Essential Grilling Tools - For Every Day of the Week

Excited to experiment with new tools and grill recipes this summer? These essential tools are capable of enhancing every weekend BBQ dish or weekday meal you grill. Check out our top tips for tools and recipes to grill every night this summer:

Monday: A Wood Plank

Grilling on a wooden plank can add a certain magic touch to a Monday-night meal. Cooking on a wood plank can leave a mild smoky flavor as well prevent food from drying out due to damp smoke from soaked wood. You can find planks in a variety of aromatic woods ranging from alder, hickory, maple, and more in groceries stores, gourmet stores, and hardware stores.

What to try: A cedar wood plank gives off a gentle flavor making it an excellent tool for seafood. Pair our salmon fillets with a cedar wood plank for this Cedar Plank-Grilled Salmon with Avocado-Orange Salsa.

Tuesday: A Basting Brush

Want to keep your food moist and add extra flavor to your grilled dinner? Use a basting brush. Try a traditional boar brush to spread the most flavor or a dishwater-safe silicone brush for easy cleaning.

What to try: Use our chicken breasts to make this intensely flavorful Grilled Chicken Kebabs with Sun-Dried Tomato Puree.

Wednesday: A Meat Thermometer

One of most simple yet incredibly useful tools in a kitchen is a meat thermometer. Since different grills and different meats cook at different rates, you will need a tool to ensure properly cooked food for a healthy (e.g. safe) and delicious meal. For properly cooked meat, remember that beef is cooked at 145 degrees, poultry at 165 degrees, pork at 160 degrees, and lamb at 145 degrees. It is also important to let the meat rest for a juicy, tender, and much more delicious meal.

"Meat Thermometer" by Steven Jackson via Creative Commons.

What to try: Use an instant read thermometer for a big chop. Test out this Gigantic Rib-Eye Steak recipe.

Thursday: A Grilling Spatula

For a safe time flipping food, use a grilling spatula. Silicone and metal spatulas with a long handle are best for grip and durability. It’s a simple and versatile tool for the grill.

What to try: A spatula is an excellent tool to cook delicate fish fillets. Try these outrageously tasty Grilled Fish Steaks using our Walleye Filets.

Friday: A Chimney Starter

A chimney starter is a serious tool that burns hotter and drier than propane meaning that your food will be left with a smokier and crispier crunch. Grab some charcoal and get ready to grill!

What to try: For the most satisfying meal of the summer, try this Dry Aged Chimney Porterhouse.

Saturday: Meat Claws

A fun tool for the week, meat claws will make you feel like Wolverine at the grill. The sharp prongs of the meat claws are perfect for shredding meat for sandwiches, wraps, and casseroles. Use chicken for festive fajitas, pork for pulled pork sandwiches, or beef for Mexican beef sandwiches.

What to try: Grill one of our boneless pork loin roasts, and shred it for Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches.

Sunday: A Grill Basket

An excellent grill tool for lighter meals, a grill basket is an all-purpose tool that every true grill chef needs. Grill baskets come in a variety of styles: expertly shaped baskets for meatballs and sliders; long and slender baskets for corn, or half-circle baskets for the ultimate quesadilla. We recommend getting a large and all-purpose grill basket for grilling a variety of foods.

What to try: Grill baskets are especially good for grilling smaller items that would otherwise fall through your grill trap. Try this recipe for Grilled Vegetable Basket for a healthy and oh-so-delicious addition to your BBQ.

Meat Safety

Ah, summer. Cookouts, picnics, coolers loaded with food...and food poisoning.

Alright, so that last one doesn’t exactly belong on a list when it comes to summertime nostalgia...but it can inadvertently become part of your adventures without proper caution.

According to some recent US Government statistics, about one out of every six people will experience some type of food-borne illness this year - and many of these people will suffer food poisoning as a result of spoiled meat products.

It’s easy to see why; your steaks, chicken breasts and seafood are highly sensitive to the elements, making them premier hosts for harmful organisms like e. coli, salmonella, and the parasite listeria.

So, when you arrive home with your future dinner menu ingredients, there are some things to keep in mind.

STAY CLEAN. Even fresh raw meat is teeming with organisms, which of course will disappear once properly cooked. In the meantime, as you prepare your meal, wash your hands and food prep zones with hot water and antibacterial soap frequently.

STAY ORGANIZED. Food prep can be chaotic, especially when you’re cooking for lots of people, but make sure throughout the process that you keep items separate from one another.  Without paying attention to this, it can be all too easy for your raw meats to come into contact with surfaces near veggies and other ingredients. Make sure those not-yet-cooked items don’t encounter your fresh vegetables.

STAY COOL. This one is tough during these warm months, but it’s critical if you want to avoid poisoning yourself. Food parasites multiply at breakneck speed during warm weather, and they’ll be a lot harder to kill after that. If you’re still getting the grill fired up, or haven’t decided how to marinate your steaks, store them away in the refrigerator.

HEAT PROPERLY. Never pull your meat items off the grill or out of the oven until they’ve reached their proper bacteria-killing temperatures. Check out this helpful guide with proper temps for heating, thawing and more.

BUY QUALITY. Many people like to buy their meat products in frozen form if they’re not sure when they’ll be cooking them. This is completely acceptable, but refer back to that handy guide when it comes to thawing methods. When it comes to your fresh meat products, place your trust in a quality market; you can rest assured your dinner has been freshly prepared and, if you follow the above guidelines, not liable to make you sick!

From all of us here at Grand Champion Meats, have a fun and safe summer grilling season!

Grilling Time - Tips for Buying a Grill

Tis the season for swimming pools, yard games...and a really awesome grilled burger. 

If you’re looking forward to cooking outside this summer, count yourself in the majority. A 2013 study conducted by the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA) found 80% of all U.S. households own some type of grill. 97% of those grill owners actually used their grill in the past year, and about 14 million new grills were shipped in 2013 alone.

For some, a simple charcoal grill is the ticket. Others prefer the ease and convenience of gas or electric.

Whatever your preference, if you’re in the market for a grill, there are certain things to always keep in mind; after all, a grill, like any other larger purchase, is an investment - and you don’t want to have to replace it mid-summer!

So, if you’re planning a grill shopping outing, here are a few things we suggest keeping in mind as you go on that quest. 

GET THE RIGHT KIND. 

This one seems like a no-brainer, but really - think about what you’re going to be using your grill to accomplish. Are you thinking small, immediate family cookouts once in a while? Or are you inviting the whole neighborhood over for a BBQ blowout? Are you a devotee of charcoal, or are you open to gas or electric? Lowe’s actually has this nifty, quick guide to selecting the right kind of grill - scope it out and get a feel for what’s on the market right now.

WHAT ARE YOU GRILLING?

Once you’ve honed in on what fuel source and size you’re interested in, think about what you’ll be grilling. This will also affect your decision. Different grills heat to different temperatures - and thrive at those temperatures - so take inventory of what you’ll be grilling most and buy accordingly. 

WIGGLE TEST

So the grill looks nice, and it’s the right size. So now it’s time for the wiggle test. 
While in the store, gently move it around and rock it back and forth to gauge how study it is. A structurally compromised grill will almost definitely wiggle. If it’s this unsound in the store, it probably won’t hold up on your patio or in your backyard. 

CHECK OUT CONSUMER REPORTS

Not all grilling apparati are created equal, so product reviews are a great place to start. Consumer Reports offers this glance at gas grills, which are perennially popular - and usually cost a pretty penny. Research is key!

Are you grill shopping? Any idea what kind you’re getting? Leave us a comment and tell us about your favorite cookout device!

Bring on the Ribs

Each month at Grand Champion Meats, we have a monthly special, and for the month of March, it’s time to bib up because Ribfest is here!

All month long, Grand Champion Meats has ribs on sale! Some are fully cooked (heat and eat) and some raw, but all are on SALE:

So what is Ribfest? It’s one type of food festival that generally has multiple food vendors selling beef or pork ribs. There are plenty of food festivals that take place around the United States throughout the year, but there’s nothing quite like eating a variety of ribs. Reader’s Digest featured the top ten summer food festivals in the United States, and one rib festival made the list. The Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off takes place in Sparks, Nevada, August 31st-September 5th and attracts half a million rib-lovers. Over the course of the festival, roughly 100 tons of ribs are served! Crazy, we know, but that’s only one startling statistic. Another amazing highlight of this specific festival is the rib-eating tournament that takes place in which participants have 12 minutes to eat as many pounds of ribs as they can - the record is 9.8 pounds!

Although they may not be as crazy as The Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off, there are a number of Ribfests that take place in Minnesota each year as well including the Twins Cities Ribfest that will take place this June. As much as we would like it to be June to enjoy some delicious ribs, we can help you get your tastebuds ready for the upcoming rib festivals with our Ribfest March specials!

Stop in to try one or all of the options listed above, and keep your bib on all March long!