When you barbecue, do you use a fork or tongs?

[KansDem]

Poll question: When you barbecue, do you use a fork or tongs?

The "Teens rob man with barbecue forks" in GD got me to thinking about the age-old dilemma: Forks or tongs.

I use tongs because I once heard from an old-time barbecuer that forks tend to let the juice escape when jabbing the meat.

So what does DU say?

[GOPisEvil]

1. Tongs or a spatula.

No forks.

[KansDem]

2. Yeah, I forgot the "spatula" option. I'll add it...(nt)

[trof]

3. Tongs AND spatula. Never fork.

Many marinades will make meat stick to a hot grill, so spatula for loosening it. Once the meat has a crust on all sides, tongs are fine.

And SCISSOR tongs, not the tweezers type.
One night I threw a pair of tweezers tongs as far into the woods as I could.
I couldn't exert enough pressure to pick up a heavy piece of meat.

[KansDem]

6. You have a good point...

Many marinades will make meat stick to a hot grill.

I've used only tongs at times and managed to rip the meat in half in an attempt to turn it over, leaving half of it sticking and searing on the grill. :grr: It really burns me up!

[KitchenWitch]

4. Both

[quakerboy]

5. Whatever is at hand

Fork. Tongs. Spatula. fingers. pot holders. knives. bowls. Can lids. Whatever is available and potentially helpful.

[KansDem]

9. Credit card?

Not just for scrapping ice off the windshield anymore...

[quakerboy]

11. oh... interesting idea

Potentially sketch though, those things melt relatively easily

[JoePhilly]

7. It really depends on the meat ....

Spatula for burgers because they tend to break apart.

Tongs for most other cuts of meat ...

Fork sometimes for a larger piece of meat ... and sometimes you want to see the color of the juices.

[KansDem]

8. "...and sometimes you want to see the color of the juices."

Hadn't thought of this.

Does one do this to see if the meat is fully cooked? If so, I might try this the next time I barbecue. Too many times, my wife, who likes her steak so well done you could almost sketch with it, becomes enraged when she cuts into her meat and "sees pink."

Many times the cause of discontent in the KansDem household.

[JoePhilly]

10. Exactly .... my wife prefers her's closer to well-done, I like medium ... AND ..

Some of the forks now have a thermometer ... which is really good for PORK, because you don't want to undercook pork.

[trof]

12. Use your finger to judge doneness.

Especially steaks.
Works pretty well with burgers too.
It takes some trial and error, but the firmer the meat, the more done it is.
I can pretty much use my finger to determine rare, medium rare, medium, etc.

Also remember that a steak will continue to 'cook' for a minute or so after you take it off the grill.
So you learn to undershoot desired final doneness.

And the MAIN rule: You can always cook it a little more, but you can't uncook it.

I first dip my finger in my Scotch & soda (& ice) for several seconds so that I
1. Don't burn my finger, and
2. Disinfect it between pokes, because I ALWAYS lick it after a poke.
;-)

I have a friend who also likes his steaks VERY well done.
I put his on 5 minutes before the rest and then don't worry about it because I CAN NOT overcook his.
(yuck)