Tips for Memorial Day Grilling at Your Redemption Square Apartment
One of the perks of living at our Redemption Square apartments is having multiple grilling and outdoor dining areas for spring and summer cookouts! We love to see our residents firing up the grills to cook delicious food for friends and family. But for grilling amateurs, using a grill can seem like an intimidating task. The truth is, it’s pretty easy, as long as you keep things simple. To help you plan the perfect Memorial Day weekend cookout, here are a few easy grilling tips.
Start with a Clean Grill
Food cooked on a grill coated with char and food pieces will transfer unwanted flavors, and just isn’t appetizing. Although our community grills are regularly cleaned and we ask that all residents help with this process by scrubbing the grates after using our grills, it’s always worth double checking to see if the grate needs brushing before you heat up the grill.
Direct Heat vs. Indirect Heat
Grills are perfect for creating a nice sear, but you need to keep an eye on what you’re cooking to make sure that sear doesn’t turn into too much char. For vegetables and thick meats that need to cook evenly all the way through (like chicken breasts), you’ll want to utilize the edges of the grate to get the food out of the direct heat so it has the chance to cook more slowly and gently. Feel free to use direct heat at first when you’re after that tasty sear, then move to the sides if necessary once the sear is achieved.
Keep It Simple
Especially when you’re cooking for a crowd, trying to grill too many different things can make it difficult to keep track of grill times and open you up to mistakes that normally wouldn’t be too hard to avoid. Stick to one or two main options so you can manage it all and then supplement if desired by side dishes and condiments that don’t need grilling, like slaw, fresh fruits and vegetables, pickles, and so on.
Kabobs are King
When you’re not sure what to grill, kabobs are one of the easiest choices. With kabobs, you can cut meats into even-sized chunks, which promotes even cooking, and you don’t have to flip a bunch of individual meats or veggies, you can just flip each skewer all at once. When cooking kabobs, it’s easiest to stick to meats and hardy vegetables like bell peppers and onion, but nothing that takes too long to cook (like root vegetables). Cherry tomatoes, pineapple, and zucchini are also popular choices, just make sure you keep an eye on them and don’t overcook them.
Ready to get out there and start grilling? We hope we’ve inspired you to grill up something delicious this summer! If you’d like to see any tips and recommendations from us in the future, make sure you bookmark our blog page for easy access to upcoming posts. Finally, if you don’t want to miss out on special promotions, community updates, and events at our apartments near 77044, follow us on Instagram!
