Your Ultimate Guide to Grilling for Game Day

Pre-Game Preparation

Let’s assume you already have the best grill for your tailgate — how’s the gas level? Make sure it’s full before you start grilling your favorite foods.

Not sure how much gas you have? Here’s a trick: tilt the propane tank and pour hot water onto the side of the tank. Feel the side of the tank to feel the area that’s cool even after you’ve poured hot water on it. That cold area is the gas level in the tank.

Of course, before using your grill, clean the grates first and oil it up. You don’t want your meat sticking on it, do you? Give your grill enough time to heat up before using it too.

Considering there are a lot of things you need to prepare for a game day cookout, make a checklist in order not to forget to bring a utensil, a condiment, or a piece of vegetable for your skewer. You may want to check your stuff for bottle openers. Two is okay, but four is definitely better.

Make sure your coolers are ready too. Gameday coolers for meats should not be less than two. Use one cooler for raw meats and the second cooler for cooked meats. Never ever mix them.

To hold your condiments and ensure that one type of sauce doesn’t get lost, you can use a six-pack holder. Beer is awesome, but it’s even better when it comes in a six-pack.

Food Ideas

Corn

It’s remarkably good to eat, but one problem with corn is that it can be difficult to husk after grilling. To soften the husk and make it easier to take off, place the corn in a pot of water with the stems end up and the silk and husk still intact. Allow the corn to boiling for up to seven minutes.

Next is to fire up the grill. Grill the corn with the husk over medium heat. Wait for the husks before removing the corn off the grill. Finally, remove the husk down from the tip. The silk and husk should come off together easily.

Ribs

When cooking ribs, transform your grill into a smoker by putting a woodchip-filled tin foil pouch atop the burner. As the meat grills, spray some apple juice all over it to improve its flavor and looks, as well as the tenderness of the ribs.

Kebabs

For some reason, food on a stick just tastes better, and kebabs are definitely one of them. To make better kebabs for game day, use two skewers when grilling instead of the usual one. This will prevent the skewered meat and vegetables from rotating accidentally while you turn them on the grill. This is one of the best ways to prevent unevenly cooked kebabs.

Burgers

Nothing screams game day than grilled burgers, right? To ensure the insides of your patty retain its juiciness, a trick is to hide a piece of ice cube in the patty. However, this only works if you’re making your own patties. This technique will work best if you are making the patties immediately before grilling them. You should be careful not to place the ice cube too long inside the patty to prevent it from soaking the meat.

Hotdogs

To make sure your hotdogs grill evenly, spiral cut them using a knife and a skewer. Be careful not to let your hotdogs sit too long on the grill. You want them to be tender and juicy, not completely dried out.

Post-Game Cleaning

While cleaning up after a game is considered not fun at all, you still have to do it in order to make sure your tailgate equipment stays in tip-top shape and thus can be used again on the next game day.

Starting with the grill, cut a large onion and scrub it on your grill while it’s still hot. The onion will help get rid of the oil and other residues from grilling, and at the same time will season your food the next time you use it again.

Check the area for trash too. Make sure your party place is free of empty bottles, skewers, tissue, memorabilia, and others after the game. Bring lots and lots of trash bags and use them accordingly. Do not mix leftovers with plastic or paper — always segregate. Gameday is where you have a crazy and exciting day with friends or family, but it doesn’t mean you should stop being responsible.

Put your team’s jersey on and fire up the grill — let the game day preparations begin!

We look forward to see you at The Shops of Rockvale.