Tips from the Pitmaster

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Creating great barbecue is about more than just ingredients.

Light your fire

Use fruit woods for long, low and slow cooks for great flavor. These woods have a milder flavor than woods like hickory and mesquite, which can easily give you an over-smoked taste.
When using wood chips to add smoke flavor, first soak them in water to keep them from burning too quickly.
When using charcoal for low and slow cooking, use a good charcoal briquette. They burn more consistently and are much easier to control.
Use a charcoal chimney, available at most home stores, to start charcoal. It’s easy and safer than using lighter fluid.

Use an oven thermometer on the grill grate where the meat will be to determine the exact cooking temperature. Built-in thermometers measure the temperature at the end of the thermometer, not necessarily where the meat is. This difference in temperature could be anywhere from 25 to 75 degrees.
Use a good meat thermometer to determine when it’s time to take the meat off the cooker. Every type of meat has different finishing temperatures.

To cook indirectly with a gas grill, you’ll need a grill with at least two burners. Place your meat on the grate over the unlit burner and regulate the temperature accordingly.
To cook low and slow with a charcoal grill, bank lit coals to one side of the grill. Place meat on the other side.
Clean dirty grill grates with a spray bottle of water and crumbled aluminum foil held by a pair of tongs. Spraying the water on hot grates will “deglaze” them and make for easier cleaning.

Apply sauces toward the end of your cooking. The sugars in most barbecue sauces will burn if applied too early.
In the low and slow world of real barbecue, the bigger the piece of meat, the longer and slower the meat will have to cook.
Use a good set of strong tongs to handle meat on the grill instead of a long fork. Using a fork pierces the meat, which will allows flavorful juices to escape.