Recipes / Grill

Time to fire up the grill

Here you’ll find inspiration for warm evenings, with tips and ideas for easy, delicious summer food that takes both the experience and the mood at the grill to new heights.

- Der er ingen opskrifter i denne kategori.

The recipe for the perfect BBQ evening

There’s nothing like a warm summer evening under the open sky with good food and a chilled glass of wine, together with the people you care about. BBQ food is wonderful and made for an evening like that. It tastes great, but it usually consists of many different elements, so it’s smart to have things under control, so you’re well prepared and can enjoy the evening without stress. Meat, vegetables and dressings are the typical basic ingredients. Once the grill is fired up, things often move fast. Luckily, there are several things you can prep in advance, so you can relax and enjoy time with your guests.

A cooler box is definitely worth getting: you can keep the sausages in it, have the marinated meat ready in a plastic bag, and if there’s room, you can also store the vegetables there, washed and ready to use. Alternatively, you can keep a lidded box next to it for vegetables. Together, this gives you an overview and also makes it easier to jump into action when the grill reaches just the right temperature. Before your guests arrive, you can also make sure you have all the essentials ready near the grill, such as seasoned oils, spices, sauces, dressings and marinades for the meat, so you can quickly grab what you need.

Music creates a great atmosphere and can help you unwind. You could put together a playlist with some feel-good tunes or your favourite tracks. Another way to slow your pulse, drop your shoulders and lift the mood is to mix a couple of fresh, thirst-quenching summer cocktails. Strawberries, raspberries and mint are especially delicious in summer drinks—which of course can be made with or without alcohol.

It’s so cosy to sit outside. The bright nights can be warm, but it can suddenly get quite cold after sunset. So remember to have a couple of blankets ready for when darkness falls, so the cosy vibe can continue. You might also light a garden fireplace or a festive fire bowl, complemented by glowing solar lamps or hanging lanterns.

Put exquisite delicacies on the BBQ menu

Besides the cosy get-together, one of the most important things about an evening like this is, of course, the BBQ food. With steaks, sausages, spare ribs, herb butter, dressings, baguettes and salads, there’s plenty to keep track of when it’s grill time—and you’ll need to bring it all together if you want to impress your guests.

At Zelected Foods, we offer a wide selection of delicacies and specialties that can take any simple BBQ menu to new heights in terms of flavour. We’ve found inspiration in street food from around the world and developed a range that makes it easy to add new taste experiences to a BBQ menu. We see street food as a true gastronomic treasure trove of big flavours—something you’ll love to share, and that’s also easy and straightforward to prepare.

Based on the best ingredients and authentic recipes, Zelected Foods’ wide range of sides includes pesto, seasoned oils, dressings, Habanero ketchup, Black garlic sauce, Hickory BBQ sauce, olives, crispy and pickled red onions, sun-dried tomatoes, grilled artichokes and bell peppers, marinated vegetables—and even more treats such as Béarnaise Mayo, Truffle Mayonnaise and Zelected Onion Chutney. So there are plenty of opportunities to explore the exclusive range of delicacies and specialties from Zelected Foods.

You can choose to put together a delicious menu consisting of slow-roasted Hickory BBQ-marinated roast, spiced potatoes with Béarnaise or Truffle Mayonnaise, and a fresh summer salad with, for example, pickled red onions, strawberries, grilled olives, sun-dried tomatoes and feta. It’s something most people will enjoy. Whatever you choose to serve, BBQ food is always delicious when the sides are exciting.

You can grill directly or indirectly

There are different ways to grill. The grilling method you choose has a big impact on the food. With the right method, you can grill the juiciest meat and the most flavourful sides.

Direct-heat grilling means the coals are spread across the entire bottom grate of the grill, and you grill directly over the coals or burner. This method is suitable for foods that need a short time with intense, high heat—such as flank steaks, burgers and chops. Food you’d often also cook over high heat in a pan. The method is also great for grilling vegetables such as courgette, tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus and bell peppers.

Indirect-heat grilling means placing the coals on each side of the grill, or only lighting the two outer burners on a gas grill. The food is then cooked in the middle of the grill grate, so it isn’t directly over the heat. That way, the food gets radiant heat from both sides. This so-called indirect grilling method is suitable for cooking larger cuts of meat, such as a whole chicken, duck or beef roasts. In other words, food you’d otherwise cook in an oven—and the method is also suitable for other foods that need even heat over a longer time, such as potatoes, carrots and pumpkin.

Remember good hygiene when grilling. Always use two platters (one for raw and one for cooked), two sets of tongs (one for raw and one for cooked), and wash your hands every time you’ve handled raw meat. Never mix raw meat and raw vegetables. That’s the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration’s grilling advice. If you follow these essential recommendations, you’ll most likely spare yourself and your guests a bout of food poisoning!

Grilling is all about timing and temperature

The right cooking time and temperature are important for achieving the perfect grilling result, but depend on several factors, such as the type of meat, thickness and desired doneness. So use a meat thermometer—always.

Keep in mind that the meat continues to cook after you take it off the grill. So remove it a couple of degrees before the stated temperatures to stop the cooking process in time. The meat should rest for about half the cooking time, so remember to let it rest under foil for 5–15 minutes so it turns out extra good. If you burn your fingers on the meat when you slice the roast, it means it hasn’t rested long enough! Here are the recommended temperatures for different types of meat:

Beef, veal and lamb
Very rare: 46-49 °C
Rare: 49-54 °C
Medium: 54-60 °C
Well done: 60-65 °C

Pork
Pink: 63-65 °C
Medium: 65-70 °C
Well done: 70-75 °C

Poultry: Duck, chicken and turkey
Medium: 71-74 °C
Well done: 74–82 °C

Grilling fish depends on the specific type of fish and its size, and it’s important to keep a close eye on the process. Brush the fish with a little oil to prevent it from sticking to the grill grate, and turn it carefully, as fish can easily fall apart. Remember to let the fish rest for a couple of minutes after grilling so the juices redistribute before you serve it. Here are the recommended temperatures for a couple of different types of fish:

Salmon
Medium: 49-54 °C, 6-8 minutes per side
Well done: 60-65 °C, 10-12 minutes per side

Tuna
Medium-rare: 49-54 °C, 2-3 minutes per side
Medium: 57-63 °C, 3-4 minutes per side
Well done: 63-69 °C, 4-5 minutes per side

Use your grill for smoking

You can also use your grill for smoking and smoke fish, meat or cheese yourself. Smoking is an old preservation method that can extend shelf life, especially for fish and meat. Smoke adds lots of flavour to meat on the grill. You can create extra smoke by using smoking dust or wood chips from beech, which can be placed directly on the coals in your charcoal grill or in the burner on your gas grill. Only use smoking dust that has been heat-treated and is free of bacteria. Start by salting the meat or fish before smoking. Salting brings out the flavour of the smoke and helps preserve the meat, which also gets a better texture. You can either sprinkle salt over the meat, make a brine, or use a mix of salt and brown sugar, or mix dried spices/blanched herbs into the salt. Salting should take place in the refrigerator to remove microorganisms in the meat. Smoking should be done with indirect heat. Place the smoking dust in an aluminium tray on top of the coals or burner—so not directly underneath the meat. Under the meat, place a drip tray to catch the fat.

Hot smoking is great for all meat, fish, cheese and shellfish. It’s very important that the meat is completely dry when it’s placed on the grill. With hot smoking, the temperature in the grill can reach between 100-200 °C. To keep the smoke in, the vents at the bottom should be open and almost closed at the top. The food is ready after 30–60 minutes. Smoking at a temperature between 60–80 °C requires longer cooking, and the meat needs to be salted for longer.

Cold smoking is a more difficult and time-consuming method, where the food is cooked at a low temperature in an unlit grill, but the result is fantastic. Start by salting your meat and leave it to dry in the refrigerator for a couple of days. You need to ignite a thick layer of smoking dust in a cold-smoking tray or smoke box. The beech dust should smoulder at a low temperature that must not exceed 25 °C. Smoking can vary from a few hours up to three weeks depending on the ingredient. Cold smoking is therefore a slow process.