Wednesday September 1, 2010

According to Weber's Fastfacts Survey, Labor Day is the second most popular outdoor cooking day of the year. This survey also found that people tend to be cooking out more than ever, and that the younger you are the more you are on the vanguard of outdoor cooking. As a matter of fact, according to Weber, 41% of people under 35 are cooking out more this year than last year, with a big chunk cooking out the same amount and only a small portion cooking out less. There has been a lot of growth in the outdoor cooking industry lately with new products and loads of new equipment, and I think that this increased opportunity is part of the reason for the growth in outdoor cooking. Anyway, I thought I would throw out this question this week:
POLL: Are you cooking out more or less than you were a year ago?
1) A lot less
2) A little less
3) About the same
4) A little more
5) A lot more
6) I just discovered outdoor cooking
7) Other (Please Specify in the Comments)
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Photo © 2010 Derrick Riches, licensed to About.com, Inc.
Monday August 30, 2010
The top 10 gas grills between the price of $1,500 and $4,000 on the market. If you are looking to purchase a new grill in this price range (based on manufacturer's suggested retail price) then these are the ones you should be looking at.
Photo: Weber-Stephen Products Company
Sunday August 29, 2010
Recently I started collecting your custom smoker pictures and stories. I have a few and wanted to point out these so you can take a look. There are a lot of great custom smokers out there and these first submissions are great. Take a look and if you have a custom smoker you want to show off there is a link for that too.
Your Custom Smokers
Saturday August 28, 2010

In the last decade a different way of chicken took the world (particularly the outdoor cooking part of it) by storm. Whether you call it Beer in the Butt Chicken or Beer Can Chicken the results are a wonderfully moist bird that is loaded with flavor and almost impossible to ruin. Okay, maybe this isn't completely foolproof, but it is easier than you think and produces a great chicken every time. I believe that the reason that this has become so popular is because of all the experimenting you can do with this method. Beer, wine, crab boil, chicken broth all work great in the "can". Smoke and spices can completely change the flavor, giving you a unique bird every time you cook it.

I always thought that the best part of this method of cooking chicken was the original recipe: "Take a chicken and can of beer. Open the beer and drink half (no less, no more). Place the chicken over the can so it's sitting up and place on a warm grill (in a hot smoker, in the oven, virtually anywhere you can roast a chicken). Come back two hours later and enjoy a great chicken." Any recipe that requires you to drink half a beer right at the start can't be bad, right?
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Photo © 2010 Derrick Riches, licensed to About.com, Inc.