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!

 

The Science of Grate Grilling Part 3- Perfect Burgers

If I had to list one food that grills exceptionally well on GrillGrates it would have to be hamburgers. GrillGrates grill perfect burgers! Everyone can be Bobby Flay!

I heard from a Big Green Egg Retailer yesterday who is evaluating GrillGrates. He brought in burgers for lunch the other day and asked his team to grill on the BGE with and without GrillGrates. He didn't even make it down for lunch before he heard from his team! The GrillGrate burgers were much larger and juicier compared to those not grilled on GrillGrates.

There are several reasons why hamburgers in particular are so much better with GrillGrates:

1. Flare-up Protection from the bottom plate keeps burgers from charring as they drip especially 80 /20 which can really drip up a bon fire. The added protection of GrillGrates keeps burgers from drying out and shrinking.
   
2. The Sizzle Back Effect of juices as they drip to the valleys, they vaporize, steam and sizzle back to the food. Dripping juices create a moist convection of steamy heat below the hamburger which keeps it juicy and moist.
   
3. Fats drain away from the burger and drip through the fat draining holes in the bottom of the GrillGrates where they burn up on the bottom of the GrillGrate, not on the outside of the food. There is a health benefit of no charring and no fats burned onto the food as well.
   
4. The GrateTool- reaches below the food for a gentle lift not a scape and break! No more broken or stuck burgers on the Grill.
   

I here about burgers consistently from customers and professionals such as Suzanne Benoit who is the Queen of Burgers hailing from the famous VORTEX Bar and Grill in Atlanta. Suzanne and I recorded this YouTube video last year. We've learned a lot since then and need to update it.

Grill the Perfect Burger Every Time with GrillGrates!

The Greatest Gift of All (Part 2)

Now that I look back on it, I gave and received the same gift last year! Peace Love and Barbecue by Mike Mills and his daughter Amy. I met Mike and Amy at a Barbecue Competition just over a year ago. Mike, a legendary barbecue champion and restaurant owner comes by our stand and takes an interest in GrillGrates. He was anxious to try it and I gladly gave him a set. Next thing I know Rocky Danner (another colorful Barbecue Ambassador) is in our booth asking me for several more sets for he and Mike!

It turns out that Mike and Rocky were doing a series of demonstrations. Rocky was grilling bacon wrapped pork tenderloins and Mike was explaining how to do his championship ribs and had a stack of his books. He signed one for me and gave it to me in exchange for the Grates. Amy handed me a card and told me where to send more GrillGrates for Mike to “play with”. We received the gift of Peace, Love and Barbecue, last October and we gave the book as a gift this past Christmas to all our grilling friends.

Our friends loved Mike and Amy’s book! The 5-bean side has become a staple in our circle, as have Mike’s ribs. Peace, Love and Barbecue is a fabulous gift and really conveys the spirit of the industry, the people in it, along with some fabulous recipes. The book also provides a history of the American BBQ tradition alongside colorful encounters with local barbecue haunts. It was a great gift last year, now what to give this year?

1. Instant Read Thermometer- This has got to be tops on my stocking stuffer list. I need to upgrade my cooking by temperature skills as evidenced by my half-cocked turkey on Thanksgiving! Glow in the Dark from grillfriends.com $6.99
2. BBQr’s Delight Gift Pack- This just might be the ticket for this Christmas. Craig Meathead Goldwyn of amazingribs.com called BBQr’s Delight and GrillGrates- "Peanut butter and jelly because we go so well together." These all natural wood pellets impart just enough smoky flavor- and work fabulously on gas grills—especially with GrillGrates; just lay a few in the valleys of the GrillGrates and they smoke and smolder in natural wood flavors. The gift pack comes with a cast iron smoker box too. $19.99 with free shipping thru 12/19.
3. KCBS Membership- The Kansas City Barbecue Society delivers a lot of bang for the buck. Contest and cook-off updates, product reviews and discounts and monthly Bull Sheet is packed with information and team competition updates. The Bull Sheet is up there with Salt Water Sportsman for me! $35 per year.

   

4. GrillGrate Gift Bag- Our best value and a Grate Gift in its own right. Use the KCBS discount code and save 25% on all GrillGrate products through December 18th. $75 with KCBS discount.

Keep your grill and your griller warm this holiday season!