Grilling Gear

It takes more than tongs and spatulas to master the grill. Here are some additional tools you might want to help you master your craft.

Basting Brushes – Essential for brushing oils, bastes, glazes, and sauces on grilling food; the best barbecue basting brushes have long wooden handles and natural bristles. When working with messy sauces, I often use a cheap, natural-bristle painting-brush. Avoid nylon basting brushes, which will melt. For extra flavor, use bunches of herbs as basting brushes.

Brushes and Scrubbers – A good grill grate brush will have a long, sturdy handle, a stiff, wide wire brush head, and a scraper at the end for dislodging burnt-on pieces of debris (a long handle is essential for working on a hot grill). A V-shaped wire brush is useful for scrubbing the individual bars of a particularly dirty grate. A grill scrubber should have a tough fiber pad for cleaning grates and fireboxes.

Drip Pans – Aluminum foil drip pans are indispensable. Not only are they essential for positioning under the grate of the grill to catch fat, you can use them to soak wood chips and keep cooked foods warm on the side of the grill. You’ll find heavy-duty aluminum foil drip pans at your local supermarket or barbecue shop. Buy a variety of sizes.

Fire Extinguisher – While grilling is fun, it should also be executed safely. Minor flare-ups can be controlled with a water pistol or a sprinkling of salt. In case of bigger flare-ups have a fire extinguisher armed and ready. You want a dry chemical type. An extinguisher remains charged and ready to use for several years – provided that it’s not used. If you do use it, have it professionally recharged and inspected, or get another extinguisher.

Forks – Guys who don’t know any better use forks to poke holes in steaks and burgers, thereby draining the juices onto the coals. The tines of a barbecue fork are good for sliding between the bars of the grate to lift up food when it’s sticking to the grate, but don’t stick them into the meat.

Gloves – Indispensable for handling anything hot on or off the grill. Leather or suede gloves give you the best insulation. For maximum protection, choose a long-sleeve glove that comes most of the way up your arm. Grilla Gear’s suede gloves, are thick, well-padded, and long.

Grate Grabber – A plier-like device that helps you to lift a hot grate off the grill when it’s time to replenish the charcoal, if your grill is not hinged.

Grill Baskets – If you’ve ever tried to grill a fragile fish steak, cheese sandwich, or vegetable burger, only to have it stick to the grate, you’ll appreciate the value of the hinged grill basket. You insert the food between the hinged wire panels. When it’s time to turn, you invert the basket, not the fragile food. Long-handled grill baskets typically have a metal ring that slides over the handle to fasten the panels together. The handle on Charcoal Companion’s large grill basket comes off so you can close the grill lid over the basket. A drum-shaped grill basket, also from the Charcoal Company, allows you to rotate a basketful of cubed vegetables. It has eight sides and a detachable handle.

Fish Baskets – Whole fish and fish fillets are notorious for sticking to grates. The grill basket solves this problem. To prevent the fish from sticking or breaking, you turn the baskets with the fish inside.

Grill Lights – These lamps clamp on the side of your grill, shedding light on the food you’re grilling. They are available in both plug-in and battery-powered versions. Avoid lights that clip on the lid of the grill. The heat will melt the plastic.

Kebab Basket – I wouldn’t deem this essential, but in the event you should want to grill vegetable pieces or cubes of fish that are too clumsy or fragile to skewer, this gadget is your ticket. To brown all sides you turn the basket.

Mops – Mops are a must on the professional barbecue circuit, used for dabbing thin flavoring mixtures onto chickens, ribs, pork shoulders, and whole hogs. Professional barbecuers actually use full-size floor mops (brand-new ones, of course) - hence the name mop sauce. For home grilling, buy a barbecue mop. You can wash mop head in the dishwasher.

Patio Protector – DiversiTech’s fireproof patio protector goes under your grill to shield your deck or patio from any falling sparks and dripping fat.

Poultry Roaster – A roaster enables you to barbecue a chicken in an upright position. This helps the fat drain off more efficiently, producing a crispier, juicier chicken.

Rib Rack – This elegantly simple device solves a problem that has bedeviled barbequers for decades: how to cook a lot of ribs on a small grill. By standing the ribs on end in the rack you can quadruple to capacity of your grill. Another advantage to using a rib rack: The vertical position helps the fat drain off, resulting in a lighter, crispier rib.

Roast Holder – Using a roast holder helps a roast keep is cylindrical shape during indirect grilling.

Shish Kebab Rack – A metal rack that holds six or eight individual shish kebab skewers. The device is supposed to facilitate turning the kebabs and promote even cooking.

Skewers – Barbecue skewers come in all sizes and in a dazzling array of shapes, each designed for a specific function. You’re probably already familiar with the simple metal skewers. Keep at least eight on hand. The flat blades of shish kebab skewers keep the chunks of meat from rotating. Two-pronged skewers are great for grilling slippery foods, like onions, tomatoes, and shrimp (the dual prongs keep the foods from slipping). Flat metal skewers from the Near East are designed for grilling ground meat kebabs and vegetables. Ground meats cling to their broad surface area. Wet vegetables, like plum tomatoes, won’t spin when you turn them over. Slender bamboo skewers – sold in all sizes – are the preferred kebab holder throughout Asia. Flat bamboo skewers from Peru are used for making Peru’s beloved anticuchos (beef heart kebabs). Moroccan shish kebab skewers with slender blades, are perfect for skewering small cubes of meat. Curved skewers from Charcoal Companion, add a whimsical touch to a barbecue. In many parts of the world, grill meisters cook kebabs on lemongrass stalks, strips of sugarcane, rosemary sprigs, and other skewers you can actually eat or chew. The obvious advantage here is that you put flavor inside the meat, as well as on the surface.

Skillets and Woks – These ingenious baskets enable you to “stir-grill” vegetables, shrimp, and other small pieces of food the way you would stir-fry in a wok on the stove. The holes allow the smoke and flame flavors to reach the food. A long handle on a grill wok facilitates tossing, as you would when stir-frying. A short handle allows you to close the lid of the grill over the basket.

Spatulas – Handy for turning flat foods, like burgers and fish fillets. Choose a spatula with a long, sturdy, angled handle (the angle keeps your hand away from the fire) and the widest blade possible. Holes in the blade prevent the buildup of steam, which could make your food soggy.

Spray Bottles and Misters – One of the secrets of succulent barbecue is conscientiously spraying it with oil or a basting mixture. Spray bottles can be used for liquid flavorings, like apple cider or vinegar. Misters are designed for spraying thicker liquids like olive oil.

Thermometers – There’s only one fail-safe way to tell when meat or poultry is ready to take off the grill – take its temperature. An instant-read meat thermometer with a long metal probe gives you the internal temperate as soon as you insert it. A long-handled, long-needled thermometer is useful for taking the temperature of roasts, pork shoulders, and other large cuts of meat. Instant-read thermometers also come in digital models.

Tongs – The most important tool in a griller’s workshop, tongs enable you to turn meat without stabbing it. When buying tongs, look for long, stiff arms (14 to 16 inches), so you won’t burn yourself; stiff, so you can pick up a whole chicken without having the tongs bend. A lockable spring-loaded hinge enables you to secure your grip on a slippery or awkward piece of food. Scalloped ends give the tongs a surer hold. The wooden handles of the Grilla Gear tongs, act as insulators and are supposed to keep your hands from slipping. I also like spring-loaded restaurant tongs, available from restaurant supply houses. The slender metal arms of some models may bend when you try to pick up heavy items.

Vegetable and Fish Grates – These wire or perforated metal plates are place on top of the grill grate to hold small pieces of food (like mushrooms or okra) that would fall through the bars of a conventional grate. They’re also good for fragile foods, such as vegetable burgers and fish fillets. Wire vegetable grates allow fire and smoke to penetrate food easily, while perforated metal plates provide better support for fragile items. When using vegetable and fish grates, preheat them well and spray them with oil before placing the food on top.

How To Grill, The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques by Steven Raichlen

For more great tips from Steven Raichlen’s “How To Grill” visit your local bookstore or click here to visit his website www.barbecuebible.com