Grilling Tips from Chef Jason Hill

Grilling Tips from Chef Jason Hill Here in America, we spend a lot of time outside grilling. So, it's not surprising that one of my most popular email requests is for grilling tips. Hi, I'm Chef Jason Hill. And today, I want to share with you a few of my favorite gas grill tips that should come in handy at your next barbecue. One of the benefits about using a gas grill is that it gives you a great control of your surface temperature. For example, you can have one side of your grill set at high, and the other set over at low. My first tip for you is to get the proper tools that you’ll need to do the grilling. I’m trying to stay away from all those gadgets. I keep it simple and I’ll show you what I use. I like to use a commercial grade set of tongs that are long, and this particular brand is Edlund. And they are heavy duty steel, you’ll see this design in another store, but they are lot more flimsier. So, I recommend getting the commercial grade. They’ll last you a lot longer. An instant read thermometer comes in handy if you’re cooking a lot of meat on the grill. You're going to want to get a couple of metal spatulas. One on the larger side for your burgers, chicken curries, and I use the smaller one for the more delicate pieces of fish. It’s also a good idea to have some skewers on hand. You can have metal or bamboo. If you’re going to use the bamboo, soak them in water for about a half an hour before you put them on the grill. And then some sort of hot mitt, hot pad or towel, and finally, you just want a wire brush that you’ll use to clean your grill right after you put the food off. Before you cook your food, you’re going to want to season the grill. To do this I like to just pour a little olive oil on a kitchen towel, hold it with my tongs, and then we’re just going to wipe down the grill. This will help prevent your food sticking to the grill. Here’s a way to tell if your grill is at the right surface temperature: Hold your hand two inches above the grill, if you can’t keep it there longer than two seconds you know this is high. If you can hold your hands there for three seconds, that’s medium high heat, four to five seconds will be medium heat, and anything over six seconds is low. The key to grilling your meat is to sear them on high on both sides for about two to three minutes, that way you’re going to walk in these juices in this wonderful steak. I’m going to check one more time for my hot spot, here we go. I’m just going to slide the steak on. I’m going to close the lid and let that set for a minute. I’m going to change the angle of the steak to give it some nice grill marks. I’m just going to move it just back like that. Close the lid for another minute. Alright, after another minute, it has been here on a total of two minutes. I’m going to turn it over. You can see we got some nice grill marks there. I’m going to do the same thing to this side. Now, that I have seared my steaks on both sides, I’m going to slide it over to the low burner. I’m going to close the lid and continue cooking it until whatever temperature you want it at. Beef and lamb is cooked medium rare at about 150 to 170 for well done. Fish is done when it is opaque, but still moist in the center, and the flesh begins to flake. For chicken pieces, make a cut into the meat. Be sure there are no traces of pink near the bone. Pork should reach an internal temperature of 150, and the meat should be opaque but moist. After the steak is cooked, I’m going to remove it, cover it with a little foil, and let it rest there so the juices will settle for about five minutes. Here’s some idea just because as you saw the spatula and the tongs touched the raw fish and raw steak, so during the cooking process I like to leave them on the grill when I’m closing the lid and that way any bacteria that’s on there is getting burned off. Last tip, when you’re done cooking your food, you’ve got to clean the grill. That way it’s ready for you for the next time you go to use it. And I don’t have any sprays, or anything fancy just good old-fashioned elbow grease to take care of this. I hope you can use these quick tips for grilling the next time you have a barbecue. Thanks for tuning in.