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Tips for outdoor grilling
WARNING
Food Poisoning Hazard
Do not let food sit for more than one hour before or after cooking.
Doing so can result in food poisoning or sickness.
Before Grilling
• Thaw food items before grilling.
• Preheat grill on high (use all grill burners) 10 minutes. The hood must be closed during preheating.
There is no need to use the back rotisserie burner for preheating. Preheating provides the high heat
needed to brown and seal the juices.
• Shorten the preheat time when grilling high-fat cuts of meat or poultry, such as chicken thighs. This will
help reduce flare-ups.
• Lightly oil the grill grates or the food when cooking low-fat cuts of meat, fish or poultry, such as lean
hamburger patties, shrimp or skinless chicken breasts.
• Using too much oil can cause gray ash to deposit on food.
• Trim excess fat from meats prior to cooking to reduce flare-ups.
• Make vertical cuts at 5 cm intervals around the fat edge of meat to avoid curling.
• Add seasoning or salt only after the cooking has finished.
During Grilling
• Turn foods only once. Juices are lost when meat is turned several times.
• Turn meat just when juices begin to appear on the surface.
• Avoid puncturing or cutting the meats to test doneness. This allows juices to escape.
• It may be necessary to lower the heat setting for foods that cook a long time or are marinated or
basted in a sugary sauce.
• If using a high flame, add barbecue sauce only during the last 10 minutes of cooking to avoid burning the
sauce.
• The degree of doneness is influenced by the type of meat, cut of meat (size, shape and thickness), heat
setting selected, and length of time on the grill.
• Cooking time will be longer with an open grill cover.
Cooking Methods
Cooking tips
A few suggestions for getting the best out of your barbecue are given below. Remember however that the
cooking times and intensities proposed may not be to your taste.
Direct cooking: this is when the food cooks directly on the grill under which the burner is lit.
Indirect cooking: this is when the food cooks on the grill next to the one with the lit burner.
Meat
To cook meat we recommend preheating the grills with the burners set at maximum for 5-10 minutes,
depending on how thick the meat is. For small pieces (chops, slices of bacon, ribs, etc.) a short preheat is
recommended (about 5 minutes).
For larger pieces (joints, whole chicken, etc.) a longer preheat is required (about 10 minutes). In both
cases preheat with the cover down.
Direct cooking
In general for the direct cooking of meat the burners should be set to maximum, while for fish and
vegetables the burners should be set to medium or low. Generally for good cooking start grilling the food
with the burners set on maximum. Once the outside of the food is cooked, reduce the burner heat to
medium or low so that the food can cook on the inside, without burning the outside. During cooking,
particularly with pork or lamb, it is normal to have flames on the grill due to the dripping of fat onto the
refractory ceramic plates. Just move the food to a cooler area of the grill. We recommend that you do not
fill the grill with food whilst cooking.
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