Basic Grilling - Kamado Joe GasJoe GJ26 Owner's Manual

BASIC GRILLING

Preheating
Preheating your grill is extremely important and provides more consistent
cooking results.
Preheat your grill by igniting all the main burners including the sear burner
and setting them to High. Then close the hood of the grill and allow the grill
to heat up for 10 to 15 minutes. Once you have reached the desired preheat
temperature you can turn off the burners that you don't intend to use and
allow the grill to reach equilibrium at the desired grilling temperature.
Types of Cooking
There are two ways to grill: Direct Grilling and Indirect Grilling.
Direct Grilling
This is cooking directly over the heat source. There is one basic variation
to direct grilling. You can either leave the lid up or keep it down and that
determines whether the food is grilled or baked. By closing the lid you hold
the heat in and allow the entire exterior of the food to be cooked. If you cook
with the lid open the rising heat will only cook the bottom of the food. You
still have to turn your food over occasionally to get even cooking with either
method. With the lid down, you reduce the cooking time.
The food you cook with direct heat is the traditional grilling method for
steaks, burgers, fish, etc. Anything that is less than 2 inches thick should be
cooked by direct grilling. These foods generally cook quickly and benefit
from a hot grill. Generally you want to grill with the hood down. The only
reasons to grill with the lid up is for items that need a lot of basting, or cook
so quickly that having the lid down increases the risk of over cooking.
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