Setting Up Your Grill to Cue Like a Master: A Guide to Three Types of Cooking

As we witnessed in the season finale barbecue brawl, some of the most outstanding barbecue was on display. The key to achieving this level of excellence lies in understanding how to set up your grill to produce three types of cooking: direct heat, indirect heat, and oven-like cooking. With an OG Kettle Grill, which I consider the most versatile option, you can achieve all three.

To start, it's essential to get your coals really hot using chimney starters. This allows you to have a load going in the grill while having another load ready in case you need to replenish. It's also crucial to look for white coals, which indicate that they're ready to use. Once at the grill, make sure to load only one half of the grill with coals and only on one side. This will give you the most flexibility in your cooking.

Another valuable tip is to ensure that your side towels are absolutely dry. Wet towels can hit really hot heat and cause steam burns, which is not safe. Instead, use dry towels to avoid any accidents. With the actual grill grate, push all the coals over to one side, creating a searing side. This allows you to achieve beautiful char marks or hash marks on your protein, which is critical for both appearance and flavor.

By pushing the coals over to one side, you create two distinct zones: a searing side and an indirect heat side. The searing side receives direct hot heat, perfect for achieving those beautiful char marks. If you're working with smaller pieces of protein, this will allow you to get your color onto the protein. Additionally, it looks good, which is always a bonus. Once you've achieved enough color, you can move all the charred pieces over to the cool side and let them "cruise" without getting too much heat.

The cool side receives indirect heat, which continues the cooking process without adding any more color. This zone is ideal for longer, slower cooks. By covering the entire grill, you can adjust the temperature by letting in or out air, depending on your needs. In summary, coals on one side of the grill provide either direct heat for beautiful char marks or indirect heat for continued cooking without additional color.

To further customize your grill setup, consider using a convection oven effect. By covering the entire grill and adjusting the airflow, you can create an environment that mimics a conventional oven. This allows for precise temperature control, ensuring that your food is cooked to perfection. With this knowledge and a little practice, you'll be well on your way to creating mouth-watering barbecue that will impress even the most discerning palates.

Make sure to tune in to Barbecue Brawl for more tips, tricks, and delicious recipes. The show showcased some of the most outstanding barbecue, and with these expert tips, you can create similar masterpieces in the comfort of your own home.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enon the season finale barbecue brawl you saw some of the most outstanding barbecue in the entire show i'm going to show you how to set up your grill so you can cue like the masters so what chefs and insiders know is you know with this grill you can actually get three types of cooking out of it i'm going to show you how indirect heat can get you a very hot zone a low zone and how to use the entire barbecue like an oven so we are starting with an og kettle grill which i think is the most versatile so obviously you want to get your coals really hot i love using chimney starters because you can have a load going in the grill you can have another load ready in case you kind of have to replenish and i'm always looking for coals to be white first and that's that's my indicator that these coils are ready to go um once you're at the grill make sure that you're loading the grill only on one half of the of the grill make sure you're only getting coals on one side what that's going gonna do that's gonna give you the most flexibility in a grill another good tip is make sure your side towels are absolutely dry wet towels hit really hot heat and get steamy and that steam translates to steam burn so so dry towels are always the safe way to go with the actual grill grate and all my coals pushed over to one side you have a searing side because most of the time you're going to want to get beautiful char marks or those kind of hash marks this gives you that opportunity if you're working with smaller pieces of protein you can actually char get your color onto the protein because it's absolutely critical it also looks good and then once you've got enough color you can actually move all your charred pieces over to the cool side and just kind of let them cruise because this is basically direct hot heat to give you those those char marks this is going to be indirect heat to continue the cook without getting too much color and once you have all your proteins in and marked off which just basically gets a nice char on it you can cover the entire grill and depending on how much air you let in or out you can play with the temperature of the grill so to summarize coals on one side of the grill gives you either direct heat to get direct beautiful char or indirect heat to continue the cooking without any more color or you can actually put all of your food on the indirect side if you want a longer slower cook cover and you've got yourself a convection oven that's how i like to set up my grills so make sure to tune in to barbecue brawl for more tips tricks and of course delicious youon the season finale barbecue brawl you saw some of the most outstanding barbecue in the entire show i'm going to show you how to set up your grill so you can cue like the masters so what chefs and insiders know is you know with this grill you can actually get three types of cooking out of it i'm going to show you how indirect heat can get you a very hot zone a low zone and how to use the entire barbecue like an oven so we are starting with an og kettle grill which i think is the most versatile so obviously you want to get your coals really hot i love using chimney starters because you can have a load going in the grill you can have another load ready in case you kind of have to replenish and i'm always looking for coals to be white first and that's that's my indicator that these coils are ready to go um once you're at the grill make sure that you're loading the grill only on one half of the of the grill make sure you're only getting coals on one side what that's going gonna do that's gonna give you the most flexibility in a grill another good tip is make sure your side towels are absolutely dry wet towels hit really hot heat and get steamy and that steam translates to steam burn so so dry towels are always the safe way to go with the actual grill grate and all my coals pushed over to one side you have a searing side because most of the time you're going to want to get beautiful char marks or those kind of hash marks this gives you that opportunity if you're working with smaller pieces of protein you can actually char get your color onto the protein because it's absolutely critical it also looks good and then once you've got enough color you can actually move all your charred pieces over to the cool side and just kind of let them cruise because this is basically direct hot heat to give you those those char marks this is going to be indirect heat to continue the cook without getting too much color and once you have all your proteins in and marked off which just basically gets a nice char on it you can cover the entire grill and depending on how much air you let in or out you can play with the temperature of the grill so to summarize coals on one side of the grill gives you either direct heat to get direct beautiful char or indirect heat to continue the cooking without any more color or you can actually put all of your food on the indirect side if you want a longer slower cook cover and you've got yourself a convection oven that's how i like to set up my grills so make sure to tune in to barbecue brawl for more tips tricks and of course delicious you\n"