Grilling steaks and burgers is easy. They’re big, flat, and sit nicely on the grate. But what if you’re grilling shrimp or vegetables? These can be small enough and thin enough to slip through the grill grates, where they’re quickly incinerated on the flames or coals. The usual solution for such delicate ingredients is to…
Use a Cooling Rack as Your Grill Basket
The wire racks you use for cooling freshly made cookies and crisping oven-baked chicken wings make a perfectly good grill basket. In fact, depending on the selection of cooling racks you have on hand, you may find that a rack gives you more space for grilling asparagus, broccoli florets, or sweet pepper spears than the grill baskets at your local hardware store.
However, not all racks are safe for grilling. Pick one that’s bare metal, without a nonstick coating, or the heat of the grill will ruin the surface. As the grill preheats, place the rack on the grate with its feet pointing up. Before adding your ingredients, lightly coat the cooling rack with cooking spray, ideally something with a high smoke point. Use a long pair of tongs to move the cooling rack around the grill as needed, whether to avoid hot spots, make room for burgers, or for any other adjustments. Then, once it’s oiled and in place, add the vegetables, shrimp, or other food you want to cook.
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The Advantages of Grilling on a Cooling Rack
There are benefits to this grilling hack beyond not buying another unitasker. As mentioned earlier, a rack can give you a bigger cooking surface. Better yet, you can change the size and shape of your cooking surface simply by picking a different rack. You can’t do that with grill baskets, unless you’re willing to accumulate them in multiple sizes. That’s even worse than splurging on a single unitasker, especially since you probably already own cooling racks in multiple sizes.
To clean the rack when you’re done, let it soak in a sink full of soapy water to soften the food debris, then clean it with a brush or run it through your dishwasher. Tip: If the rack won’t fit in your dishwasher standing on its edge, lay it flat on the upper tray, atop the other dishes. The rack will let enough water through to clean everything else, and it will still come clean itself.
