Seven Steps to Grilling Mastery

Photo by Sugar Mill Productions

Ask a professional pit master how he or she barbecues a steak and he or she may just show you where you can stick your rib-eye.

Professional Cooking Tip:

A common mistake is to add sauce too early. Do not add barbeque sauces with sugars in them until the very end of the grilling process. This will reduce the black charring of your meats.

So, rule No. 1: Barbecuing and grilling are totally different animals. “Barbecue is the process of cooking ‘low and slow’ with natural hard woods at temperatures of around 200-275 degrees,” said Ryan Grob, executive chef and owner of Backdraft BBQ. Grob is a professional, competitive pit master based out of Henderson. He says grilling is all about speed—direct heat using hot coals at temperatures of 275 degrees or hotter. So, when you throw some burgers on the grill, you’re not barbecuing. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take a cue from the pros.

“Sometimes it is a great idea to mix the two methods to achieve a faster process,” Grob said.

Start cooking “low and slow” to get good flavor, then transfer the meat to the hot side of the grill to finish it off. You can even do it on your backyard grill.

Rib-eye steak example (thick cut)

Step 1: Apply your favorite barbecue rub or spices heavily to both sides of your rib-eye and let sit for a few hours.

Step 2: Soak some of your favorite wood chips in water or wine.

Step 3: Remove one side of your grill’s grate and fire up just that one side of your grill.

Step 4: Wrap your wood chips in a foil ball and poke a few small holes into the foil with a knife.

Step 5: Place wood chip ball directly on the flame to burn the wood chips.

Step 6: Place rib-eye on the cool end of the grill and close the lid, your grill will start smoking to add flavor.

Step 7: After smoke dies down, turn the burners on under your rib-eye and finish grilling to desired doneness.

Use this process with other cuts of meat too.