Barbecue Success With The Rule Of ThirdsWritten by Les Brand
Ever been to a barbecue party where ‘chef’ placed as much food as he could possibly fit onto barbecue grill, every so often stabbing food with a fork and juggling it around so that it cooks evenly? Ever noticed how, within a few minutes, flames start gently flickering under food, chef proudly standing back admiring char grill effect that he’s creating? Ever notice panic that sets in when flames suddenly leap up and around food burning it black on outside and leaving it raw on inside? The difference between great char grilled barbecue food and burnt offerings lies in a few small precautions. The chef that we’ve just described made a few fatal errors that could easily have been avoided. Before discussing errors though, lets consider equipment that we’re talking about. Although same can happen with gas as with charcoal, gas grills can be turned lower, or off, when flames start getting out of control. The flames can also be controlled if barbecue grill has a tight fitting lid, as with a Weber kettle grill. However most people seem to cook on an open top barbecue grill with lid, if it has one, open. Note that we’re talking about a barbecue grill here, where food is cooked directly over hot coals. True barbecue uses indirect heat with food fully enclosed as though in an oven. So, barbecue grill that our imaginary chef is using is an open top, charcoal, barbecue grill. Now lets have a look at our imaginary chef’s errors. First, he filled grate with charcoal along its entire length, providing a constant heat source, with no area of lower heat to place food if it started to burn. A simple solution is to use rule of thirds. Imagine grate of your barbecue being in thirds. Fill two thirds of grill with charcoal and leave remaining third empty. Cook your food over hot coals and when your food is ready, or starts to burn, or creates out of control flames, move it over to section above empty grate. The food will stay warm but won’t cook any more (or possibly it will but much more slowly), and wont cause any flare-ups. A further refinement can be had, if you’ve a large enough grill, by placing a double level of coals in one third of grate, a single level of coals in middle, and no coals in final third. You now have three levels of heat!
| | EASY No-Roll Pie CrustWritten by LeAnn R. Ralph
EASY No-Roll Pie Crust139 words 3 cups flour 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons sugar 2/3 cup cooking oil (I like to use Canola oil) 1/3 cup water or milk Measure all ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir with a fork. Pat into pie pan with fingers or use back of a spoon. Use with your favorite pie recipes. This recipe will make enough for: • 3 eight-inch one-crust pies (or) • 2 eight-inch two-crust pies (or) • 2 ten-inch one-crust pies (or) • 1 ten-inch two-crust pie with a generous crumble crust.
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