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Grilled meats and barbecue sauce is a classic summertime combination. Chicken, beef, and pork all pair beautifully with the condiment, which typically infuses food with sweet, smoky, and tangy flavors, depending on the variety. For all the tastiness sauce adds to meat, it can also be a real hassle to clean up should it cling to your grates. To make future grilling sessions as mess-free (and tasty) as possible, our sister site, The Takeout, spoke with Shannon Snell, the pitmaster of Sonny's BBQ, about how to stop sauce from ruining your grill.
"Barbecue sauces should be added to food at the end of the cooking process as they only need 20 to 25 minutes to caramelize and not stick to the grill," Snell explains. Otherwise, the heated sugar in the sauce could start to form a sweet adhesive on the grates. Routine grill maintenance can also prevent saucy mishaps, as Snell says, home chefs must "clean and oil the grates regularly with a high smoke point cooking oil." The smoke point of oil refers to the temperature at which the fat begins to burn and produce smoke. Products with elevated smoke points are less likely to burn when subject to extreme temperatures. In this case, canola, avocado, and soybean oils are great for grill maintenance because their smoke points are in excess of 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
The science of sugar caramelization

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Barbecue sauce often has a surprising amount of sugar. Consider that Sweet Baby Ray's, a popular store-bought brand, contains 16 grams of added sugar in every serving, which amounts to just 2 tablespoons of sauce. As illustrated by BBQ pitmaster Shannon Snell's helpful tips, the high portion of sugar in barbecue sauce is both a blessing and a curse. In addition to infusing meat with an unbeatable flavor, combining high temperatures and sugar leads to a sticky situation. Caramelization involves complex chemical reactions that create novel compounds within the sugar. The longer it's heated, the darker and toastier sugar becomes. And as caramelized sugar crystallizes, it can get hopelessly stuck to whatever it touches, including your grill.
Along with Snell's guidance, there are other steps you can take to preserve your grill. Running a brush over the grates after the grill first heats up helps remove stuck-on food with ease. If you're dealing with particularly pesky food debris, pour half a bottle of beer over the hot grates to take advantage of your brewski's slight acidity, which can help break down food. Proper maintenance of your grill not only safeguards the appliance against wear, but it also ensures your saucy, barbecued meat is as tasty as possible.
Static Media owns and operates Mashed and The Takeout.