Turning your gas grill into a raging barbecue machine may not be as difficult as you think. All the hype about good barbecuing has always revolved around charcoal grills and wood burning barbecues.

The purist will tell you that it is impossible to be barbecuing with a gas grill. But, with little ingenuity you can show them a thing or two, and be barbecuing like a pro in no time. Here are a few tips on just how to do that.

One of the first barbecues I ever purchased was a water smoker. If by chance, you are not familiar with them, they are circular in shape and have a dome lid.

They usually operate, on charcoal, or are electric. A pan filled with water is placed between the source of the heat and whatever you are barbecuing. It's a form of self-basting and prevents burning. The process adds a lot of moisture, and can add tremendous flavor to anything you put on the grill.

The idea comes from the Chinese way of cooking and steaming. You can do the same thing on a gas grill. Your unit must have a lid and have enough clearance to accommodate a water pan, a grill to put over that water pan, and of course whatever you are going to barbecue.

As opposed to the Chinese method, you do not want to really steam anything. This means, you don't want to boil the water, so cooking at fairly moderate temperatures is the answer.

Place the water pan in the center of your gas grill. Spray a little non-stick product inside the water pan and onto the grill that's on top of the pan.

Place everything in the center of your grill. Add warm water to the pan. Start your grill and turn the burners to medium. You will have to adjust the heat to get it just right. Try to maintain 325 to 340 degrees.

Let's experiment with a watermelon sirloin tip roast, or we can do a pork loin:

o Rub extra virgin olive oil on all sides of the roast
o Put on a dry rub (You can make your own)
o Refrigerate over night
o Sit out 45 minutes prior to barbecuing
o Once the grill is up to temperature (325 to 340 degrees) place roast in the middle of the water pan grill
o For enhanced flavor, you can add concentrated fruit juices to the water. For example, add a can of concentrated apple or orange juice.
o And, you can add garlic, onion slices for further flavor
o Shut the lid on your grill
o Check meat before one and half hours
o Using a meat thermometer check for doneness, 140 degrees for rare beef, 170 degrees for pork loin
o Let the meat sit out 15 to 20 minutes before slicing and serving

You will be surprised at the amount of flavor and moisture that will be added to your barbecuing using this method.

If you want to add a smoky flavor to your barbecue, there are several ways to do it. You can add a commercial brand liquid smoke to the water, or you can apply it directly to the meat.

Now, I don't smoke watermelon roasts, or pork loins but you can. I prefer to save the smoking for pulled pork or brisket.

The preferable method is to use wood chips in a metal box wood smoker, or make a tent out of aluminum foil. You can find wood chips in most hardware stores that carry barbecue grills, and you will find a wood smoker, too.

Soak the wood chips for about fifteen minutes or so in water before you are ready to use them. Ideally, you will want to sit the wood chips on the flame deflector, and this will mean lifting up, or removing the grill up to do that. Be careful!

If using aluminum foil cut off a big enough piece to accommodate the soaked chips. Try to make it as waterproof as possible at the bottom. To allow the smoke from the chips to escape, put half dozen small holes near the top of the foil.

You do not want to start smoking the meat until it is just about done. Turn the burners to their lowest settings, 100 degrees or less. In fact, turn off the burner that doesn't have the wood chips over it to get the desired temperature.

Or, barbecue using only one burner. This works fine, and you can have your wood smoker setup on the burner that is turned off. When you are ready to smoke, turn the idle burner on.

You only need to smoke for one to one and a half hours to get desired results.



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