[Matsu]

Summer's approaching, the last few days in T.O have been practically perfect outdoor cooking weather: not too cold, not hot. Just perfect for late evening grilling on the BBQ.

Let's share some tips, tricks, recipes, etc.. for the 2009 Season.

I'll start. Clean your grill. More on this in a sec.

We've had a Weber Genesis for just over a year. It doesn't have a lot of extra features, but it's quite sturdy, with a very even heat distribution - virtually no hot spots - and it doesn't smoke unless you're competely negligent (*more on this too) which is a good design especially for our balcony. However, over the winter I was a little disappointed with the max surface temp the grill could achieve. Lid closed, it could hit 600+, but just an inch or so off the grates i didn't feel it was radiating the same amount of heat anymore. Nothing like the commercial stuff I've cooked on at charity BBQs.

Then I cleaned it, and it was disgusting, but worth it. We grill a lot of fish - the oil that drips down is particularly nasty stinky stuff. I might not have thought about it except for the small grease fire I started in the drip pan last time. Talk about flame broiled!

Oven cleaner - doesn't work too well. Stainless cleaner on the other hand works fantastically well on everything, including the stainless, enamel, and cast aluminium parts. The label says the stuff isn't for cooking surfaces, but I run the grates through the dishwasher afterwards to give them a really good clean/rinse. Took out the burner baffles and gave them a good scrub in the sink, cleaned the whole interior of the BBQ and put it all back in. Spotless. As an extra step, I wrapped the drip tray and bottom pan in a heavy aluminium foil.

When I turned it back on, the temperature was noticeably higher. I can only guess that it relies to some degree on radiated heat. Max temp is just shy of 700 (lid closed) but it gets there a whole lot faster, and when it's open I can't get my fingers quite so close the grates any more. I wonder if the shiny aluminium foil is also contributing -- makes me wonder if I could fabricate a set of shiny stainless baffles to enhance the effect?

Recipes:

This is really simple: I often throw a little lemon (those sweet tangerine looking ones, edit: Meyer lemons! so my wife tells me) with some salt and pepper and whatever herbs you like onto a salmon fillet, or black cod and grill just long enough to leave the centre soft. Also like to spice up a veggie burger with a nice basting of chipotle. For the cod another good one is foil or parchment with garlic, lemon, salt, pepper and a stupid amount of butter, it opens up nicely and really soaks in the butter.