It’s well known that using charcoal and wood to grill or smoke your foods is the most flavorful method. But charcoal grills and smokers take lots of time and effort to achieve good results.
For the average person who likes to grill, a gas grill is a much more convenient choice. With the touch of a button, your heat source is ready to go, and you can throw your food right on the grill. Luckily, there are some easy things you can do to get more flavor infused into your food with a simple gas grill. Give these methods a try the next time you light up the grill!
Marinate Your Food
Marinating your food requires no extra equipment, and you probably already have some good marinade ingredients in your pantry. A simple bottle of Italian dressing or balsamic vinaigrette can make a quick marinade. Marinades can make your meat more tender and much more flavorful.
While it takes just 30 minutes to marinate your meat before grilling, you can infuse more of the marinade flavor when letting it soak overnight. Before dumping your marinade onto your meat, reserve some to baste your food as it’s cooking on the grill. This will give your meat a nice, flavorful glaze.
Obtain a Smoker Box
A smoker box can be used with charcoal or gas grills. These are heavy-duty metal boxes with a hinged lid and holes cut into them. Wood chips, pellets, or even sawdust are placed inside, and the box is placed directly onto the gas burners or charcoal. Some brands may recommend soaking the wood chips for some time to extend their life while on the grill.
For the most flavorful infusion, the food is grilled directly over the top of the smoker box. You can find grilling wood chips in many stores in different flavors and types. The most typical types will be hickory and mesquite woods, and fruit tree varieties like apple and cherry. Hickory and mesquite woods have a stronger flavor that’s good with pork and beef, while the fruit trees have a milder flavor that combines very well with poultry.
You can also find specialized wood chips, like those made from used oak whiskey barrels.
Use Hot-Burning Charwood
A smoker box is great at giving off smoke to flavor your meat, but a bulky metal box can prevent getting a nice sear. To seal in flavor and the juices, look for gas grill accessories with a grate that can hold hot-burning charwood.
The grate works with almost any gas grill and is placed directly on the burners where you plan to cook. The grill grates are put back into place, and the charwood is sprinkled on. When you ignite your gas grill, the charwood is also automatically ignited. The more charwood you use, the hotter it burns to give you a sear that locks in flavor and juices. The charwood also produces the smoky flavor that is so sought after in charcoal grilling.
Sear and Slow-Cook
One of the main differences between charcoal and gas grilling is the temperature. Charcoal can reach high temperatures that give a good sear to meat, locking in juices. To replicate this on your gas grill, turn up the heat on the burners on one side while leaving the other side turned off.
When your grill is preheated, give your meat a nice sear on all sides over the flames. Then, move your meat to the other side and close the lid. The heat from the flames will circulate in the grill like an oven without causing the outside of your food to burn. You can also use this method to slow-cook a larger cut of meat like a pork butt. Just turn down the indirect heat once you’ve achieved your sear.
Apply Liquid Smoke
Liquid smoke is sold in any grocery store and is an easy shortcut to getting that lovely smoky flavor. It’s made from real smoke collected from burning wood. The vapors from the burning wood turn into condensation, which is then filtered and distilled.
You can find many different varieties to get your desired flavor. Use liquid smoke in your marinade, spray it on food as you’re grilling, or place a small metal tray over your burners with a combination of liquid smoke and water or apple juice.
Also Read: Essentials for your Next Best BBQ
Get More Flavor with Your Gas Grill
Infusing your gas-grilled food with delicious flavors can be easy! Find your favorite method above, and use it to impress your guests at your next BBQ. You’ll have all the charcoal grillers at your summer BBQ party wondering what your secret is!
