Summer Grillin' & Chillin' With Chef Jet Tila: 9 Outdoor Cooking Tips From the Celebrity Chef by Chef Jet Tila

With summer grilling season here, I have teamed up with RTA Outdoor Living and Coyote Outdoor Living to create a list of outdoor cooking tips. Home cooks around the country are getting outdoors to cook their favorite foods including meats, seafood, plant-based foods, vegetables and desserts.

Here are nine outdoor cooking tips to help you become a grillmaster:

1. Best Meats to Cook Outdoors

Any meat can be mastered outdoors if you know how to cook it. Meats should be quick cooking proteins in smaller sizes from 4 to 20 ounces. Steaks from the rib and sections that include sirloin, porterhouse and ribeye are best.

2. How to Add Flavors to Meats On the BBQ

Rubs, brines and marinades are the three tools for outdoor grilling and smoking. If you want dry ribs, or simply seasoned steaks or chops, stick with a great dry rub that includes salt and pepper. Marinades are always good to flavor your proteins. Sauces are for finishing or glazing.

3. Best Seafood to Cook Outside

Seafood is fantastic for outdoor cooking. Fish fillets are the easiest starting point, with a great dry rub and some herbs you can have perfectly grilled fish. When you're ready to venture out, think about throwing some oysters on the grill until they open up. Pull one of the shells off to release the oyster from the half shell and hit it with hot sauce. Shellfish are also great for the smoker to add some great flavor. Some great shellfish for outdoors are oysters, scallops, clams and mussels. Don’t forget, simple, grilled shrimp in the shell tossed in some garlic, butter and herbs makes the perfect peel and eat meal.

4. Best Non-meat Proteins to Cook Outdoors

There are so many great plant-based burgers, and some can even give you that medium rare juicy look and feel that carnivores love. Don't forget to top them with plant-based cheeses that actually melt. You're not giving anything up these days with the plant-based meats out there. If you want to stay old school, slice some tofu into patties, marinade with some teriyaki sauce and grill away.

With plant-based proteins stay with direct flame high heat to get a nice char flavor and quick cook. Stay away from long smokes. Slow and low is not the way to go!

5. Vegetables That Stand Up to Outdoor Cooking the Best 

Almost any vegetable can be perfected on the grill if you understand cook times and moisture content. Harder durable vegetables, like asparagus, squash, carrots, cauliflower, should be cut into planks or smaller pieces. A generous amount of olive oil, and a good amount of salt and pepper is all you need. If you want to get fancy, don't forget grilling herbs like rosemary and thyme to add flavor.

For more delicate vegetables, like mushrooms, you can utilize a grilling basket and cook on lower heat for longer periods of time. The most important thing is to make sure to season your vegetables very well. A little bit of balsamic vinegar and mustard together goes a long way for a finishing vegetable vinaigrette.

6. Grilling Fruit Outside

In my opinion, the king of grilled fruit is pineapple, because it is durable and tastes amazing with some char and can be cut or skewered to make a beautiful plate up. Most fruits have too much moisture and will fall apart when grilled. Fruits like apples and pears are actually too dry and will just get dryer over the grill. Grilled pineapple pairs well with any meat because the pineapple turns into a companion that adds sweetness and some glaze.

7. Best Thai Foods to Cook Outdoors

There's a whole world of Asian barbecue or Asian grilling that should be explored. Asian versions of satays, kabobs, sausages, Chinese, barbecue, ribs, chicken, etc., are all over Asia and enjoyed everywhere. So, don't be scared to try some Asian grilling. I would start with a simple, satay and peanut sauce. Marinate your meat in coconut milk, salt, pepper and a little curry paste. Place onto skewers and grill over direct heat until cook through. Take the remainder of that curry paste with equal parts coconut milk cook until fragrant. Then add a knob of peanut butter, sugar and fish sauce and you've made the perfect Asian grilling dipping sauce.

8. Most Surprising Foods to Cooking Outdoors

Any food can be cooked outdoors. I think about your grills as cooktops as well. Place a cast-iron pan on them and you can sauté, steam or boil any of the food you cook indoors. Leave half of your burners off and create a convection oven inside your grill to roast or bake your favorite desserts. Indirect cooking is also great for larger format, proteins, like whole chickens, turkeys, ribs, roasts or larger format vegetables like cauliflower heads.

9. Cooking Desserts Outside

You can use your grill as an oven anytime by turning off one side. You can bake cakes, pies and breads on the non-heat side. If you have a pizza oven outdoors, then your world is open to anything you would bake indoors.

Photo: Bigstock

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