Raining Outside? Try Indoor Barbecuing!

Yes, there is such a thing as indoor barbecuing. But hey, indoor barbecuing doesn’t mean using your ever-reliable wood or gas grill. First of all, that’s illegal in most places because it’s a major fire hazard. 

Second, it could kill you since these types of grills produce large amounts of carbon monoxide. What you need to know is that there are two basic types of indoor grills – the open grill and the folding contact grill.

Indoor Barbecuing 101

An open grill is pretty much like the electric version of the wood/gas grill. It provides you with the outdoor barbecuing feel as you occasionally turn the meat while cooking and even produce flavor closer to the outdoor variety. On the other hand, the folding contact grill works much like a panini press or sandwich maker. The upside to using this kind of indoor barbecuing grill is that it cooks your food faster as it simultaneously cooks both sides. Thus, it doesn’t require turning so you can do other things while grilling at the same time.

The Grill being used is an electric grill that has a non-stick grill surface, grooved to give those desirable “grill marks” on food and a cover which has the same type of grooved surface.

Food is placed on the grill and the cover is closed on top of it, enabling the grilling of food from both sides at once – cutting the normal grilling time in half. The grill is built with a “tilt” toward the front and a plastic dish is placed under the front end so that fat can draw off away from the food. Some grills have a low-fat feature. It also helps with the ease of cleaning which is one of the most important features of the grill.

Indoor Grills also cooks food more evenly because the surface maintains a constant temperature that’s easy to control, so you won’t get hot spots or flare-ups. You should never use an extension cord with any electric grill, and always use an outlet with a ground fault circuit interrupter.

However, as we always say, equipment is just one aspect of producing amazing barbecue dishes. Though using an indoor barbecuing grill indeed means none of that smoky flavor, which only wood or coal can deliver, there’s more to barbecue taste than smoky flavor. There are a variety of rich, bold flavors that characterize a good barbecue dish and these you can get from a good marinade, dry rub or barbecue sauce.