By Ken Paulk

I GET ASKED ALL THE TIME ABOUT how to make mouth-watering barbecue at home using a small charcoal grill or even a gas grill. When I am not using The Beast, I do use a Weber 22 1/2-inch charcoal grill to cook meals for a few friends and Lé Chef. Though I would love to break out the 6-foot Beast, it just doesn’t make sense if you’re cooking for less than a half dozen or so.

So, no Beast for today, as Lé Chef kindly reminds us there’s only us two and a few guests, and I have a tendency to go a little overboard on Sunday afternoons. But the guys at work sure like the outcome — for about three days after. Go figure …

Charcoal grills

For those of you with a charcoal grill, you will want to have your coals and wood chunks/chips burning on one side of the grill and your meat on the opposite side. This allows you to cook indirectly, which slowly cooks the meat and allows the meat to stay very moist. The heat and smoke from the fire will surround the meat and produce great barbecue.

Visualize this: On the right are the coals and wood chips and on the left is the rack of ribs. When you place the lid on the grill, make sure to have the lid air vents open and located on the side where your meat is located. You can cook all kinds of meat this way including chicken pieces, whole chickens, ribeye roasts, sausage, etc. For you rookies out there (no, not Rookies on First Street) I would recommend starting with just chicken breasts, thighs, pork ribs or wings, just to get a hang of it. Then work your way up to doing ribeye roasts, whole chickens, pork loins and other larger cuts that will take a bit longer to cook. Invest in a meat thermometer for checking the temps on your meat and also document your cooking times so you will be able to repeat your success each time.

You know I’m not a fan of barbecue briquettes. These are nothing but sawdust with paraffin wax added, sort of like gorilla glue to hold them together. I recommend you use natural hardwood that almost every store keeps in stock.

Gas grills

I have to tell you there are barbecue enthusiasts across the world who will not use the words barbecue and gas together. I’m one of them. The argument between gas versus charcoal/wood is similar to the battle between the Hatfields and McCoys, or better yet Rocky and Clubber Lang in Rocky III. Hands down, in my opinion, nasty charcoal — or better yet, natural wood-cooked barbecue — is the best tasting when done properly. But I suppose there are enough folks out there with gas grills that I should discuss how to produce quality barbecue on a gas grill.

You will basically follow the same indirect cooking procedure as with the charcoal grill. Light only one side/panel of your gas grill. Place your meat on the opposite end of the grill over the unlit panel. One of our City Council members once asked me if it’s possible to get smoke flavor in a gas grill. Of course you can. Make a tinfoil pouch and fill it up with a couple handfuls of soaked wood chips. Close up the chips in the foil and then put them over the lit panel on your grill (place pouch on the burner itself and not the grill grate). Poke a few holes in the foil on top and that will allow the smoke to release. You can soak the wood chips in water or, better yet, apple juice, but dry chips will work fine as well. Most gas grills come with a temperature gauge mounted in the top, so try to keep your temp at 250-325 degrees while cooking. Also, use a meat thermometer to determine when your meat is done on larger cuts and chicken.

How many wood chips can a woodchuck chip

What’s better — chips or chunks? Well, if you’ve ever run into me, you should know I like chunks. No, not because I’m chunky (it’s my winter coat filling out), but because they give off a longer-lasting aroma of flavor and smoke. In a gas grill, chips are better, but in hardwood or a smoker, definitely chunks.

For good wood chips/chunks, go to your local barbecue store or the grill section of Home Depot, Safeway, Vargas or any well-known meat shop. Heck, for all I know Kohl’s may even have a barbecue section. Retail is getting tough out there, so don’t be surprised. I recommend peach, cherry, pecan or hickory for pork butts, pork loins, ribs, chicken, turkey and lamb (even though I don’t eat lamb). For ribeye roasts I suggest pecan or hickory chips. In our area, I think the Home Depot carries the largest assortment of wood for smoking, but check around. To the question asked by our City Council member, you can also buy a cast-iron or steel smoker box that will hold the chips instead of using a self-made tinfoil pouch. Just fill up, lift up the grate on one side and drop it over the burner. Walleye! Smoke …

A note about size

Larger grills or smokers won’t necessarily produce a better barbecue. You can cook great barbecue on a charcoal grill or a gas grill. Steaks are great for grilling but when it comes to chicken, roasts, legs of lamb, pork butts, ribs, turkeys and other large cuts, go with the indirect cooking method and you and your guests will be knocked out by the flavor and moisture. Give yourself some extra time to get the food done on the first couple tries because you will probably end up checking on the meat a bit more than you will once you get this method down. Once you start to master this indirect cooking method you will be amazed by the taste and flavor of the food.

One a final note

We went to our umpteenth Pig-A-Palooza this past weekend. Same crowd, same stories, just a different location. Great food — lots of food — and a 90-pound pig roasting for about nine hours. I’m not too much into pig roasting and with the federal government shutdown I didn’t see any stamp from the United States Department of Agriculture on the pig’s hind end, so I allowed myself to partake in an outstanding lineup of beverages, then walked home.

Gotta git

If you get thrown from a horse, your have to get up and get back on — unless you landed on a cactus. Then you’ll have to roll around and scream for an hour or so. Figure it out.

Adios …

Ken Paulk is a Benicia resident.

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