WHY BARBEQUE WITH A GAS GRILL?
- Your grill will heat up quickly.
- Food flavours come out.
- You can easily adjust the temperature.
- There is less smoke compared to a coal grill.
- A gas grill is easy to clean, and it does not generate environmentally hazardous coal waste.
- A composite cylinder allows you see how much gas is left.
- Propane is easy to get and it lasts longer – you will barbeque for 10 times longer with a 5 kg gas cylinder than you would with 3 kg of coal.
REMEMBER TO…
Never place the cylinder under the grill
If the propane cylinder is exposed to high temperatures, the safety valve can open, causing the gas to leak. Therefore do not place the cylinder under the grill or in a place where the temperature can rise above 65° C, for example as on a glazed balcony or inside a car in direct sunlight.
Check the equipment for leaks
Leaks are the most common cause of accidents. Use soapy water or AGA leak finder to make sure the equipment is tight and the hoses and fittings are not leaking.
Close the valve
Prevent gas leakage by always closing the valve when not using the gas equipment.
Keep the cylinder upright
The propane cylinder has a safety valve that prevents the cylinder from cracking in the event of a fire. For the valve to work properly, the cylinder must be kept upright during both handling and storage.
Make sure you have the right pressure
Use a pressure regulator to make sure that the propane equipment has the correct pressure. In private households, the pressure regulator must be a 30 mbar low-pressure regulator.
Provide good ventilation
The combustion of 1 kg of propane consumes a total of 12 m³ of air. Therefore you need to ensure good ventilation where you barbeque.
Never make your own fixed installations
Propane is a fuel. Avoid unnecessary risks and let a professional perform your fixed installations.
HOW MUCH PROPANE DO YOU NEED?
- The gas consumption of your grill is directly related to its power level.
- The larger and more powerful the grill, the more gas it will use.
- There is also variation between grills made of different materials: cast-iron grids and grates require a longer time to heat up.
CLEANING YOUR GRILL
- Use a proper grill brush for cleaning the grill grate.
- Clean the grill immediately after using it, while still hot, by brushing the grate for 10 to 15 seconds. If you start cleaning the grill after it has cooled down, you will have to spend a lot more time and effort.
- Wipe the grate with, for instance, sunflower oil or rapeseed oil before adding the food to be barbecued. Do not use olive oil, as it may become rancid.
BARBEQUE TIPS
- Select tender meat.
Hung beef fillet and naturally tender chicken and pork are good choices for barbequing. When handling meat, do not forget hygiene: do not mix raw and prepared ingredients or handle them with the same utensils or on the same surfaces. - Tenderness and flavor through marination
You can make meat more tender by marinating it. The lower the fat content of the meat, the more important it is to marinate it properly. Pre-seasoned and marinated barbeque meats are safe choices for your barbeque, but you can also easily prepare marinades yourself. - Get your rhythm right
Different kinds of ingredients take different times to cook. You should therefore get your barbeque rhythm right by starting with the ingredients that take the longest to cook. The most surefire way to make skewers is to only use a single ingredient. Alternatively, you can pre-cook the ingredients taking longer to cook before barbequing.
- Before starting to barbeque
- Before barbequing, you should let the meat warm up for a while in order to achieve a beautiful brown color and ensure it cooks evenly throughout. Wipe your marinade away from the meat’s surface to avoid it being burned or dripping into the grill.
- Barbeque time
The average barbeque time for a cut or chop 1-1.5 cm thick is 5-10 minutes. With different grills, cooking times may vary. White meat such as poultry and pork is barbequed until well-cooked. Instead of checking your watch, you can measure the meat’s degree of cooking by using a toothpick. When the juice trickling from white meat is clear, the meat is well-done. With beef on the other hand, you don’t necessarily need to cook until it’s well-done. You should avoid flipping your steaks too much while barbequing in order to avoid the meat juice draining away. Let your steak cook on one side without disruption. When juice starts surfacing, the steak is ready for flipping. This will give you a medium steak. If you want your steak well-done, cook it for a little while longer. - After-heat cooking produces the best results
Cooking steaks in after-heat makes them tender: first, quickly barbeque the steak, then let it simmer for a while in the grill’s after-heat, wrapped in tin foil. Tin foil wrapping is also great when you want to ensure your pork chops or pork neck is properly cooked and tender – especially if you are using a powerful grill. The whiter the meat, the more carefully it must be barbequed, either at low heat or in tin foil wrapping. - Juicy results with precooking
It is best to precook chicken drumsticks and thighs in the oven first, seasoning and barbequing them only after that, unless your grill can easily be used for braising. Precooking will produce juicy results when barbequing big pieces of meat, whole fillets, for instance. The grill will add a beautiful surface and great flavour to the precooked meat. - Add salt in the end
Salt releases meat juice which is why it should not be added until the end. Marinades and various mixed seasonings also have high salt content. Therefore, you usually do not have to add any salt whatsoever.