Grill Maestro

Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products and maker of Grill Charms, recently emailed me to tell me about her Grill Charms products. Grill Charms are like wine charms but designed to be put into meats before you cook them, rather than existing products that merely mark meat after you cook them. It [...]

I just got married last weekend and so posting will be light as we go on our honeymoon to Hawaii, I wish all you winter BBQ’ers the best and will see you all when I return March 17th.

Char-Broil sent me their “Basket Case Tool Set” a few months ago and only recently did I get a chance to try it out. The course of the day was a few salmon steaks I picked up from Costco and using a basket is really the only way to cook salmon (unless you go the [...]

It’s been a busy few weeks here at the Maestro’s manor and I haven’t had a chance to do any fun experimentation with either the Charbroil TEC grill or the Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker, though I did do a little pedestrian grilling and smoking recently.
BBQ Chicken Thighs
The wonderfully delicious BBQ chicken marinade made a comeback [...]

Rachelle, a PR rep for the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, sent me some information this past week that included a PDF on grilling etiquette, as gleaned from a national poll of Americans conducted by the HPBA. Apparently, 49% of grillers say it’s acceptable to bring your own sauce (that doesn’t necessarily mean that 51% [...]

Thanks to Hogwild BBQ, I was made aware of some serious problems several TEC grill owners have been experiencing according to what’s been written on some BBQ forums lately. Evidently the screws in the TEC burners have been buckling under the heat and shearing off, causing an extremely unsafe condition. There are extensive pictures and [...]

When I was in college, two friends of mine on my freshman dorm floor introduced me to the idea of brewing beer (one of the two, Abe, is now a brewmaster at Trailhead Brewing Company I think), and it’s a hobby I still enjoy even today. In fact I have a few bottles of my [...]

Happy Fourth of July everyone! Fire up your grill and have a great time today!

Heterocyclic amines-what!? Actually, I didn’t just make that up, heterocyclic amines is what happens to amino acids in the muscle meats of beef, pork, chicken (all fowl), and fish breaks down when exposed to high cooking temperatures - such as grilling. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are 17 different HCAs that are created [...]

In preparation for the great barbecuen that is likely to occur over the weekend, I’ve compiled some fun BBQ facts for your general consumption provided by the HPBA:

81% of US households own a grill, if you’re in the last 19%, what are you waiting for?
The top three days for grilling? You probably could’ve guessed them [...]