Cesss

Barbecuing 

This cooking method uses fire. It is usually done outdoors on barbecue grills over wood, charcoal, or propane fires. In some areas, the term barbecuing is reserved for a slow low-heat cooking process that operates at about 220°F (105°C) and the term grilling is used for a fast high-heat cooking process. In other areas, all barbecuing is considered grilling and all grilling over a fire is considered barbecuing. Barbecuing is traditionally done with hardwoods or fruitwoods, such as hickory, maple, mesquite, and applewood, which gives a nice smoke flavor to the food.

Choice of food for grilling [edit]

Only certain types of food are suitable for the intense dry heat of grilling.

In general they should be tender items which are:

* of good quality

* small (large joints of meat must be cut into thin slices or steaks)

* regular in shape to ensure even cooking.

Meat should have a reasonable fat content - veal escalopes, for example, are so lean that they will just dry out.

Tough cuts of meat are unsuitable for grilling, because the temperatures are too high, the conditions too dry and the time too short for the connective tissue to be converted into gelatin.

Tomatoes and mushrooms grill successfully, particularly if they are first brushed with oil, but vegetables with a low moisture content will rapidly dry out and shrivel.

How to control the degree of cooking [edit]

In grilling, the radiated heat is very intense and the surfaces of the food brown rapidly. But there is a big difference between the speed of cooking at the surface and inside the food, and it is important that surface browning occurs at about the same rate as the internal cooking.

In an overhead grill this means adjusting the distance of the food from the heat source and in a charcoal grill you might need to move the food to a cooler area after initial browning.

Otherwise it is easy to end up with food that is either charred on the outside and under-cooked or even quite...