5 Little-Known Tips to Make 4th of July Your Best Grill Yet

Chef Eric Gephart, Director of Culinary Inspiration, for Kamado Joe shared his tips for making any holiday your best grill opportunity ever. 

1. Create a ritual: If you do an awesome dessert or the best roasted chicken, start talking the talk and getting people pumped about it. Make your guests crave your enthusiasm as much as the dish you prepare.

2. Keep it simple, keep it local: Great ingredients cooked perfectly win every time. Don’t spread yourself thin with a huge menu that includes hard-to-cook recipes or complicated ingredients. Focus on your local farms and producers and what you know and love to cook; the food will speak for itself

3. Get the whole family involved: If you have kids, encourage them to help at the grill. If they help make the food, they’re more likely to explore new menu items. Try setting up a kids’ station where they can assemble skewers or line a variety of marinades and let them pour over your meats and veggies.

4. Low and slow buys you time: It might take you 12 hours to cook a brisket but by the time your company is there, you can have a huge protein finished and ready to serve. This can allow you time to focus on the finishing touches – and spending time with company.

5. Don’t underestimate the sides: Side dishes can be the real superstars of a great cookout. Take your family’s traditional side a find a way to add a spin to it on the grill. A chicken salad goes from mediocre to amazing if you low and slow the bird on a JoeTisserie with a touch of sugar maple smoke.