Essential Items For Grilling In Your Apartment
Love grilling and barbecue, but live all cooped in an apartment? Don’t fret. You can still grill up and enjoy your own delicious meats and smoked treats, even if you’re limited on space. You just need the right tools for the job.
Now let’s be clear, you won’t ever get the same kind of open flame, smokey flavor when grilling inside VS outside. But you can get something close if you take the right steps.
Keep reading to see the essential items you need for apartment grilling success – and total mastery, too.
First, Get A Meat Thermometer
A good digital meat thermometer is really the only way to know that your grilled meats are safe to eat; being indoors doesn’t make any different here. This is especially the case if you’re making burgers or chicken. If you’re making steaks, you’ll need that thermometer to ensure your steak is the perfect medium-rare you’re looking for – and nothing more.
Likewise, if you’re planning to slow cook some pulled pork or brisket indoors, you’re gonna need that meat thermometer to keep an eye on the meat’s internal temperature and ensure you’re doing it right. Slow cooking barbecue takes precision and accuracy, and that’s what a good digital meat thermometer does.
Get An Electric Indoor Grill…
Believe it or not, there is a type of grill you can use inside…if you’re just planning on making some burgers or grilled chicken – indoors – you can most likely do a decent job with a high-quality electric grill. An electric grill will allow you to cook inside without all the smoke created by a real grill, but the grill-like surface will still let you get a little browning and blackening on the edges. Most of them are small and portable, fitting easily anywhere in your apartment (always a priority!) as well as extremely affordable. Be sure to use LOTS of oil to get the best flavor and browning possible on that electric grill.
If you really need to get some smokey flavor – if you’re just craving it and can’t be convinced otherwise – then go ahead and cheat with some smoke flavored BBQ sauce.
…But Cook Those Steaks in Cast Iron
While cooking a steak in cast iron certainly won’t give you the smoky flavor that cooking over open flame will, it WILL allow you to get one heck of an awesome sear – something than in indoor electric grill or griddle won’t be able to replicate. We know – you REALLY want to cook that steak over open flame…but if you try to get away with cooking it on an electric griddle, you will be extremely disappointed. Just “cheat” and toss it on the cast iron, and save that indoor grill for the burgers, chicken and veggies.
Grill Pan
A grill pan is a cheap and easy way to get those class “grill marks” without cooking over open flame. You obviously still won’t get the same kind of fire flavor, but you will at least get the “feeling” that you’re grilling out, thanks to the lightly charred, criss-crossing lines across your burgers and chicken breasts. Use lots of oil crank up the heat to get the best results; also be sure to pat the outside of the meat dry with a paper towel before throwing them on the pan, as this will result in the best charring.
Some Good Oven Mitts and Barbecue Gloves
It doesn’t matter if you’re cooking inside or out but grilling over high heat necessitates some serious protection from all that high heat. A top-quality pair of barbecue ready gloves will protect your hands; choose heat-resistant fabric for handling hot pans and utensils and opt for silicone gloves for handling hot meats and pulling that pulled pork. Good old oven mitts will come in handy in a pinch, sure…but they are also less nimble and dexterous than a good pair of barbecue gloves.
Also read – How to choose a grill – https://www.globosurfer.com/best-weber-grills/
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