BBQ Season Kick-Off

Summer has began so clean off that magnificent cooking and entertaining machine that most people refer to as a grill and let's get ready for some barbecuing.

Gas or charcoal, fish, steak, chicken or burgers, summer is here so time to get things started. So before you start the first flame of the season, you'll want to think about these things before grilling.

Grill Size
If you do a lot of entertaining you want to make sure that you have enough grilling surface to cook many things at the same time. This will make your guests feel a little more comfortable if everyone eats at roughly the same time rather than in shifts.

Utensils
Do not fork your food while grilling. Piecing the food with a fork make those succulent juices escape from your steaks and will dry out your fish. Always use thongs or a spatula while grilling.

Lighter Fluid and Coals
It is okay to use a limited amount of lighter fluid to get the fire started. Some people say that lighter fluid will ruin the flavor but this is not true if you just use a limited amount to get the fire started. Briquettes made from charred wood is the best heat source. Because of their uniformed size and shape they will burn more evenly and slower.

Heat
Direct heat grilling you want your grill nice and hot. This will make cooking burgers and steaks a breeze. For indirect heat grilling low and slow is the way to go. This will take much longer to cook but the results are outstanding.

Steaks
Just about any steak tastes great off of the grill. You can try inexpensive cuts such as a juicy rib-eye or skirt steak. These have a great deal of flavor by themselves but if you smother them with BBQ sauce it will make for an outstanding BBQ experience.

BBQ Sauce is critical to your next BBQ impress your neighbors with some of these BBQ Sauce recipes.

Jack Daniel’s BBQ Sauce
1/2 cup Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Carolina-Style Barbecue Sauce
1 cup distilled white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes
Salt and ground pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients, including salt and pepper, to taste, in medium bowl

Spicy BBQ Sauce

3 cans tomato sauce
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
juice of 3 lemons
3 large cloves garlic
1-2 tsp black pepper (or more to taste)
1 tbs salt (or less to taste)
1 tbs cayenne pepper
1 tbs hot red chile
1 tbs paprika
2-3 tsp Tabasco (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp ground cumin

Combine everything in a double boiler, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is the thickness you want. Be sure not to let the mixture come to a boil, though, it ruins the flavor. To get it to a state where it sticks to the ribs without help usually takes me about 45-70 min over a gentle boil.

At InsaneChicken's Hot Sauce Store Chris McCarthy will help you explore the world of gourmet hot sauce and bbq sauce from around the globe.