The BBQ Depot!

Memorial Day weekend is usually the kick-off of the summer.  Not only is the weather starting to warm up, but the kids are getting ready to get out of school, and summer planning is in full swing. One great way to have a great Memorial Day weekend is to throw a fantastic barbecue for your family and friends.  Here are a few suggestions to help you in the planning and hosting a memorable Memorial Day party.

The first thing you need to do is to pick your venue.  If it’s a small gathering, consider your backyard, which can be a fun, yet intimate venue.  Memorial Day parties are also a great day to open up the pool.  If you don’t have a pool in your backyard, considering going to your community pool or local club.

When you’re planning the perfect BBQ, you always want to make sure that you have the right tools on hand.  In addition to having a great grill and useful accessories, good utensils will make your job easier and help you create delicious barbecued food. Here’s a look at some of the best utensils that you can add to your BBQ arsenal.

Grilling Tongs
Tongs are one of the most essential grilling utensils.  Grilling tongs have a longer body length than typical kitchen tongs, which keeps your hands far from the heat while allowing you to turn the different pieces of meat or vegetables with ease.

When you’re planning the perfect BBQ, you always want to make sure that you have the right tools on hand.  Here’s a look at some of the best accessories that you can pair with your BBQ to help your food be amazing.

Chimney Starters
If you have a charcoal BBQ, you can shorten the lighting time with a chimney starter. Simply stuff the starter with kindling (such as old newspapers) and a layer of briquettes before lighting it. The starter helps heat up the coals to red hot in a matter of minutes.

While not as popular as gas and charcoal grills, electric grills have made huge strides over the last few years, making them a viable choice for your next BBQ.

Modern electric grills rival the gas grill in terms of speed and precision. Electric grills have one of the fastest heat up times, making them ideal for weeknight cooking. Most grills heat up within 7-8 minutes and a quality grill can reach up to 600° F. Electric grills also reduce the hassle of providing external fuel, since all you need is an electrical outlet.

Charcoal grills are the most traditional choice for barbecue. The first step in understanding how a charcoal grill works and its benefits is understanding its fuel.

Charcoal is a piece of wood that has been burned down to the point that all water and resins have been removed.  At this point, the wood becomes pure fuel. Because of this process, charcoal has the ability to reach much higher temperatures than wood with much less smoke.

The history of barbeque in America is a rich mixture of flavor, fun, rivalries and regional histories.  It goes without saying but Americans love barbeque and its history centers on time and place. Americans eat BBQ from coast to coast, but head south of the Mason-Dixon line and that’s where you’ll find distinct flavors and cooking styles. Barbeque began in the South and Southerners cook up their local varieties with zest and zeal. Here is a bite size history of Southern style BBQ and tradition.

While meat lovers love their meat, of course, the vegetable presentation on a kebab is what really makes the meal so appealing and appetizing, so why not just grill vegetables alone and serve with, what else, hamburgers, steak, chicken, et al. Yummmmm….

If you visit a home’s back yard, the gas grill will often feature caked-on grease and cooking residue not only on the grate, but on the burners, the lava rock, and on the sides of the unit and under the hood. Why? Because most grillers simply do a cursory scrub of the grate right after cooking, close the lid and call it good. It’s not good. A thorough cleaning – a relatively easy and quick chore – after each and every use will not only be more healthful, it will also make grilling easier by eliminating the built-up grease that can cause flare-ups and uneven cooking, and it will extend the life of the gas grill and keep it in fine working order and with a great appearance for years to come.

Hey, it’s the Big Game. What’ya gonna do? Eat salad? If 75,000 rabid Denver Broncos’ fans can weather sub-zero temperatures for 4 ½ hours just to see their team blow the AFC divisional game, then no matter what the conditions you can stoke up the grill and get the genuine steaks, burgers, brats, turkey legs and hot dogs for a Super Bowl “tailgating” feast at your house.

Whether it was Paleolithic cave dwellers a quarter-million years ago, cowboys on cattle drives in Kansas and Argentina in the 19th century, or kids at camp last week, campfires have been places to gather and share good times since long before humans were able to write down the lyrics to the chants and songs sung around them.

Just because you live in civilization now doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the same pleasures—right in your own back yard.

Tired of waiting for the coals to heat up and then worrying about burning down your patio when you’re done? Gas grills solve both problems while making outdoor cooking a breeze. And the new Infrared Technology grills add a new twist to energy-efficient and highly controllable outdoor cooking. The BBQ Depot has a huge selection of natural gas and propane grills as well as Infrared units to suit the cooking needs of everyone from the occasional hotdog griller to the fussiest outdoor chef.

Whether it’s a gas grill or charcoal, cooking takes its toll on the grill, the grates, the burners and other parts, and a good cleaning or refurbishing will have it working like new.