The Steve Raichlen Insulated Hot Food Gloves are back in stock at Backyard Bash. These gloves will protect your hands when pulling pork or handling other meats straight off the grill or smoker!

Another hot seller that’s now back in stock is the Charcoal Companion Reversible Rib / Roast Rack! This non-stick rack is a 6-slab rib rack one way and when turned over, it’s a handy roast rack that’s big enough for a whole turkey or a large roast!

Super Quick Seasonings

Making a delicious dinner doesn’t have to be a big production! Use these quick seasonings to add flavor, and then grill your meat and veggies on medium high heat until the meat is cooked through!

Daddy Hinkles Seasoning Duos: These are super-quick marinade & seasoning combos. Just apply the wet marinade and then the dry seasoning, let sit for a few minutes and you’re ready to cook! Comes in three flavors: Original, Southwest and Hot, and it’s good on beef and chicken! Backyard Bash has packets that include both the dry seasoning and the wet marinade for $1.50 each or packaged sets of the dry rub and marinade bottles for $8.75.

Callison’s Fine Foods Seasoned Skewers: Just thread your meat and veggies on these pre-seasoned skewers, let them sit for 10 minutes, sprinkle with salt and pepper and throw them on the grill! You get incredible flavor from the inside out! Flavors include pesto, Thai Coconut Lime, Hickory BBQ and more! $6.99 for a 10 pack.

Cajun Injector Marinades: Marinates in 1 minute! Use an injector or just marinate in a bag and toss it on the grill! It doesn’t get any better than that. Flavors include Rosemary Garlic, Jalepeno Butter, Roasted Garlic and Herb, Turkey Gold and more! $4.85 for a 16 oz jar.

Time-Saving Tools

If you spend more time trying to pry your stuck-on fish, chicken or steak off the grill than you did actually cooking it, or if flipping your kabobs is an exercise in futility, Backyard Bash has some tools that will make your dinner preparation frustration-free and quick!

Weber Grill Pans: These stainless steel pans are slotted to allow heat and flavor to pass through, but the slots are small enough to keep your food from sticking to or falling through your grill grates. If you like to cook veggies, seafood and fish on the grill, these heavy-duty pans are indispensable. Backyard Bash has both the veggie basket and the larger grill pan! For fish, just spray the stainless steel pan with a bit of oil and cook away! $22.99 – $23.99.

Double-Pronged Skewers: Backyard Bash has a variety of double-pronged skewers that ensure your meat, veggies, fish and seafood will turn with the kabob skewer! Brands include Grill Friends and Charcoal Companion. Prices vary.

Stainless Steel Wing & Leg Rack: You won’t have to use your tongs with this awesome hanging rack for wings, thighs and drumsticks. Just hang drumsticks or thighs on the outer rack by inserting knuckle in slots. Hang wings in outer slots and secure by tucking wing tips through inner slots. Hang pieces on inner slots by inserting bone in to large key-hole slots and sliding pieces towards the ends of the rack. You can even add liquids to the drip pan to infuse extra flavor! Try beer or other flavored liquids and spices. $26.49 each.

Fingertongs: Fingertongs are a cool innovation from Fusion Brands! Just slide your hand into the silicone tong, grab your food and flip it! Fingertongs give you better control over your ability to move food on the grill. They’re dishwasher safe and heat-resistant to 500 degrees! See above picture!

Thermometers: Thermometers take the guess work out of grilling! Have you ever taken food off the grill thinking it was done, only to find that it needed more cooking time? With a trusty thermometer from Backyard Bash, your food will always reach the perfect internal temperature for safety and flavor, and you won’t waste time trying to figure out if it’s done! Prices vary.

These are just a few of the products you’ll find at Backyard Bash to make grilling quicker and easier than ever! Having the right tools, and some incredible seasonings will ensure that you’ll be able to make a fabulous meal in a flash.

Good knives are essential to easy brisket preparation. A boning knife, flank & shoulder knife and a carving knife are good options. Backyard Bash carries high quality Forschner Cutlery.

A large cutting board, on which to trim and season your brisket, will contain meat juices and protect your countertop from sharp knives. Try Smoky Mountain Smokers disposable cutting boards for easy cleanup!

Plain yellow mustard is brushed on your trimmed brisket to help your seasonings stick. Don’t worry, you won’t taste the mustard once your brisket has been smoked!

A quality seasoning will enhance the flavor of your brisket by adding complex flavor profiles to the meat. Backyard Bash has a great selection of rubs made locally and across the country, like Head Country, Rufus Teague, and
more!

Jaccard Meat Tenderizers push seasoning into the meat and break down tissue, creating better flavor, more tender brisket, and allowing meat to cook faster. Jaccards come with 15 blades or 45 blades.

A large foil pan to place your brisket in once it’s prepped can be found at any grocery store.

You’re on your way to creating amazing smoked brisket! Backyard Bash is dedicated to helping you get the most out of all your cooking experiences!

You’ll also be able to tote along your tongs, thermometer and other tools, in the detachable side tray! I, personally, have a tendency to use my nice ceramic Pier1 dishes or other kitchenware to transport food to and from the grill. Not only do I have way too many chipped dishes, but it’s also hard to keep meat juices contained, especially with a 72 lb lab-border collie following my every move, and a 15 lb jack-rat terrier under my feet! I’m thinking from now on, I’ll be saving steps and dishes by taking my entire Grill Station out on the patio with me.

Optional accessories include the Weber Q Rolling Cart (we currently have this on order), the Weber Q Stationary Cart, a rolling duffel bag and more! Come by Backyard Bash to check out these sleek, versatile grills, and to pick up a product brochure today! Weber Q grills start at $139.99.

More photos–click for larger version:

The Q-120 grill is the Q100 with fold-out side shelves.

The Weber Q Rolling Cart folds down so that you can also use it as a caddy for your grill.

Here are some details:
* Flameproof to 2012°F / 1100°C
* Made of highest grade of 18/8 stainless steel
* Reusable and dishwasher safe
* Flexible and durable
* Securely locks in place
* Arthritis friendly
* NOT microwave safe
* Set of 4
* Adjusts from 2″ to 6″ diameter

You can take it from your stove top, to your grill to your oven. You can even hang it over a campfire. But there’s more to the benefits of cooking with cast iron than its ability to take a licking from open flames and still maintain its rock solid form. Experts agree that cooking with cast iron is good for the environment and even good for your health. Read on to find out why your grandma’s antique cast iron skillet is worth re-seasoning!

It lasts forever. And ever.

A while back a customer told me he had found an old cast iron pan in his grandmother’s house. He took it home, started using it, and then found an exact replica of the pan at an antique show that was billed as civil-war era! Indeed, once you’ve bought a piece of cast iron cookware, or found one, it’s yours for your entire lifetime, and the lifetime of generations after you. And, as writer Collin Dunn tells us on the Planet Green website, “this ultimate longevity is what makes cast iron such a great, green addition to any kitchen (or a great, green cooking option, if you’ve already got one or more). Imagine never having to replace your cookware again. Ever.”

The thing is, if you accidentally mess up the seasoning on your cast iron skillet or pot, all you have to do is re-season it, and you can do this over and over again. Got rust? No problem. Just scour off the rust and re-season the pan. That’s why very old cast iron cookware, like our customer’s civil war era pan, is still good today. It may look too dirty and worn to cook on, but many times, with a little elbow grease, and some actual grease (cooking oil or shortening), it’s as good as new!

The Natural Non-Stick

It’s not uncommon to hear people say that they’re leery of cooking with cast iron because of concerns about seasoning and cleaning. The truth is, cast iron is much better for your health and for the environment than “cookware coated with non-stick chemicals like Teflon,” according to the Environmental Working Group website, as referenced on the very informative blog, Cooking in Cast Iron.

Here’s an excerpt from information found the EWG website:

“Statistics reported by the Cookware Manufacturers Association indicate that 90 percent of all the aluminum cookware sold in the United States in 2001 was coated with non-stick chemicals like Teflon (Cooks Illustrated, September 2002). Chemicals and tiny, toxic Teflon particles released from heated Teflon kill household pet birds. At least four of these chemicals never break down in the environment, and some are widely found in human blood.“

It doesn’t take an expert to realize that the better option is cookware that you season yourself with natural oils and heat or pre-seasoned cookware, like the Lodge Logic line that Backyard Bash carries. Pre-seasoning is “nothing more than vegetable oil (and it’s Kosher vegetable oil if you get a Lodge pan!) heated at high temperatures. Yes, it can flake off, but it won’t hurt human beings or animals and this vegetable oil coating is fully biodegradable,” explains Rick Mansfield on Cooking in Cast Iron. And yes, if your nephew haphazardly tosses your pre-seasoned skillet into the dish-washer, you can still re-season it as usual.

Need to pump up your iron intake?

Another potential benefit of cast iron is that it adds iron to your food. According to the Go Ask Alice website, researchers have found that cooking with cast iron, and especially a new cast iron pan, can add significant amounts of iron to food. For example, “acidic foods that have a higher moisture content, such as applesauce and spaghetti sauce, absorbed the most iron. As a matter of fact, the big winners in the foods tested were these two items. For 100 grams of each (about 3 oz.), the applesauce increased in iron content from 0.35 mg. to 7.3 mg., and the spaghetti sauce jumped from 0.6 mg. to 5.7 mg. of iron.”

So, as long as you don’t have hemochromatosis, or iron overload disease, cooking with cast iron is beneficial, because it actually adds an essential mineral to your food!

Smoothed with rocks from the Tennessee River Bed?

Yep, that’s right. Writer Rick Mansfield tells us on Cooking in Cast Iron that part of the process of creating Lodge Cast Iron cookware is “pounding the pans with rocks to create a smoother surface on the molded cast iron. Lodge uses rocks taken directly from the Tennessee River bed for this process.” I guess it’s difficult to find a better example of eco-friendly production than using stones that have been smoothed over centuries by the rushing water of the Tennessee River to create the surface of a pan that someone will use to cook a nourishing meal for his or her family.

Sources:

Dunn, Collin. “Cook With Cast Iron Instead of Non-Stick.” Planet Green. 23 March, 2008. http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/cook-with-cast-iron.html

“Canaries in the Kitchen: Teflon Toxosis: Tips on Safe Cookware.” Environmental Working Group. http://www.ewg.org/node/8310

Mansfield, Rick. “Green Iron: The Environmental Benefits of Cast Iron Cookware.” Cooking in Cast Iron. 25 July, 2008. http://www.cookingincastiron.com/files/20080725_green_iron.html

“Does cooking with cast iron pots and pans add iron to our food?” Go Ask Alice. 28 March 2003. http://www.goaskalice.com/2378.html

More information:

Cooking in Cast Iron: Entire website is a great source of info about cast iron!

Lodge Cast Iron Eco-Responsibility: Read more about the measures Lodge is taking to make their foundry more environmentally friendly!

Backyard Bash: Read about seasoning and maintaining cast iron cookware in a previous BYB newsletter article.

Check out our Rubs & Sauces page for more!