Everyone has their own little tips about grilling–whether you grill with charcoal, propane, wood or over an open fire pit. We have a wood fired grill, but all of these could be used with any type of grilling you do.

• The Onion Trick

We were grilling out the other day and John asked me if I’d posted his onion trick on the site. Uh, no. He was amazed at the onion trick when his son (his 18 year old son who doesn’t take much interest in this type of thing) told him about it, so he figured you all needed to know it, too…he’s looking out for all of us!

To clean and make a non-stick grill rack, use an onion! Just slice an onion in half and rub it over a hot rack. John just uses his trusty fillet knife to keep away from the heat some. I put my hand in a potholder first…I’m a wimp I guess.



Your onion will be braised and black. That’s a good thing!



Toss the onion right into the fire or coals when you’re done, you’ll have a great aroma and flavoring.



See the rack? All clean and if you look real close you can see the shininess–that’s the non-stick.




• Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Want to keep the heat out of the kitchen but roast something? Pull out the Dutch oven and put it on the grill.

Here we were making pork loin. After marinating the pork loin, we put it on the grill to braise it to get some nice grill marks and let the smoke flavor penetrate it.





Then into the Dutch oven it went with a little bit of liquid on the bottom. We used 1/2 can of beer for some moisture, but anything will do, even water.



Covered and roasted, you’ll have a perfect, tender, moist roast in a little bit of time.


• Potatoes in the Coals

Now this one, I’m not sure if it’ll work with the propane. I’ve just never tried before.

Wrap your potatoes to be baked in a double layer of aluminum foil and stick them right into the coals.



It saves grill space and they will be done right along with the rest of your meal. If they get done first, pull them up to the top in corner.


• Use the Stock Pot

Soaking corn on the cob in the husk then grilling is in my opinion the best way to prepare corn. I’ve found an easier way to soak it. I now use my large stock pot and take it right outside instead of using the kitchen sink like I used to.



Put your corn in the pot and cover with water. The corn tends to float, so I put a dinner plate on top of the corn. The water weighs the plate down and keeps the corn under water.

Grilling your corn in the husk gives the most juicy, flavorful corn ever!



And easy to peel! That pesky corn silk glides right off.



I’ve even put unhusked corn right in the freezer in a garbage bag to pull out in the middle of the winter to grill. It’s lasted until February that way–I only have so much freezer space.

What great tips do you have to share? I love finding new ones!

Cindy blogs at Chippewa Creek ~ Our Life Simplified.

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