, what type of charcoal you use depends more on what type of cooking vessel you are smoking with. Here are our thoughts on barbecue fuels. Pitmaster precautions First of all, never, ever, never use lighter fluid on lump or briquettes. Not all charcoal is created equal, nor do all grilling product manufacturers have a commitment to producing natural, healthy,…
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Tips for Marinating a Christmas London Broil
Christmas is a special holiday and for a special holiday, you deserve a special meal; splurge a little and grill a London broil. London Broil is a more affordable alternative to Prime Rib and takes a shorter amount of time to grill. However, for a London Broil, which is a lean cut of beef, a good marinade is imperative. Marinades impart wonderful flavor and texture to grilled foods. When preparing a London Broil, allow 3/4 lb. per person. London Broil will cook down and this generous estimate accounts for that. WHAT IS A MARINADE A marinade is a flavorful, wet seasoning, in which food is soaked before it is smoked…
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Tips for Pizza on the Big Green Egg
Nothing compares to a brick oven pizza and if you own a Big Green Egg, or any other ceramic cooker, you can make delicious pizza at home. Recently, we experimented with a few techniques to enhance our pizza preparation. Making this particular recipe does take time, typically 4-5 hours; however, in this article, we included a couple of time saving strategies, for an easy weeknight dinner. Making the dough for the Big Green Egg Pizza In the past, we made our pizza dough from scratch using a recipe from the Big Green Egg forum (a website for Big Green Egg enthusiast), but today we decided to try DeLallo’s Italian Pizza…
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Whiskey Smoked Barbecue Chicken
Grilling chicken is one of our favorite “go-to” meals in the summer. It is quick, easy, and just takes a little bit of prep. This recipe is ideal for chicken drumsticks, but I am not a fan of dark meat. We substituted skinless, boneless chicken breast and it turned out delicious. For this Whiskey Smoky Barbecue Chicken, as with any grilled chicken recipe, the most important, MOST CRUCIAL step is the brine. WHY BRINE CHICKEN? Chicken is a very lean protein. Brining the poultry helps maintain moisture and impart flavor. After trying several “salt” based potions, I have found using a 1:1 ratio of sugar to salt, mixed thoroughly in…
