If you are grilling at home and you have a coeliac in the house that you need to cater for you may be wondering whether it is possible to cook gluten-free and gluten-containing meats on the grill at the same time. And what do you need to do to clean up the grill to make it safe for your coeliac. Can you simply heat the grill up and burn any gluten on the grill off?
If gluten-containing meats have been cooked on the surface of your gas griller you cannot simply just burn the remaining gluten on the surface of the grill off by heating it. This is because the temperature that gas grills reach is only approximately equal to the temperature at which gluten denatures and therefore cannot be relied upon to remove any cross-contamination.
According to the grill manufacturer Weber a gas grill will reach approximately 500 to 550F and gluten is denatured at a temperature of approximately 570F. As a result of this the only way to remove gluten from your grill is to actually clean the grill which can be done with normal cleaning equipment and a scourer which will physically remove the gluten.
This may be impractical when you are hosting a barbecue at your own house so the simplest method to avoid any problems is to clean the entire grill before the BBQ starts and only cook gluten-free meats on the barbecue initially. This meat can then be removed to a separate plate to avoid any cross-contamination and any remaining gluten-containing items can be cooked on the grill.
The alternative method is to use a non-stick heat-resistant mat on the BBQ which will ensure that no gluten reaches the actual surface of the grill avoiding any contamination issues. To check out the latest price for a product of this nature try clicking on the link to visit Amazon.
Which Meats Are Likely To Have Gluten In Them?
If you are someone that is relatively inexperienced with dealing with a gluten-free diet it may be difficult to identify which things at a barbecue is likely to be gluten-containing. Generally any plain meats such as steaks, hamburgers, and chicken will be gluten-free, however, many commercially available sausages do contain gluten. So unless it is explicitly stated on the packaging that it is gluten-free you must assume that they do contain gluten.
The area where it is most likely that there will be gluten present is when there are marinades and sauces of some sort on the meat such as BBQ sauce or satay. If there is packaging present you can look at the ingredients to double-check whether it is safe for coeliacs to eat.
These types of products will sometimes be declared gluten-free on the front of the packaging, however, this is not always the case and it may be necessary to look at the ingredients on the side of the packaging.
In most countries around the world, there is a requirement for manufacturers to declare any allergens that are present in products such as wheat and nuts. The manufacturers generally do this in most cases by bolding the text for any allergens in the ingredients list. Some manufacturers will also put a declaration at the bottom of the ingredients list declaring whether the product contains allergens.
Any products derived from wheat, barley, oats, and rye will contain gluten with the exception of sugars such as glucose and dextrose which can be derived from wheat but have been processed to such an extent that any gluten that was present has been removed.
What Is The Best Methods For Cleaning A Grill Which Is Contaminated?
The method that I typically use at home where I do have a coeliac in the house is to simply heat the grill first and then scrape it down to remove any fats or excess food. I find that heating the grill helps to liquify any fats making them easy to remove with a paper towel.
Once this is done a soapy water solution can be applied to the grill to describe clean of any access contaminants. To do this use you can ordinary cleaning solutions such as detergents as these are absolutely fine for moving gluten. You do not need to specially sterilize or disinfect the surfaces that will be sufficient to remove any excess gluten and will avoid any problems with coeliac guests.
Is There Any Other Source Of Contamination For Coeliacs At A BBQ?
There are many other sources of food out at a barbecue which can be potentially problematic for anyone on a gluten-free diet. The most obvious of these is the bread which for most barbecues contains gluten. The other things that can be problematic for gluten-free diets are sauces and salad dressings.
So while it is possible to easily make many of the salads that you may serve at a BBQ gluten-free this requires you to plan a had a little by ensuring that you purchase only gluten-free condiments such as salad dressings and sauces.
Generally, you can apply the rules provided in the previous section to these sauces to give you a good idea of whether they are gluten-free. Generally speaking most tomato sauces and ketchup are gluten-free whereas BBQ sauce is far more likely to contain gluten.
Additionally both vinegarettes and mayonnaise-based salad dressings have the potential to contain gluten so you do need to carefully read the ingredients before putting them onto any salads.
In terms of the things that go into most salads, generally, the vast majority of them which are fresh fruit or vegetables are gluten-free and need not be concerned with them. However, it is only when you add things such as croutons that salad that may potentially contain gluten to it.
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