If you have never used a charcoal grill in the past, it can be intimidating. However, a bit of practice with some basic steps is sure to have you grilling like a master in no time at all. You’ll be a grilling expert before you can even say “kebab.”
Grilling can be an excellent hobby to get in to. Not only is it fun but you’ll learn a lot about the food you’re going to be eating. Also, it gets you and hopefully your whole family outside and away from all of their electronic devices, at least for a little bit.
No matter what part of the globe you happen to live in, you will love the hobby of charcoal grilling. The smoky, woody flavor that you get when you cook food off the grate is simply unmatched. You may never go back to conventional cooking again.
This is something you can do solo or with your family members around you. In fact, this is one of the most resilient, flexible hobbies that you can get involved with that will be very fulfilling for the whole family in more ways than one.
Why You Should Take up Grilling as a Hobby
Thinking of finding a new hobby? There is just something about charcoal and meat that brings out the fanatic in people and turns them into hobbyists. Grilling is a great and delicious hobby that is not only addicting but is also fun. The best part is that it is portable.
There are tons of awesome methods you will learn to use when grilling food. Once you begin you may never turn back. The reason is that the grill and charcoal create such a unique, smoky food flavoring that electric cooking or gas cooking simply cannot emulate.
Unlike grilling with the use of electricity or gas, grilling with charcoal is fuss-free and minimalist. You won’t need a plug or a long extension cord. You also won’t need to worry about needing a portable source of gas or your gas tank running out in the middle of cooking.
That’s right. Whether you want to grill in your own back or front yard or go camping with the kids, when using a charcoal grill to cook your food, the sky is pretty much the limit. All you need is some charcoal and/or some wood chips, and you can cook a great dinner for everyone.
You’re also making great memories for your kids of playing outside while dad or mom makes dinner on the grill. Once they’re all grown up, the smell of charcoal in the air will bring them right back to family time outside in the summer.
First Things First
To get started with your new hobby the first thing your going to need to do is pick a charcoal grill that meets your needs. You’ll need to determine where you’re going to put your new grill as well as if you plan to have larger cookouts or just grilling for you and your family. To help you do this I have an article that covers everything you’ll need to take into consideration. You can find it by clicking here.
But perhaps you already have an old grill that someone gave you or one you just haven’t used in a long time. You’ll want to start by cleaning the grill before you try cooking anything on it. Use a wire brush to sweep the grates. Then use an oiled cloth to give it a wipe down, especially if the grill has cast-iron cooking grates.
Wiping cast-iron grates with oil is part of the seasoning prosses. It should be done every so often and will help keep food from sticking to your grill as well as keep it from rusting. For a step by step breakdown of seasoning a grill whether it is new or old, you can read my article on seasoning grills. You can find it by clicking here.
Warmer grates are easier to clean, so each time after you finish your cooking, it is a good idea to develop the habit of wiping everything down. Dispose of ashes that are in the grill a day after you grill and not immediately. This will give all the embers time to die off.
Charcoal
Hardwood or natural charcoal lights faster and burns cleaner and hotter than briquettes do. It’s best to use if you can find them sold in your community. Of course, if you can’t, just use untreated regular briquettes made of charcoal. Use briquettes that light quickly. It’s a good idea not to use chemically treated briquettes or lighter fluid.
Add wood chips into the mix of charcoal if you prefer a very smoky flavor. Chunks cut from mesquite or wood chips made of alder, applewood or hickory are available at specialty stores and hardware stores. Soak your wood chips in liquid while your charcoal heats up.
Add extra flavor by using wine, beer or just plain good old water. You get a smokier, slower burn when you soak the chips. Add a handful of drained chips before cooking right on top of the hottest coals. You can learn more about using wood chips by clicking here.
No matter what your level of expertise as a griller is going to be, one thing is for sure and that is the fact that there is nothing quite so satisfying as the smoky simplicity of dinner with the family right off the grill.
Knowing What Type of Heat To Cook Over
There are more than a few techniques you can use for grilling. Believe it or not, whether you decide to marinate fish or meat before grilling is up to you, but it is not a requirement.
Charcoal grilling is easy to do in your own home, which is not something you can say about fly fishing or bungee jumping. Grilling can use direct high heat for cooking steak, hot dogs or burgers.
On the flip side of the coin, the grill can also be used for indirect cooking and that is when it is referred to as barbecuing. Barbecuing is more commonly used to describe cooking meats over low indirect heat for longer amounts of time. Various wood types can be used to smoke meat and add aroma. There is usually a higher content of fat in the meat selected for barbecues.
Longer cooking times bring out the tenderness in fatty meats, and the way a grill cooks a steak is such that it melts in your mouth just can’t be beaten. More and more schools are encouraged to teach adulting classes because kids don’t know how to work a stove, fry an egg or grill anything. Kids these days probably don’t even know what a grill is!
When you take up grilling as a hobby, you can resolve issues such as these by showing the kids by example. As you repeat your grilling hobby weekend after weekend, the kids will be exposed to the process of getting the charcoal ready, using wood chips straight on the grill, waiting for the heat to be hot enough and cooking food the real way.
The Hand Test
One great way of finding out whether or not the grill is ready is by appearance. If the coals have an orange glow and light ash covering them, then the grate is ready. You can judge temperature by doing the hand test.
The hand test is when you hold your hand about six-inch’s over the cooking grates and count how long you can hold it there. You’re going to want your palm facing the cooking grate again about six inches above it. You should fell the heat coming off of it. Now your only going to want to do this for a few seconds – you’re not trying to grill your hand.
Medium-high heat is when you can keep your palm six inches from the grate for four seconds and medium heat for seven seconds. If you are unable to keep your palm above the grate for more than two seconds, then that is high heat.
A Hobby The Family Will Love
Don’t be surprised if the kids ooh and aah about the process, since they may never have been exposed to it in the past! Business-minded homebodies can even open a Mindful Grilling workshop to folks around the community or start a blog as I did. Other parents will be sure to appreciate the opportunity to expose their own children to your grilling hobby as there are so many things the kids can learn!
These days, everyone seems to be in a hurry. There are more microwaveable packs of food than ever. No one seems to have time to bond with the family anymore. People are rushing into and out of their homes on a daily basis.
Grilling can be a hobby that turns this phenomenon around. In fact, grilling brings back memories of the old days when there were no microwaves. You can give the kids a taste of life before the gadgets. It’s not going to take three minutes for the grill to be ready. Plus the meat isn’t going to be perfectly done in thirty seconds. That’s just not how food really cooks.
Things need preparation. When you grill as a hobby, this is a great activity for practicing mindfulness and being in the moment. Everyone waits for the grill to be ready, for the meat to cook thoroughly, for the veggies to be peeled, chopped, washed, buttered, oiled, salted and grilled, and for the food to cook in more than five minutes. Grilling brings the family together and teaches mindfulness as few other hobbies can.
Unlike fishing or golfing, which you can do along with your friends but not everyone talks to one another, grilling encourages everyone to have wonderful conversations. Friends pitch in and the wife and kids share about what happened during their week.
You will love it when family and friends sit among the hickory smoke, laughing, talking, and gathering around. There is nothing more enjoyable to watch than someone taking freshly picked or purchased ingredients, peeling them, chopping them, putting them on the grill and turning them into something delicious.
When you start grilling as a hobby and begin doing more and more of this, your wife will love the fact that it is her turn to ask you what’s for dinner. Of course, when you answer smoked pork or cedar plank salmon, you can imagine the positive vibe this is going to create for the entire household.
In fact, once the neighbors hear about it you might be surprised how many times a simple dinner turns into a party. On other days when you have less time, you can grill short ribs or hamburgers to enjoy with the kids.
No matter what you decide to put on the grill, it will definitely make you the family favorite. Your wife will thank her lucky stars you found this brand new hobby!
Weekends With The Guys
On weekends, rather than going fly-fishing with the guys, why don’t you invite the guys over to come and enjoy a cookout in your backyard? You can all gather around the grill, watch the kids kick around the ball and spend quality time with the family in the process.
After years and years of spending time outside of the home, isn’t it time you found a home-based activity that everyone enjoys? Sitting around talking and drinking the most delicious, refreshing drinks while the grill gets busy cooking dinner will be good for the entire family.
As a hobby, grilling lets you sit back with a cool drink in your hand while you wait for your steak to cook. Grilling on a warm, languid summer or spring day as you watch the leaves wave around in the wind and listen to the birds up on top of the roof can be addicting. What other activity is both busy and relaxed at the same time?
Barbecuing is a slow, long process of cooking outside using a grill. It is used mainly for larger cuts of meat that have a high concentration of fat. The meat becomes very tender with the long, slow process on the grill. Since grilling happens to be an outdoor activity, not unlike fishing or hunting, this makes a very useful, fulfilling hobby.
The proof that grilling can be a hobby is that there are many state or community competitions for the best grilling experts in town. You can make an excuse to the kids that you have to have a barbecue this weekend to practice your craft. Your wife will most likely encourage you to go ahead and immerse yourself in your brand new hobby every night!
An Even Temperature
A barbecue does not really limit you to just the usual hot dogs and burgers. As a matter of fact, you can use brisket, ribs, pulled pork or chicken. Just remember that flavor is everything when it comes to grilling. Add smoking woods such as mesquite, hickory or apple to enhance the flavors. Use rubs and sauces to create delicious dishes that have the entire family clamoring for more.
No matter what you decide to cook on your grill, keeping the temperature even is the key. Find out what the optimal temperature is for each ingredient you grill. The entire time you cook, make sure that the meat stays moist. If you see your ingredients drying up, they may be overcooked and can be taken off the grill.
A Few More Tips For Hobbyists
When you decide to embark upon the hobby of grilling, you will need a sturdy grill, a cooker, or a smoker that uses wood or charcoal as the heat source. There are bullet-style smokers, offset grills as well as barrel and drum types. Air-tight contraptions are perfect for smoking meat. Make sure to check at the store if the lid closes securely.
You will need charcoal or wood chips to use as the source of heating your food. You will also need a way to light these. Rather than using lighter fluid like in the movies, it is best to use a charcoal starter torch, a chimney, or paraffin cube wax.
Cooking meat with the recommended level of heat for each type will save you from having to do all the guesswork. You will need to cook lamb, veal, and beef at around the same temperature.
Fish is cooked close to the same temperature as beef but it’s always best to check before you start cooking. Most pork is cooked at a higher temperature. Chicken, whether it is just part of the chicken, ground chicken, or whole chicken, needs to be cooked to 165 degrees F.
Serious grillers who love owning every accessory related to grilling that’s known to mankind can build their fabulous collection by starting with gloves, knives, injections and even tongs. As with any hobbyist, when you grill more often, you will want to perfect your craft.
A few guidelines for your new hobby include making sure that utensils and platters are washed thoroughly before they touch the raw meat you plan to cook. When you are outdoors, it is sometimes easy to forget that the same rules for hygiene apply.
Remember that marinated meat is still considered raw food. Keep cold food cold and hot foods hot, and don’t put them all on the same plate. A meat thermometer will tell you when something is cooked thoroughly. Before you grill, marinating meat will bring it up another level in terms of taste.
You can use thyme, oregano, rosemary, and basil as well as garlic. At times when you want just a basic flavor, you can use salt, pepper and olive oil. If you want to learn more about marinades and dry rubs you can click here to find my article on them. After every use, make sure you thoroughly scrub the rack and grill and all of your utensils.
Indirect Charcoal Grilling
Also known as radiant grilling, indirect grilling is when you cook your food with radiant heat, or when the heat is off to the side. It is much like baking, roasting or convection ovens when you cover an indirect grill with food on it.
This procedure gives an unmatched flavor of smokiness and lets bigger pieces get thoroughly cooked without getting burned. When you cook with charcoal in an indirect way, the larger pieces get smoked and thoroughly cooked on the outside while the inside of the meat remains moist and tender.
This method of cooking is excellent for racks of pork rib, roasts, whole birds, or other bigger cuts that require moderate heat and slow, long cooking.
To do this technique, all you need to do is to carefully rake hotter coal into a couple of piles on either side of your grill. Then on the grate’s center is where you arrange the meat. Some grilling sets come with a basket you can insert for just this purpose.
There You Have It!
That’s everything you need to know about grilling food and making this your new hobby. Whether or not you have already purchased all your materials and tools you need to grill or are still playing with the idea, one thing you can be sure of is that this is a great hobby.
Not just for you, but also for the kids and for the entire family. Your spouse will love all the extra bonding time over a great meal you cooked outdoors and the kids will benefit from spending time outdoors, for a change. You can even find a portable charcoal grill to bring on road trips with the family.
As Always, Happy Grilling
