When summertime comes around, all the best of the best grillers like to come out, put on their best grilling aprons, and prove that they are indeed the King of the Grill. And many self-proclaimed grill kings do have quite the talent in front of a grill versus in front of a stove, but it’s also safe to say that these so-called grill kings wouldn’t have the talent and skills that they have if it weren’t for the grilling tools and accessories to accompany their talents.
True enough, the grill and the grilled food are the stars of any barbecue function, but it’s the grill tools and accessories that are the unsung heroes. If it weren’t for having the right knives for trimming brisket, you might bite into a less than a tender piece of meat. If it weren’t for a grill brush to clean your grill racks, you might be having a robust flavor of char from the last time the grill was used. Also, without a meat thermometer, how would you know when your meat was at the perfect temperature to take it off the grill?
Without these important grilling tools and accessories, your title of King of the Grill would be quite undeserving. But for this article, we’re going to skip the obvious and pay homage to the unsung heroes of the grill… the grilling tools and accessories. Without these grill heroes, cookouts would never be the same.
So, may your grills be hot and your meats tender and flavorful… Take a look at some of the most important tools and accessories every serious griller needs to be deemed as King of the Grill.
Important Grill Tools and Accessories Every Serious Grill King Needs:
Barbecue Grill Light
If you’ve ever been to a cookout, then you know that these things can start during the day but can go well on into the night. As a grill king, you know this and a grill light is your saving grace to grilling delicious food no matter the time of day or night.
There are many different types of grill lights available too. A lot of them clamp on to certain sections of the grill but some of the more popular ones have a heavy sturdy base and sits on flat surfaces with a flexible gooseneck to highlight all or certain areas of the grill you are focused on.
Grill Brush
You could keep it “old school” and ball up a piece of aluminum foil to clean your grill or you could be the serious griller you know you are and invest in a heavy-duty grill brush. Now, there are those fancy grill brushes with motorized bristles that claim to give you a sparkling rack… If you’re into that then by all means go for it but the truth of the matter is that you don’t need all that.
When you clean a grill, it’s all about applying force, so a basic brush with stainless steel bristles is what you’re going to want for maximum cleaning results.
Meat Thermometer
Whether you’re grilling or smoking meat, how will you know when it’s done? Sure, certain meats like hamburgers, hotdogs, and salmon, you can kind of “eyeball” it and have a good chance of the meat being cooked well enough to your liking. But what about those larger than life pieces of meat? You know, your thick pork chops, steaks, chicken breasts, and turkeys… Without a meat thermometer, you’re more than likely going to overcook these meats or leave them undercooked, and you don’t want those kinds of problems.
According to the CDC, trichinellosis is an infection caused by consuming undercooked meats. This can cause diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and abdominal discomfort, otherwise known as food poisoning. The last thing you want is to serve your guests undercooked food… You’d be better off overcooking the food than undercooking it… At least that way you’d be known as the griller who cooks dry meat versus the guy who serves undercooked meats.
Neither title is favorable, so if you want to keep or maintain the title of King of the Grill, you best invest in a meat thermometer ASAP!
Grilling Tongs, Spatula, and Fork
Think of the grilling tongs, spatula, and fork as the Holy Trinity of grilling because you simply can’t grill without them. In every grilling set, you will always see these three tools. Ideally, you want these tools to be metal simply because they just work better on the grill and won’t melt but you want these three together because they help each other out, in a sense.
Let’s say you have steaks, burgers, and chicken legs and wings on the grill… All three of these grilling tools serve a purpose for those meats during the grilling process. Your tongs will be used to turn the chicken, the spatula to flip the burgers, and the fork to turn the steak. These tools are actually quite multi-purposeful but it all depends on what you want to use, and that reason alone is why you need the Holy Trinity of grilling accessories.
There are more grilling tools and accessories you’ll need to be a master griller but the ones listed above are the grilling staples you need to be deemed as King of the Grill!
