Memorial Day weekend is almost upon us, and with it, the official start of the grilling season. Many people — including myself — are going to be spending this weekend firing up the grill with family and friends and enjoying some delicious grilled food.
Everyone has different grilling strategies. Some grill with propane and enjoy the convenience and steady heat. Others grill with charcoal and enjoy the dry heat and strong heat peak. Others grill with wood for the unmatched flavor. Some use giant grills, while others use small kettles.
Regardless how you choose to grill, there are a few tools I consider essential to make your grilling a success.
Brass bristle grill brush. For grilling success, you need to have a clean grilling rack. The best way to clean your grill rack is to brush it thoroughly with a brass bristle grill brush. Brass bristles are best because they won’t damage the grill. Stiffer bristles can sometimes scratch the surface of the rack, which makes it easy for the rack to rust when not in use.
Another good strategy is to rub oil on the grill rack before you start cooking. This prevents food from sticking to the grill while cooking and makes for some beautiful grill marks when you pull the items off the grill.
Long-handled tongs. A good pair of tongs is key for turning and rearranging food as it cooks on the grill. A long pair of tongs can help you reach to the back of a hot grill from a distance. Look for spring-loaded ones that make it easier to grip food.
Along with the tongs, a steel spatula can be a useful tool for turning items like hamburgers or portabella mushroom caps.
Instant meat thermometer. If you want to serve safe food, you’re going to want to be aware of the internal temperature of the meat. A good instant meat thermometer makes that task easy. You just stick it in, (sometimes) hit a button and read the information on the display.
If you’re buying one, go with simple over snazzy. Some thermometers have lots of bells and whistles that usually do little except add more points of failure to the thermometer. Choose a straightforward, one and you’ll be glad you did.
Grill or welder gloves. Sometimes things go wrong in the grill. Maybe you dropped something in there, or maybe the spatula or tongs won’t rearrange food the way you want. For those moments, you’ll be really glad that you have a pair of grill or welder gloves that allow you to reach in closer without burning your hands.
Don’t worry about appearance here. Welder’s gloves can be rather ugly, but they keep your hands perfectly safe in a grill environment.
Angled basting brush. You’ll often want to brush sauces and other toppings onto the items on your grill, and for that you’ll want a basting brush.
I highly recommend getting a basting brush with an angled handle, which allows you to reach to the back of the grill easily without interfering with other foods near the front. A straight-handled brush can sometimes make this difficult.
Fireplace lighter. Charcoal and wood grills can be difficult to get a fire going. Even propane grills can sometimes struggle when the striking mechanism on the grill fails. For those moments, a simple fireplace lighter can really come in handy. A fireplace lighter is a device that involves a striker and a bit of fuel to create a small flame with just a button push, which you can then use to get a bigger fire going.
If you’re using charcoal, I strongly recommend a chimney starter. A chimney starter is a device that helps you get some of your charcoal well lit by using a chimney effect of having air blowing through the coals. Once the coals are hot, you simply add them to the grill (and usually add more charcoal to the mix at that point).
These six tools will add a great deal of ease to your grilling setup whether you’re using a wood pit, a charcoal fire or a propane grill. They’ll help you cook cleaner, apply barbecue sauce easier, move food around safer, keep the food at the right temperature and keep things cooking as easily as possible.
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