Life is what happens while you’re making other plans!

John Lennon ‘s refrain seems appropriate, as it would have been his 70^th birthday last week.  I’ve been thinking a lot about this year as it wraps up and making plans for next year; and I’ve thinking of Lennon’s line and the things that happened this year that weren’t in the plan!  

Never in my wildest dreams

Doing Infomercials on TV was never in the business plan!  I want to thank Tom Dollnig who consulted us to change strategies. Tom brought Mr. Coffee to market and hired Joe DiMaggio so I listened to him! 

Social Media was not in the plan either.  I especially like the customer interaction and the community aspect. My daughter told me I had to create a blog, get on Facebook, find a voice- none of that was in the plan.  Now it is.

Grillers love GrillGrates!

Active customer engagement was not in the plan either.  The grilling industry is the best business I have ever worked in.  Grillers are passionate, active and fun people!  That fun is multiplied when customers take the time to express their pleasure with your product. Active customer engagement was not in the business plan, but it drives us now.

Fishing and grilling as good as it gets!

Nor was appearing in a Fishing Show.  A call out of the blue from a producer hooked me  to fish and grill in an episode.  Twist my arm!  It was a great experience all around and now we’re a sponsor and a fan of LipEm and RipEm hosted by Lefty Larsen. 

Pittmaster star Moe Cason and his wife

Getting a call from Moe Cason who starred on BBQ Pittmaster as a contestant and finalist was a great highlight too.  Thank you to Darren Warth of Smoky D’s for suggesting GrillGrates to Moe.  We had a blast cheering Moe on.  But Moe, why did you plank that chicken in the finals?

No doubt some of life’s greatest moments are unscripted and unplanned.  How boring it would be anyway.  The planning will resume shortly after a birthday celebration with family and friends!

May your plans be aimed high and your heart (and grill) always be warm with the joy of friends.

God Bless and Blessed by God

December 2010

Thankful Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving 2010:  Cribbing from Seth Godin:
"Wherever you are, you could celebrate Thanksgiving today. Not the Thanksgiving of a bountiful harvest before the long winter, the holiday of pilgrims and pie. That's a holiday of scarcity averted. I'm imagining something else...

A modern Thanksgiving would celebrate two things:

The people in our lives who give us the support and love we need to make a difference, and...

The opportunity to build something bigger than ourselves, something worth contributing. The ability to make connections, to lend a hand, to invent and create.

There are more of both now than there have ever been before. For me, for you, for just about all of us.
 Thank you Seth for re-framing Thanksgiving for our time!

I want to thank my sponsors and partners who have been incredibly supportive this year:
Mike Mills and his team:  Being discovered by Mike Mills was a milestone moment in our business.  I'm proud to call Mike, Amy, Becky & crew friends.  And a very special thank you to Mike for appearing in our first TV spot!
BBQR's Delight:  Thanks to Meathead for introducing us!  He calls us peanut butter and jelly we go so well together.   I've had the pleasure of cooking with Candy- she's a real pro and a fixture in the BBQ community and a great friend. 
Bad Byron's Butt Rub:  It's true everything is better with a little Butt Rub!  Butt Rub is one of those universal seasonings that works as well with pork, chicken, steak, even popcorn!
Mama Mary's Gourmet Pizza Crusts:  Our first partner.  We discovered their crusts grilling at our first trade show.  It became our first signature dish.  They just introduced an extra thin and crispy crust that is fabulous.  We use it on dessert pizzas too.
KCBS:  The gang at KCBS and MMA Creative are incredible.  KCBS has over 14,000 members now and I'm proud to incorporate their logo in our packaging and our TV spots.  Sponsoring the KCBS Backyard BBQ Tour was a grrrrrate move this year.  Mike and Chris Peters have grilled over 35,000 food samples on GrillGrates- including hundreds of grilled pizzas!
Big Green Egg!  What a great company!  Thank you for sponsoring our contest and offering a Big Green Egg as the prize!  There is still time to register!  Name me another company that has a more rabid and enthusiastic customer! (not even Apple)  Something for GrillGrate to aspire to!
The Good Shepherd Foundation:  Finally and absolutely the best thing to happen to GrillGrate this year.  I start my day there every morning I can.  It is a pleasure and privilege to work with this great group of people.  They pack and ship for us 5 days a week!  Talk about grateful!

Thankful and Grateful This Thanksgiving!  
God Bless!

Brad

Butterflied Turkey: Take Two

Thanksgiving 2010: A Bird and a Bag!

Grilled Butterflied Turkey is Fast and Easy with GrillGrates!

Bon Appetit Centerfold of Butterflied Turkey

Our local supermarket butterflied a fresh turkey for us and it was easy to prepare and grill.  We did the recipe twice and nearly a third time until I relented and gave up on doing a spatchcock comparison. The game was on when Bon Appetit Magazine arrives with a centerfold shot of what else? Butterflied turkey!

Very nice rosemary rub from bbq.about.com

Thanksgiving Links

• We chose a simple brine of 2 gallons of vegetable broth. A trash bag in a bucket worked well for an 8 hour soak.  
• I found a great rosemary rub from bbq.about.comhttp://bbq.about.com/.  Derrick has well organized lists of brines, rubs, grilling methods,
• Amazingribs.com is always a great resource. Here is a link to Craig's Thanksgiving ideas newsletter.  Sign up for Meathead's newsletter.  I read it bumper to bumper!
• Here's a link to butterflied grilled turkey on GrillGrates!  I've already had my hot turkey sandwiches too!  
• AND Yes Virginia there is a difference between butterflying a bird and spatchcocking it. This link takes you to Chris Lily's recipe that is truly spatchcocking.  Next year...
• What are you cooking up for Thanksgiving?

Customers and Friends First for a Grate Deal on Gift Bags!

A Grate Gift for your favorite griller!

We have 60 of the two-pocket bags left for this year and its only right to offer a grate sale to our customers and friends first.  We've added a four pack sku as well.


3 GrillGrate panels, The GrateTool, Steaming Brush and Bag is $79.99 plus s/h
4 GrillGrate panels, The GrateTool, Steaming Brush and Bag is $89.99 plus s/h

A great gift for your favorite griller!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grate Fish and Game Grilling

In one week we've received some great fish and game pictures on GrillGrates:

• Pheasant
• Elk
• Wahoo
• Trout

Wahoo! One of the tastiest fish in the sea!

Rainbow trout caught and grilled in the wild!

Pheasant on the Big Green Egg

ELK on camp grill

The fish and game crowd sure loves GrillGrates!  Thanks for sharing Bill, Clint and David.  We have a lot of outfitters using GrillGrates- let us hear from you.  Show us your great catch!

I've got a green glow this morning!

Susan and I are recovering from non-stop grilling at Big Green Egg's Eggtoberfest!  We grilled desserts on Friday night and had no idea what we were in for.  Jonathan from BGE finally came over and fired up a second EGG for us.  The line never stopped for 3 solid hours.   The fun part was watching Susan prep and interact with the people while making sure I didn't stray from my grilling duties as I jabbered away.  We finally ate at Waffle House at 11:00PM covered in chocolate and raspberry juice!

My hat is off to BGE!   The way they set up the event and then turn it over to the crowd is brilliant.   No corporate BS either.  No Steve Jobs keynote speeches here!  At the end of the day on Saturday several hundred new Egg'ers eagerly awaited driving home with their new EGGS.  They had the green glow going on too!

Thanks BGE for a fabulous event- your customers are just as amazing as your product!

Brad

When this baby rolled up I grabbed my camera and then never touched it again. 

PS-  I'm reaching out to the EGGer's on the BGE forum for pics.

Susan prepping Fruit Pizza

Love our MamaMary's crusts!

Enter the Tell Us Your Grate Grilling Stories Contest

Win The Greatest Book about Peace, Love and Barbecue!

The best part of my job is hearing from customers.  I love hearing GrillGrate stories and particularly grate recipe ideas.  Please tell us your grate grilling story by:

• Using our Feedback Submittal Form
• Submit a Grate Recipe Form
• Post pictures on Facebook
• Post video on YouTube
• Email me your story, recipe, pictures

Every entry will be entered to win a copy of Peace, Love and Barbecue by Mike and Amy Mills.  FIVE people will be drawn at random.  Multiple entries are encouraged! 

Every Picture Tells a Story

Penzey's Spices grills for their employees nearly every week

As Rod Stewart says: "Every Picture Tells a Story" Our new friends at Penzey's Spices sent me this picture and grate story.  They purchased one set of GrillGrates a few weeks ago and then ordered 8 more sets.  I called to make sure it wasn't an error and learned that Penzey's grills for their 200+ employees nearly every week.  They bought 8 more sets to cover all their Weber Kettles.  Now that's a grate story and a great company!


Tell Us Your Grate Grilling Story or Recipe

We'll post some of your stories here on our blog and some on the website.  We've even got a few videos from a GrillGrate customer in New Zealand to share.   Check out my new video (90sec) to kick off the Grate Stories contest and this new section on our website.

Speaking of Grate Steaks- How about a $2500 Steak?

That is what the United Steaks of America BBQ Team won for their best steak in the 2010 OK Steak Championship!  GrillGrates deliver more than just gorgeous steakhouse sear marks.  GrillGrates bring out the best flavor of the meat while keeping meat tender, moist and evenly cooked.

Congratulations to the United Steaks of America for best steak in the great state of Oklahoma!

The Science of Grate Grilling: Grilling Great Steaks!

Grilling Steakhouse Quality Steaks - "Grate" Lessons Learned

One thing we hear constantly is how much better steaks grill and taste with GrillGrates.  Over the past year I have been on a personal journey to better understand the science behind grilling steakhouse quality steaks.  Craig Goldwyn of Amazingribs.com has been my guide as I learned and improved. I pay a lot more attention to preparation, internal temperature, resting, and even proper slicing tips.

Preparation starts by allowing choice quality (and thicker) steaks to come to room temperature.  SALT liberally and pat dry with a paper towel before grilling.  Meathead calls it dry brining. Pepper moderately, with more pepper at grilling time.  Ideally the entire steak is at room temperature when it hits the GrillGrates.

•     Good Product  + Good Preparation + GrillGrates = GRRRRRRATE  Steaks! 

Lesson #1:  Stop Winging It!

This has been a difficult lesson for me to learn.  I've always winged it, stabbed my finger on the steaks and pronounced them ready.  I got a thermometer as a gift and I'm trying to get in the habit every time I grill meat.  Err to the rare and get steaks off the grill to rest so juices can settle back into the meat.  I finally printed out the Amazing Ribs temperature chart and posted on our refrigerator.  I find myself referring to it practically every time I grill. 

    * Download Meathead's Temperature chart  

      (suitable for laminating and posting on the fridge)

    * Make sure to read Meathead's thermometer buying guide

Bumper to Bumper Color, Texture, Juiciness, and Flavor

I like Meathead's bumper to bumper analogy;  juicy, evenly cooked from top to bottom, seared, not charred. (as opposed to a cross-section of sear, brown, tan, pink, red, pink, tan, brown, sear)  GrillGrates deliver bumper to bumper beauty.

Read more from Meathead as he details how to grill steakhouse steak.   

Now we're onto trying out an Argentina technique of corn starch and salt glaze, followed by a trip to the freezer for 30 minutes before grilling- stay tuned.

GRATE Grilling for LABOR DAY!

Labor Day grilling is an American tradition.  When there is a crowd to feed, America fires up their grills!   Labor Day grilling is all about production.  Ideally, you'll want to grill at a house with at least 3 or more grills in the yard, otherwise round up your neighbor's grills!  It's called a cook-out another All-American tradition.  With production in mind, think BIG, big bags of chicken wings for example, a case or two of hamburgers and hot dogs etc.

Here are a couple of grate menu suggestions when you are grilling for a crowd! 

• Burgers, Brats and Beers with a GrillGrate twist, give your brats a beer bath on your GrillGrates.  Gather round to see, smell and hear the sizzling, steaming beer!
• BBQ Chicken is great for production grilling.  The trick is to grill as low as you can to not burn the skin (or bbq sauce).  Under 400F is ideal and with GrillGrates, bring on the marinades and sauces.  BBQ Chicken qualifies as at least a two beer grill too!
• WINGS are great for crowds.  Wonderful finger food and easy to grill.  Again grill as low as possible as long as possible.  Sauce them for 10 minutes at the end.
• PIZZA  Even pre-made store bought pizzas are wonderful on GrillGrates.  Spy a pre-made pizza deal?  GrillGrate them!  You'll probably never put pizza in the oven again!
• CORN on the COB  Shucked and naked corn on GrillGrates at med/low for 15-20 minutes. Turn and roll every 5 minutes.  Butter as soon as you remove the corn from the grill, the corn will suck it up!
• CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY YUMMY  Cap off your Labor Day with this outstanding quesadilla with ricotta cheese, chocolate chips and raspberries.

What are you grilling this Labor Day weekend?

• 
  

Finally a wiff of Fall in the air

Finally the early mornings have a tint of coolness.  Soon we'll have deep blue skies and we'll be turning off the AC!  I can't wait to open the windows again!  It's been a HOT summer and we've developed a new grilling routine that we'll be perfecting for many summers to come!

Low and Slow Sundays (link to 2 min video) has already become a summer tradition at Tom and Bev's house, and I think always will be.  Between the pool, the keg and his mojo grill, it's about as good as it gets!  We learned to do pork butts (shoulders) on his honking gas grill. 6-8 hours of grilling on a Sunday is a nice way to spend the day. 

Last weekend was the first Sunday we grilled over 400 all summer!  You can't imagine weeks of rendering from butts and wings that had built up on Tom's GrillGrates (link to pictures).  But I digress.

We grilled steaks while the girls were away, school has started, and TAILGATING season is here! I think our tailgating will consist mostly of game day home grills at Tommy Boy's hang!  I keep telling him he's running out of time to get a flat screen in there!

I have fond memories of big time tailgates at the 'old' NY Giants Stadium in New Jersey.  Now WEBER has a tailgating pavilion set up at the 'new' Giants stadium.  Grilling is a great business and it's tailgating season!  Here's a sneak peak to some great tailgate recipes.

Great to see them fly off!

Three generations involved in helping our daughter get herself to Austin to begin law school.  We've had her and Will's college apartments stuffed into our living room and dining room all summer; and thats on top of all my GrillGrate stuff!  Last week our son drove to Mojave CA in record time to start a new job.   Two move-outs in two weeks.  All three kids in the SW now.  Guess we'll be traveling more.

Saying goodbye to our middle one is always tearful and still is!  They're almost to Austin as I type and and I've got a big house to get cleaned before Mama Bear gets home on Sunday!

It has been two weeks since I've blogged. I think I will post a trip report!  There was some grate grilling involved to be sure!   We squeezed in a family vacation before all this moving out stuff...

Thankful and Grateful This AM

Each month we give away two sets of GrillGrate to our fans on Facebook and one to our customers and registered subscribers.   I just finished up counting down Facebook fans to #187 and landed on Lauren K!  A sorority sister of my daughters at UGA.  We all grilled together at their graduation!  It was a little easier picking out # 765 from our subscriber list!  Frank S- you'll be hearing from me!

It was fun counting through our Facebook fans and customer lists, I'm grateful and thankful to have them.  Its going be a grrrrrrate day!

Two winners every month and one lucky winner wins a Big Green Egg in December!

Going to be a 3 Beer Grill Today!

It's going to be over 100F today!  Afternoon checklist:

• Pool
• Beer
• Hanging around the grill
• Repeat

Heading over to Tommy Boy's for another low and slow Sunday! 

Sharing a Little BBQ Love!

We've been thinking how to 'inspire' more feedback, recipes and photos from GrillGrate customers and we decided that we just needed to share a little love--  Peace, Love and Barbecue that is!  So we bought a bunch of Peace Love and Barbecue books, shirts and ball caps from our friends at 17th Street Barbecue to give to customers who share their Grate Recipes, photos and stories with us.  Post them on our Facebook Fan page, email me your pics or even use our website recipe submittal tool.  We're anxious to share your stories of Grate Q and a little Peace Love and Barbecue too!  GrillGrate, Eat Well!  Peace.

Peace Love and Barbecue is a trademark of 17th Street Barbecue

Another Park Another Sunday!

A favorite Doobie Brothers song.  Got me thinking about another 'low and slow' Sunday coming up tomorrow.  Just hung up the phone with Tommy Boy to confirm the details:

• Feeding 12-14 (the usual range)
• 3 Racks of Ribs
• 2 Spatchcock Chickens
• Sides courtesy of the ladies

Eating 5:30ish, Start time 11:30ish to prep the ribs.  A 4-5 beer grilling for sure!  (Tommy Boy sprung for another keg of Stella which makes it much easier to lose count)

This video was from a low and slow Sunday a couple of weeks ago:

• Feed 12-14 (detect a pattern) 
• 1 Butt (pork shoulder actually)
• Sausages soaked and bathed in beer
• Cuban corn recipe (from Travel & Leisure)

GrillGrate, Eat Well!  

Pleasant Surprise!

Our oldest is home from AZ for a wedding.  All three kids home for dinner this past Thursday and unbeknownst to me they had a belated Father's Day dinner in mind with me grilling of course.  Well as usual I could not get out of my office in time and found that Susan had purchased a 'Choice Rib Roast' (as opposed to Prime Rib Roast) for me to grill for Prime Rib.  After consulting amazingribs.com and learning a bit more about grilling Prime Rib (restuarant variety) at home, I realized I did not have enough grilling time- unless we ate way late.   The tribe vetoed that option.

So we decided to 'steak' the roast and seasoned them with Lawry's Seasoning Salt.  We let the steaks come to room temp with the seasoning, now we had all the time we needed for a proper cocktail hour with all three kids and mother-in-law.   I grilled the well marbled steaks at 500F- not too hot.  10 minutes total for 1.5" cut slabs:  WOW!  The steaks were absolutely wet with melted fat and did not shrink up.   They were delicious.  Our grilled prime rib was a huge hit that everyone was talking about the next day.

Why I didn't grab the camera I'll never know.  We're already discussing our Fourth of July Grilling Menu and this little surprise will be one of the main meals we're doing.   What's on your GrillGrates!

New to Que

I'm man enough to admit that I am new to barbecue! To clarify, I've been a griller for over 30 years, but never a low and slow guy.  Is being from NJ an excuse?  Not really since I've lived in GA for nearly 20 years!  I love eating barbecue and lived in Texas for a while so my pallet became well trained but my grill skills did not include true barbecue.   I've even been a loyal Weber owner since 1978 and it was right under my nose!  But I still never considered smoking ribs, butts, or brisket on my grill.  I stopped at thick london broils!  Not anymore.

My buddy Tommy Boy and I have conquered his gas grill* and put out some smoking barbecue.  We're on a mission this summer to turn his gas grill into a smoking barbecue machine!  

This summer our theme is 'Low and Slow Sunday's  

This past Sunday morning I showed up at Tommy Boy's house with a 1/2 Pork Shoulder, Byron's Butt Rub, print outs from amazingribs.com, and a cup of coffee.   We were starting a new summer tradition.  The week before we felt pretty proud of ourselves as we did ribs and wings that required more than three beers which brought rave reviews from our critics. What a nice way to wind down the weekend.  On Monday we were all remembering the fabulous meal from the night before!

Welcome to the lazy hot days of summer and the best days on the grill! 

DAD- Thank you for teaching me about grilling. 
Meathead, Mike, and Tom- Thank you for teaching me about barbeuce!  
Happy Fathers DAY!

*With all duerespect and deference to my charcoal / wood smoking / pellet toking pure-head friends, its too much work for me to tend the coals and besides Tom and I  don't own a Big Green Egg or one of those fancy pellet grills, so the gas grill is our ticket.  And we're making it sing!

Got any 1, 2 3 beer grilling recipes or stories to share?

Remembering Dad at his Grill and Me By His Side

Last week I blogged about memories of my DAD.  I talked about his passion for grilling and his gift to me of my first grill, a Weber Kettle. I remember hanging out with my Dad at the grill every time he grilled. It was our place and our time.  It still is.

We decided to grill up Dad's signature dish- London Broil marinated in Catalina Dressing. It was fabulous and the taste and flavor was just as I remembered.

Happy Father's Day Dad!  And thank you for your great grilling!

Do you have any grilling with your dad memories or recipes you'd like to share?  Post them here or on our Facebook Fan Page.  

Remembering DAD at His Grill

What memories do you have of your Dad at the Grill? I have two: My Dad made the best London Broil, he would marinate it in Catalina Dressing (the sugar really softened the meat) overnight in the fridge. He kept a big horse syringe to battle flare-ups and the meat crusted beautifully. He sliced it thin on an angle very rare. For years I made that same London Broil recipe. My other memory is when my Dad gave me his Weber Kettle while I was in college. He had gotten his first gas grill (late 1970's) and I readily snapped up the Weber. I was a grilling fiend in college, and haven't stopped since. I think I need to pick up some London Broil! Thanks Dad!

Grilled Pizza 2.0 Fresh and Loaded High Pizza Pie!

Tom and Bev invited us to come over for dinner- Natalie and Blake were cooking.  Tom even bought Pigs Nose Scotch so I knew it was going to be great.  I walked in the door and saw FOUR gorgeous pizzas piled high with fresh toppings and turned right around and went home to get my cameras.  I should have known something good was going on the grill.

Natalie told me that she and Blake grill her favorite pizza all the time and I really got a lesson in healthier pizza building!   We named it Natalie and Blakes Piled High Pizza and here are a few of the ingredients.  Full recipe link grillgrate.com

Just a few secrets:

1. Ground Turkey with Fennel delivers great sausage flavor without the grease and thinly sliced pepperoni keeps the taste but eliminates the oil
2. Roast peppers, onions and garlic in shell ahead of time on the grill or in the oven
3. FRESH sliced mozzarella
4. GrillGrates!

So cool to see Natalie a MamaMary's Pizza Crust fan and for sharing her wonderful recipe with us last night! Glad I ran home to get my camera. Thanks Tommy Boy, Ralphie and Natalie!

Science of Grate Grilling 5.5 CINCO DE MAYO Grilled Quesadillas

Break out GrillGrates to grill fabulous Cinco de Mayo Quesadillas.  Invite your friends over for a real treat that you can make ahead of time and just add the toppings before grilling.

Two flour tortillas form a sandwich that becomes the platform for the quesadilla toppings.  You can use several different fillings for the sandwich between the tortillas. 

• Just Cheese- 3 part mexican cheese or whatever you have in the fridge
• 3 Bean Mash or can of refried beans sprinkled with a little cheese
• Even sliced pears and goat cheese

TIP:  Make the flour tortilla bases ahead of time and separate with wax paper.   Make two or three and enjoy putting the toppings on with your guests.  Suggested toppings:

• Salsa
• Tomato slices
• Mexican Cheese
• Avocado slices
• NONE- bring inside as chip for dips!

Links to quesadilla recipes:  

• Natalies Two-Fisted Quesadilla (basic cheese and salsa)
• Laura's Austin Quesadilla (with pears and goat cheese)
• Sweet & Spicy Quesadilla (brie or swiss cheese and pepper jelly)
  

GrillGrate TIP:  Keep GrillGrate temp below 400F- no burning of the bottom of the tortilla- just crispy golden sear marks.   LOW on Gas Grills- hood temp will read 300F.  10 minute grilling time required to thoroughly grill toppings and get tortillas crispy.

Science of GrillGrate Part 6 EZ SMOKING with BBQR's Delight All Natural Pellets

It doesn't get any easier than this!  Sprinkle a few pellets on the fringe area of your GrillGrates and almost instantly- smoke is wafting your way.  Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn of amazingribs.com  introduced me to their all natural wood pellets last fall and hooked me up with Candy Sue Weaver owner of BBQR's Delight- a serious pittmaster and bbq businesswoman.  Craig called our products peanut butter and jelly because we go so well together.   Now we include a sample bag of pellets with every GrillGrate order. They're that good! -and the scent in the backyard is just unbelieveable.

The Science of Grate Grilling Part FIVE: GrillGrate Grilled Pizza!

Grilling pizza has never been easier!  The raised rail design of GrillGrates provides the perfect platform to grill pizza and the GrateTool makes it easy to handle and rotate for perfect searing and crispy crust.  Here are a couple of tips to grilling great pizza with GrillGrates:

1. Keep your grill temperature under control at or below 400F. This allows you to grill pizza long enough (10 minutes +) to thoroughly cook the the toppings and melt the cheese without blackening or charring the crust.  The key is how long you can grill pizza, not how hot and fast- unless you like black bottom crust.
2. Use Olive Oil on the bottom side of the pizza crust.  The olive oil helps the crust get super crispy.  Even add a bit of seasoning to the oiled crust for more flavor!
3. Quarter turn the pizza after 3-5 minutes.  Using the GrateTool slightly lift and peek at the crust and see the crust is searing and browning.  Rotate 45 degrees when the sear marks are golden brown.
4. Watch Searing on Bottom of the Crust.  If sear marks are black- you are grilling too hot and at risk of blackening the crust.  Reduce heat.  The sear marks are a great guide to determine your grill's best temperature for grilling great pizza.  My gas charbroil is set on LOW, but the GrillGrate temperature is still 450F when the dome says 350F.  
5. Lower and Slower is Better with Grilled Pizza because it gives you time to fully cook toppings to a golden brown too.  Think bubbly brown cheese!
6. Use MamaMary's Gourmet Pizza Crusts.  They are partially baked, find them in the deli section of your supermarket or at Walmart.  They are fabulous on GrillGrates! 

GrillGrates makes grilling pizza a snap! Pizza is a super platform for all types of grilled pies- even fruit, dessert pizzas and breakfast pizzas!  And don't forget left-over pizzas, BBQ pizzas, white pizzas.  The GrillGrate website has dozens of grilled pizza recipes- let us hear yours!