Barbeque Tool Accessories Keep Grilling Fun.

Because I live in Florida, I grill and barbeque a lot. My family eats outside four or five nights a week when the weather is nice; primarily because the weather is nice but also because food tastes better when it is barbecued or grilled. I’ve lived in Florida for many years and have enjoyed barbecuing for most of them and without using any BBQ accessories. Really.

So, I’m at a friends’ home and we are barbecuing on his Weber grill and he is cooking tilapia. He is cooking tilapia in a basket. I stopped frustrating myself with flaky white fish years ago. Too easy to beak apart the filets and ruin dinner. Yet here is this ingenious basket that clamps done to whatever size is necessary to hold food for the barbeque. Instead getting angry trying to turn the fish with a spatula or a set of tongs and ordering pizza after watching it break up he’s using a grill basket. The embarrassing part is this was last year. It took me that long to accept that I am not the know-it-all grill master and start looking at how some BBQ grill accessories could make my grilling better.

1.     Grilling Tongs: Though simple and cheap, grilling tongs are essential. Many people pick up meats and veggies with a simple fork; it is not convenient, as often the fork causes the food to slip into the grill bottom.  A grill fork will also break the seal in the food.  Flavor locked-in by the open flame will be lost once a fork is used on barbecued meat.  Grill tongs are built especially for grabbing and holding pieces of grilled foods to ensure that you don’t drop your food – or flavor -- at any point of the grilling procedure.

2.     Meat Thermometer:  Unless you are barbecuing often and well you may need a meat thermometer.  After some time using the same barbeque you will get to the point where you can touch a steak and feel the texture telling you food is completely barbecued.  If you are not sure a thermometer may help for a short time while you get to know a BBQ.  Do not rely on a thermometer for long as the process of checking food will release heat and smoke when the hood is raised and the hole left in the food will ruin moisture locked-in during barbecuing.

3.     Basting Brush:  For barbecuing at temperatures lower than 450 degrees a basting brush is useful.   Basting brushes are the best way for you to apply sauces and marinades to your meats while over the flames. They cut down on the mess and aggravation of any other sauce tool, hold the sauce and help apply the sauce to your meats evenly and accurately.

4.     Long Fork: Is a bbq fork the same as a regular fork? No, definitely not. Where a regular fork is unstable and unsafe, a bbq fork has a longer handle for easy use. The teeth of the fork are also wider to better grab a hold of thick meats and keep them secure while transferring them to and from the grill.  This BBQ accessory is for barbecuing when sauces, marinades, smoke and/or basting is used.  A fork is no good for grilling.

5.     Timer: When cooking it is wise to use a timer but this is especially true of grilling meats, veggies, and fish.  When grilling, heat is used at the grill surface to cook with radiant heat.  Grilling does not include closing the hood and surrounding food with hot air so a thermometer is useless.  Learn the texture of grilled food or mark time for perfection.  Especially with vegetables and fish which cook fast, you need a bbq or cooking timer to ensure you don’t burn them.

6.     Butane Lighter: Though you may have a grill that uses an electronic ignition, keep a handheld lighter nearby.  A BBQ grill lighter is approximately 12” long and many are capable of lighting regardless of weather or wind.  Barbeque grill ignition systems have a lot of minor reasons for periodically refusing to ignite the grills.. When the gas is on and you keep pushing the button, turning the knob or holding an electric battery ignition that is not working the gas is still running.  In ten seconds, enough gas has escaped to save you the trouble of shaving your arms.  Always keep a grill lighter – and a spare igniter battery – nearby.

7.     Spatula: It is essential to also have a large spatula for your barbecue grill as you will need something to help you lift and flip a lot of your grilled items. A larger spatula can help facilitate larger meat and fish items to seamlessly heat one side to the next for even grilling of your foods.

8.     Basket.  The grill basket is the most under-utilized BBQ accessory.  Grill baskets are available small enough to hold skewers and large enough to hold an entire dinner.  A grill basket will adjust to clamp down food to one position.  Rather than move a filet with a spatula and risk breakage, flip the basket, move it around the cooking surface and remove food for serving.

9.     BBQ Wok.  The Wok accessory for the cooking surface is available square and round.  Adding a wok to the surface of a barbeque or grill allows faster movement and a style of grilling more akin to stir-fry over an open flame.  When done right, vegetable come through hot and crunchy without seeming to cook.

10.     Griddle.  Finally the great equalizer.  Inexpensive barbecues are generally ncapable of reaching grilling temperatures and have inconsistent heat at the grilling surface.  Add a griddle made of cast iron or stainless steel.  Both cast iron and stainless steel are capable of transferring more heat than the air trapped under the hood of your barbeque.  A heavy griddle will create an even cooking surface and seriously augment heat for searing.

Cooking in the backyard is a lot of fun and everybody I’ve ever met felt they were great cooks when using their favorite barbeque.  Although most of us are not great chefs we grill what we love and love grilling.  Well, I do.  Do yourself – and your guests – a favor and start experimenting with a few barbeque accessories.  Your cooking may not improve but the flavor of your barbecuing will definitely get better and you won't be throwing pieces of tilapia in the trash.