Newbie needing some grilling guidence!

Hi all, greetings from Ireland! I am the proud new owner of a Spirit Original 310 and am just looking for some tips and guidence. I had my first BBQ on Saturday and it didn't go very well . Think hard burgers and burnt sausages. I did the sausages over medium direct heat and when they looked ready I moved them to the warming rack, thinking it would just keep them warm but it kept cooking them. I then did the burgers over direct medium heat too for about 10 mins but they were quite hard. Is the warming rack really only for heating something like bread rolls and not designed to just keep food warm? If so is the best way to keep food warm while other food cooks to bring it into the normal oven on low?

Ideally what I want to do is to cook stuff together, sausages burgers, chicken breasts etc but is it best to cook them separately if they all need different cooking times and temperatures.

Sorry for all the questions lol but I'm having another BBQ in a few weeks and I just want to get it right.

Many thanks

Welcome. Watched your Rugby club take our USA team to school a few weeks back at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ. Anyway, I would suggest getting a book like "How to Grill" by Steven Raichlen. It's the one I own and I use it all the time. It will definitely help you to avoid things like hard burgers and burnt sausages. I don't use the warming rack, so maybe someone else can help you there.

Hi JimS

Am sure that was a good game. Many thanks for the book recommendation, I have just ordered it from Amazon, hopefully my next attempt will be better after I get some tips lol.

Thanks again

Gillian

Hey Gillian,

Welcome to the site. I have that book also and gave some direction long agao when I first started. Where the burgers frozen or fresh since that determines how I cook them on the grill.

Hi Kevin

They were fresh, I put them straight from fridge to grill, am thinking I should have let them come to room temperature first?

Gillian, allowing them to warm up isn't a bad idea but, won't be the determining factor in the long run.
Sausages, I tend to like doing indirect and finishing off with a little direct time. The burgers, I go hotter and faster direct, turning once, never smashing. Smash burgers are something else altogether. If this was your first run, don't feel bad, you will learn more tricks. Much information to be shared here, get grilling!

I try to never do sausages and burgers together. Sausages need medium to medium-low heat. On my Weber Kettle I'll usually use just half a chimney of charcoal spread over the whole charcoal grate. This allows for a more gentle heat so the sausages have time to cook through without the outsides incinerating.

Burgers I always do over high heat. A full chimney of charcoal spread over just half the charcoal grate. Hot and fast. For the size I make (5 oz. patties), it's about 3-1/2 minutes on the first side and 2-1/2 minutes after the flip. I'll move the burgers to the cool side of the grill to let the cheese finish melting.

If you need to do both sausages and burgers, I'd recommend steaming the sausages indoors in something flavorful, like beer. When the burgers are done, put the sausages on the grill for just a couple minutes to get some browning on the exterior. If the grill is still really hot, be sure to keep the sausages moving because they'll burn in no time if left stationary.

Depending on the type of sausages, an alternative is kind of the opposite approach. Grill up (on the stove) a bunch of sliced onions and green peppers. Dump them in a larger pan. A disposable aluminum catering pan works well. Add a flavorful beer or two. Put the pan on the coolest part of the grill. Cook the sausages and then move them to the pan with the onions and peppers. You can add more charcoal or open up the vents to stoke the fire after the sausages are done in preparation for the burgers. The sausages will hold well and stay warm for a fair while if you cover the pan. Serve the sausages from the pan, adding onions and peppers according to taste.

Using the method you describe Jay, is exactly the way to do both. My only exception is use a foil "half pan" in the grill from the start, you can adjust temp by working on or off whatever heat source you use. Why waste any decent grilling time indoors?
I do the Stephen Raichlen "Beer Jacuzzi" method using, basic indirect charcoal set up. Finish the sausages up to brown over a direct area at the end. The beauty is you CAN do both this way. The thing is it takes the understanding of three things which all will come with personal experience with your own grill and circumstances Gillian. The three things I see are:
1- Having enough area to accommodate the equipment.
2- Learning where your best "direct or indirect" heat sources are.
3- Taking the time to understand the best way to use the information in 1and 2

I wish I could be more help Gillian, but, I've come to the realization that I'm a charcoal guy, I just did a rather extensive rehab on a vintage "Silver B" and then realized, it was a "Rhett Butler" thing for me... "Frankly my dear, I just didn't give a damn" about it. I gave it to my wife's son and his squeeze.
Between the 18" WSM an 18" kettle, 22" kettle, and the rest of the stable, I'm deep in the charcoal pool.

Guys, he's using a Weber Spirit 3 burner gasser, not a kettle


Welcome Gillian,

Congrats on your new grill. The warming rack should get a bit less heat than the grate directly below it, but remember, heat rises. it doesn't just go from the burner to the grate then disappear. If you really need to just keep something warm for a period of time, turn off one of the burners and leave whatever you want to hold there. With 3 burners, you have some flexibility. You could shut down either the left or right burner and move the sausages over there, leaving the other 2/3'rds of your grilling area for direct heat. Or, you could turn off the middle burner and leave your sausages there, which will leave you with the left third and the right third for direct grilling.

If the hamburgers were hard, I'd wager that they were over cooked. Either they should have been taken off the grill earlier, or cooked at a lower temp setting on the burners.



On getting everything done at the same time, that will take some practice. You have to learn what heat levels to cook which food at, how long they will take, and how to shift gears in mid stream so to speak to have it all come out right. For example, grilled chicken, burgers and sausages. The grilled chicken will take the longest, so it should go on first. I like to sear my chicken so I'd fire up the grill with all 3 burners on high. Lay the chicken down starting on the left of the grill. Exactly where on the grate depends on how many pieces of chicken you are cooking. If only 2 or 3, then start at the back left directly over the burner tube with the first one, the second one in the middle and the third one at the front, making a line of chicken going back to front. Give the chicken a couple minutes on that side to sear and get some grill marks, then flip the chicken. Lid can be up or down, it's your choice. Lid down will actually speed things up, but lid up lets you be sure what is going on. Anyways, after the chicken has been seared on it's other side, turn that burner down to between medium and low. The chicken needs to cook more, but too a heat will burn it.

At this point, throw the sausages on over the middle burner and the burgers over the right burner. The sausages will need to be turned first as they will blister fairly quickly. Rotate the sausages, or flip them, or whatever to get a nice color on every part of them, then turn the middle burner down to low. Check the chicken and see how it's doing. IF it's done, shut the burner down but leave the chicken on the grate. If chicken isn't done yet, see if any of them need to be flipped. Also, you might notice that some of the chicken is cooking faster than the other pieces. If so, swap places. Grab the piece that is more "done" and move it to where a less "done" piece is, moving the less "done" piece to the hotter area.

While all that is going on, check on your burgers. Flip if needed. After both sides of the burgers have been seared, this is where judgment/experience comes in. What meats still need more time ? Can you crank up the heat under that meat ? Or does it need to cook at lower temp? If the chicken is done, and that burner is turned off, what about the sausages ? Are they ready and the burgers aren't ? Does the flame need to be turned down on the sausages or even off ? Who knows, maybe the burgers are done and the sausages aren't ? So move the burgers over next to the chicken, with the middle and left burners off, and move the sausages over above the right burner, which is on low. Close the lid and let the sausages finish.

All the above might sound daunting and complicated, and the first couple of times you try it, it probably will be. But, you'll get the hang of it and it will be old hat soon enough. When you break it down, it's really rather straight forward.

Dave / Timothy / Jay - thank you all so much, all that info is so helpful and I have some great tips for this weekend and my second attempt I suppose it is just a case of practice makes perfect. One thing I find is with the lid closed the temperature gauge takes a while to move down once I turn the burners down, I suppose that is to be expected as the cast iron grates will hold the heat very well.

See, I told you you would get lots of information.
Dave I know it's a gasser, that's why I ended with my being "deep in the charcoal pool"

Gillian, you have a lot of great tips here. Something else that comes to mind is the hardness of the burgers. You said they came directly from your fridge to the grill. Did you make them into patties yourself, or did you buy them pre-pattied? If you pattied them yourself it is possible to pack them too tightly. The more you work the ground meat the denser it becomes. That goes for meatloaf, or whatever. You want to put the burgers together at just the right consistency, if they're too loose you'll have a hard time getting them on the grill without falling apart, or having them fall part when you flip. If they're too densely packed then you get hard, tough burgers. It took me a while to get them right, but you'll get the hang of it.
Just something to consider.

Hi Mark

I bought the burgers already prepared, I plan on making my own at some point when I get the hang of everything lol.

But thanks for the tips

Gillian,

The warming rack is not named properly. Anything inside the covered grill will be heated like an oven. If your temp inside is 350 degrees, the "warming" rack area will be 350 degrees and will continue to cook any food placed there. I generally do not use the rack except when I want to reheat any food that has been taken off the grill earlier.

And welcome to the Board!

Ray

Hi Ray

Yeah this a lesson I learned the hard way lol! I'll just remove food that is ready and not use the warming rack.

There is so much to learn but I'm excited to try lots of new recipes.

Many thanks

Gillian

Yep, "Warming rack" is a misnomer to be sure. "Elevated cooking rack" might be more accurate. It's not bad for foil wrapped garlic bread but, watch that too.
I understand the short on time use of pre made packaged burgers but, I try to avoid them as much as possible, they tend to be packed and over processed that they become hockey pucks. At least that's my impression.
Now, I want a breakfast cheese burger! You guys are killin'me!

lol Timothy, hope you got that cheeseburger! Yeah I know what you mean about the pre made burgers, I do plan on making my own at some point. My copy of "How to Grill" by Steven Raichlen arrived last night from Amazon so I look forward to reading it this weekend and picking up some tips. Everyone here has been so helpful too. Now if only we got better weather in Ireland for all my future BBQ sessions lol!

Where are you in Ireland? I've spent quite a bit of time conversing with a member from Aberdeen (currently visiting "Grillstock" in Bristol) and we compare weather guessers notes some as well as grilling conversation. Today had a 90% chance of thunderstorms and it's barely sprinkled! I'm just as happy, having new windows installed! The windows are in but, the trim needs to be made up and installed now.
As a side note, I've been known to grill at -10 so, cold isn't really too tough but, wet? That's something else (less for a gasser)

I'm in Belfast, so really Northern Ireland, although that depends on who you talk to lol! Weather here is pretty wet, we don't get much sun unfortunately. I'm happy to fire the grill up in the cold weather though lol