Fire up the Grill

Memorial Day weekend barbecues are as American as apple pie. Two local meat experts have some advice that will fire up your festivities.

Dave Peterson, owner of  and Howard Walker, owner of offered their take on meat preparation, grill techniques and the best kind of grill.

Coincidently, both butcher shops got press this week because Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is learning to slaughter his own meat and may have brought a dead hog to Freedom Meat Lockers in the back of a Lexus earlier this spring.

But back to Memorial Day BBQing ...

Best Meat

Peterson and Walker agreed that skirt steak and tri-tip are the two most popular grilling meats.

Walker said, “We sell a lot of tri-tip and skirt steak. And, a lot of marinated meats.”

Peterson also recommends tri-tip and skirt steak for the Memorial Day barbecue.

“The nice thing about tri-tip and skirt steak is you can do a dry rub, a favorite marinade or Corralitos Market sells them pre-marinated for you,” said Peterson.

Recommended Grilling Techniques

Walker suggested cooking tri-tip slowly, with indirect heat to add flavor and tenderness. He said it should be cooked for 45 minutes or longer depending on the thickness of the cut.

For chefs who want a quicker cooking cut of meat, Walker recommends skirt steak, which can be cooked in about 30 minutes or less on the grill.

Peterson recommends the outside cut of skirt steak, as opposed to the inside cut.

“You always want to get the outside because it’s more tender,” said Peterson. “If you ever go to a store and you forget which one is better, think of jail—you don’t want to be on the inside. The inside cut is a little more gritty.”

If You Don't Want Beef

A treat that will have barbecue guests coming back next year is ribs, which can also be dry-rubbed or marinated.

“The secret with cooking ribs is to cook them on low heat for a long time,” shared Peterson. “That’s where they get their flavor and tenderness. There are two kinds of ribs. The baby backs come off the loin, where pork chops come from, so they’re usually lean. The other is a regular, pork spare rib, which comes off the pork belly. Those are usually a little fattier because the belly is the fattest part of the pig. With those ribs, you can bake them at a low heat in a pan with a rack for a long time and finish them off on the grill for flavor.

Also, Peterson said chicken is a great grilling meat. He is partial to boneless breasts and thighs.

Grill-able Appetizers

With all the fine tasting food sizzling on the grill, guests may need something to snack on while they wait for perfection to be served. Peterson recommends picking up some sausages to serve as appetizers. Mustard or dipping sauce alongside grilled sausages is sure to please the salivating masses.

Workin' the Grill

Indirect heat is the way to go, the experts said.

“You start the coals in the center of the grill, then as soon as they get hot, when the edges start to glow, spread them to each side of the grill—that’s called the indirect method. That’s the way to cook chicken and tri-tip so they won’t burn. The skirt steak is a flatter piece of method and can be cooked in a more direct method, with the flame right underneath it,” said Peterson.

For gas grillers, the flame can be turned down to medium or low to achieve the indirect heat Peterson describes.

For those looking to up the barbecuing ante, Walker recommends picking up a Traeger pellet barbecue pit—which Freedom Meat Lockers happens to sell.

“They burn natural wood pellets—apple, oak, hickory, mesquite, cherry or alder. You can smoke or grill on them. They work very well. They change the way people cook because you can leave them unattended. They’re self-igniting and easy to use.”

What are you waiting for? It's time to marinate, dry rub and get those coals heating up. Have a great BBQ!