How To Use Those Circular Shapes In Your BBQ Grill Grate

Barbecue grills are generally simple tools built on decades of ingenuity, but it's not always easy to understand the subtle ways they're designed to make cooking easier. If you've ever wondered what those little circular cutouts in your grates are for, Scott Thomas, owner of The Grillin' Fools, has the answer.

"The circular [cutouts] in grill grates are for adding fuel and smoke wood or aromatics like garlic, onion, and/or herbs to the fire," Thomas says. "If the cutouts are really small, those are generally for attachments like an upper rack or as part of a rotisserie." Thomas notes that this is a time-saving convenience feature that eliminates the need to remove a piping hot grate with greasy meat just to add more fuel. "Every person who has done this more than once has dumped some meat on the floor."

Whether you use charcoal or wood, keep a supply of small pieces on hand so you can slip them through the cutouts with a pair of tongs. If you clean your grill grates with an onion, this also offers an efficient way to drop it directly into the fire afterward, turning cleanup into a value-adding prep step. Adding aromatics to your fuel is an easy and effective way to boost flavor, but be sure to do this only when using wood or charcoal.

If you're lucky enough to have cutouts like these, you can add all sorts of flavorful ingredients for next-level grilling. While different woods are known for their unique flavors, you can burn just about any whole ingredient — from cinnamon sticks to citrus peels — to enhance your smoke and get more mileage from your seasonings.

Herbs like rosemary and thyme impart a ton of flavor to everything from fish to perfectly charred grilled hot dogs. Onions and garlic pair well with almost anything, making them great aromatics to start with if you're new to enhancing your smoke. If your recipe calls for freshly squeezed citrus fruits, you can throw the spent rinds directly onto the fire for a tangy, fruity addition. Just make sure to squeeze out as much juice as possible beforehand to avoid lowering the temperature of your coals or wood.

Once you're feeling a little more adventurous, try experimenting with whole spices like allspice berries and cloves. Because they're dried, you can soak them for an hour beforehand to keep them from turning to ash too quickly and to help them release more smoke. Keep in mind that powdered spices burn almost instantly, so they won't contribute much flavor no matter how much you pour through the cutouts.