Summer is the ideal season to spend some time outdoors with family and friends … and therefore it’s the ideal season for a barbecue! Grill and charcoal are not enough: not to be caught unprepared, we also need some accessories to cook our meat the best way and let our guests know that we know our stuff.
Gloves
Barbecue gloves are produced with materials that resist even up to 500 degrees centigrade without transmitting any sensation of heat to the skin and we can buy them in different materials:
- Silicone: hygienic, resistant and easy to wash, but usually leaving the wrists uncovered.
- Leather: they are generally the most aesthetically pleasing gloves but also the least resistant to heat. For this reason, it is good to read carefully what the actual resistance to high temperatures is before purchasing.
- Fabric: ithey are the most common and they protect from heat even more than silicone gloves, with the advantage of dressing comfortably.
We suggest a couple of more things before proceeding with the purchase: do not underestimate the comfort – if possible, try them to determine if they fit well in our hand and our grip. Absolutely avoid models that do not have the five fingers separated from each other.
Pliers
Pliers are another fundamental tool to place and remove our meat from the embers. We shall not recycle forks from the kitchen and instead be equipped with special tongs that must be long, resistant to high temperatures and made in stainless steel.
The main types of barbecue pliers to choose from are the following:
- Multifunction: suitable for any type of meat or menu or cooking, with long metal handle.
- Scissor: featuring two hooks which are perfect for turning not only pieces of meat but also bread and vegetables, even of considerable size.
- Plate: we will use these to handle more delicate foods such as fish.
Other useful tips for deciding on which pliers to buy: they must be at least 35 cm long to maintain a safe distance from the red-hot embers; be sure to test if the grip is safe and comfortable.
Ignition chimney (or basket)
This is the real secret tool of barbecue enthusiasts: how many times have we damned our souls because the grill took too long to reach temperature, or because the charcoal did not catch fire well, or because of the wind that disturbs the flame? To make everything easier – and shorten times – the purchase of an ignition chimney (or basket) will make the difference. It is a perforated metal cylinder with an internal grid where charcoal can be inserted.
Its operation is very simple:
- Place fire-lit cubes on the grill.
- Fill the chimney with charcoal.
- Light the cubes and cover them with the chimney.
- After about 15 minutes the embers will be burning at the correct temperature and we will empty them on the barbecue.
Thermometer
This last accessory is perhaps the most “technical” but also the one that can make your barbecue leap in quality. If we have first choice meats in our hands then we would definitely like to enhance them with perfect cooking, which means not to simply rely on our own eyes but precisely control the cooking state of each piece of meat instead.
There are many types of barbecue thermometers:
- With instantaneous probe: the probe must be inserted in the part with more meat to get a detection in a few seconds.
- Continuous reading: once inserted into the meat we will monitor the temperature with an external monitor – perfect for long cooking.
- Bluetooth or wireless thermometer: the probe in the meat sends signals to the app in our phone allowing us to move freely around the barbecue and inside the house without always having to pay attention to the flame and the meat. Usually, these thermometers come with many features including timers, alarms – visual and audible -, selection of recommended preset temperatures for type and cut of meat, and with more than one single probe.
Target Point, Italian Ideas