Barbecue Bootcamp

Idaho Beef Council’s Traci Bracco talks about barbecue boot camp. “Thursday, June 19, we will take 100 individuals and put them in the trenches and teach them all things barbecuing and beef. It is an event that is designed to teach the participants basically the ins and outs of grilling so that everyone can be a king of the barbecue this summer when they spark up that grill. Many people are uncomfortable with a grill, they know a little bit about it or they constantly cook the same item. The beautiful thing about grilling is that it is unlimited as to what you can put on the grill. We have six stations that we take people through ranging from the first station which is going to be burgers. There we teach participants everything from shopping for ground beef, what you choose, what is the best item to make burgers with and then we teach them a few recipes for burgers. For instance, we do pesto burgers. Then they go to the steak station and learn everything there is to know about steaks. The different types and grades, to grass fed versus grain fed, how you properly grill a steak on the barbecue, the do’s and don’ts like pierce it with a fork an salting before hand, and then they sample steaks at the end of it. Then on to the roast station and then rubs and marinades station, we also have a wine and beef pairing station and then we have a non-cooking station as well that teaches them about the differences between smokers, traditional gas grills and charcoal grills and what’s the best one to meet their needs.