World Champion Barbecue Expert Shares His 6 Secrets For The Perfect Grill Out
KEEP IT CLEAN
Everyone’s been there. You open the lid to your Charbroil and the insides look something like the devil’s toilet bowl. Not a good look. Remnants of previous cookouts corrupt your grill and slow things down. Mixon recommends using some elbow grease to clean inside the drum, and once it’s clean, coat the insides with aluminum foil.
“The simple fact is, it makes it easier when you go to clean it out for the next time you want to use it,” he says. “If you’ve got aluminum foil in the bottom, all you’ve got to do is tie it up in a little bundle, like a hobo sack and throw it in the garbage.”
GET FRIENDLY WITH PAM
If you’ve got cast iron grates, take some time before you grill to scrub off the ash and grime that’s collected over previous meals. Then spray them down with Pam cooking oil, and close the lid until the next time you’re ready to cook. “Whenever you get ready to grill, the temperature’s going to be 400 degrees if it’s a charcoal grill — ain’t nothing surviving at 400-plus degrees,” says Mixon. “So it will burn off the oil and you’ll be ready to cook.”
MAKE THE SPECIAL SAUCE
As to be expected, Mixon has an affinity for his own line of barbecue sauces. But if forced to choose a bottle off the shelf, the one he’d reach for might surprise you: Krafts. “It’s cheap, it’s ketchup-based, and a lot of people use it,” he says.
But it’s not that difficult to whip up your own sauce, says Mixon. His recommended mix: one cup of white vinegar, two cups of ketchup, a tablespoon of Louisiana hot sauce, a tablespoon of finely ground black pepper, a half teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of sugar. “Being from the South, I love a good vinegar sauce,” he says.
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