San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
That new cooker needs some attention
If someone truly loves you, you got a new grill or smoker as a Christmas present. As Cousin Eddie from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” would say while slogging down his eggnog, “It’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.”
But before that first batch of food hits the fire, there are a few things you should do to prepare your new cooker and to learn more about how it will operate.
1. Total wipe-down
Bryan Crawford, owner of the Lone Star BBQ Pro-Shop in Helotes, says that that most cookers come coated with industrial oils to prevent rust.
With a wet rag, thoroughly wipe down the grates to remove as much of those oils as you can. This applies to all cookers, whether gas, charcoal grills or smokers. The rag should smell like it came out of a machine shop once done.
Then apply a proper cooking oil to as much of the unit as possible. Wipe down the interior lids, grates, fireboxes, etc., as if you were finely detailing a vehicle.
“I like to use peanut oil, but olive or vegetable oil is fine, too,” said Clarence Joseph, one of the
top competition barbecue cooks in Texas.
2. Heat and season
Once you’ve applied the cooking oils, the key is to crank up the cooker and get it humming with a lengthy cook to start the seasoning process. Crawford and Joseph recommend getting the internal temperature to at least 300 degrees and letting it burn for about two hours. But feel free to go hotter, as a grill or smoker cranked up to 400 to 500 degrees won’t damage the unit.
You can do this without any food in the cooker, but Joseph recommends cooking a really fatty meat in this step to add to the seasoning. He recommends pork shoulder, bacon and lamb ribs.
If you choose to cook bacon, put the slices in a cast-iron pan on the grates. Close the lid, and that bacon fat will still splatter all over the device to season it without the risk of big flare-ups from too much fat hitting the coals.
And if you have a smoker and a preferred wood, use that.
“Your cooker will slowly start to
take on the flavors of what you use most on it,” Crawford said.
3. Get to know the hot spots
Most cookers come with some sort of temperature gauge attached to the lid, but these can be misleading, as the temperature inside the unit is much higher at the grate level than the lid. It’s not much of a problem with gas grills set to high heat or small backyard charcoal units, but in larger smokers, the air can flow differently in various spots. You want to locate those hot and cool zones.
You can do this the fancy way or the inexpensive way. The fancy way is to load up your cooker with multiple digital thermometers and monitor them.
The miserly method, which is the one I highly recommend, is to place slices of bread in various spots on the grates and regularly check them to see which ones darken faster. Another popular method is to bake biscuits spread out on the grate to see which ones rise and finish first.
“It’s all about knowing your cooker and figuring out what works best,” Crawford said. “Once you start using it enough, it’s sort of like riding a bike, but it’s a good idea to test it out.”
4. Commit to clean
The absolute best thing about any new cooker is that it hasn’t had the opportunity to build up gunk. It’s a fresh canvas, so take advantage of it and keep it spiffy.
“One of the biggest myths in barbecue is that the soot and the grime that build up over time add to the flavor of the meat as time goes on,” Joseph said. “Whether you have a $15,000 pit or a $90 Weber kettle grill, you want to always keep it clean.”
Place drip pans under the meats when you can, and don’t allow any mess to accumulate over time by being lazy. Once the cooker cools after using it, scrub it. And if you cook a turkey on your new device, save the neck for Cousin Eddie.