Flare Ups - Ways To Tame Them

By Author: Chris McCarthy
Total Articles: 12
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Grilling and flare ups are so common they are almost synonymous, but it does not mean that whenever you are grilling you will end up with a flare up. A careful preparation of a grill and proper precaution may completely eliminate any chances of flare ups; and your barbecue may not turn out to be such a burnt out affair after all.

Firstly, before starting out to douse those uncontrollable flames you need to know what causes flare ups and you will be surprised to know that it is the food itself. Too much fat on the meat that you are grilling causes a flare up but getting rid of it completely may also take away the taste from the meat. Moreover, the fats also help to keep the meat hydrated while you bar-b-q. However, fat does not only refer to the meat fat but also oils, sauces or marinades, thus make sure you drain off all the excesses and keep only what is necessary for the cooking.

In spite of the complication posed by excess fat if you have to go forward and do that grill then the best you could do is to keep some space on the grill where you could shift the food away from the fire. So even if there is a flare ...
... up your cooked / uncooked food does not get spoiled. But this can be avoided if you can keep a constant vigil on the grill. It takes a very short while for the grease fires to flare up and be beyond your control, so make sure you are around while your food is getting grilled.

Even with all these precautions if you do end up with a flare up you could still control it by placing all the meat that has fat into the flare up. This helps to keep the fire limited to one place. Once the grease for the meat is burnt out remove the meat to a safer place lower in temperature. Or you could even remove the meat completely from the grill incase the fire covers a lot of space. After the flare up decreases you could go on with the grilling as before.

It is advised sometimes to keep a spray bottle filled with water close at hand; however it is not such a good idea because of many reasons. Since grease and water are not so compatible hence spraying water on a grease fire would not be much of help. Moreover, even if the water might extinguish the fire the grease remains leaving a chance for another flare up as soon as the grease gets hot. Again water on grease might cause it to blow up and scatter all over the food making it less delectable.

Some steps you could follow to minimize flare ups are cooking steaks or chops over medium temperature and using leaner cuts of meat. The leaner cuts do away with the fats and the medium temperature keeps a control over the flame. Integral as it may be of any BBQ you have to agree if that these flare ups do add a little zing to an otherwise mundane affair.

Author Bio

Chris McCarthy is the owner of InsaneChicken.com. Buy all of your favorite gourmet BBQ Sauces from InsaneChicken we have a delightful selection of sauces including Ghost Pepper Sauces.