SFU: Sears Grilling Food on the Grill Photos #grillingishappiness #SoFabU

If you've been following my blog you know I'm currently enrolled in a Social Fabric University class hosted by Sears to learn how to better photograph food.  The first week I talked about what I hoped to learn in this class.  The second week I shopped for a grill at Sears.  The third week I actually bought my grill and brought it home.  Well this week's class, the fourth week, was all about taking pictures while things were cooking on the grill.  I wasn't as excited with this week's class as it was only photos of food on the grill.

I had a little problem with the grill itself this week.  After using it for the very first time, it didn't get hot enough to clean my grill grates.  Which is definitely a problem.  I spent most of Tuesday afternoon soaking and scrubbing the grates with vinegar.  This removed most of the mess but I figured something else had to be wrong.  I talked with Sears and they offered to send out a tech to check my grill.  The older gentleman they sent changed out all my hoses and still the grill didn't get as hot as it needed to be.  He told me there was a design flaw in the grill.  There's a gap in the back where the hood meets the rest of the grill block.  It's only about an inch but that's enough to keep the grill from reaching 700-800 degrees.  This means all the crud on the grill grates won't burn to ash each time I leave the grill on after cooking.  Major sadness.

Anyway, back to my assignment this week.  This week our assignment besides taking pictures of grilling was to make sure the subjects were not in direct sunlight.  Direct sunlight often looks great to the naked eye, but causes colors to be off when you take a photo.  All of my photos were lucky enough to be taken in the shade.  Another thing to take into consideration was the rule of thirds.  The rule of thirds basically means to make sure the most important thing in your shot is in the center.  I've tried to do that with most of my pictures.  Another thing I try to do in all my photos is adjust the white balance on the camera.  This allows things that are white in photos to show as truly white and then the rest of the colors show correctly.

The first thing I cooked on the grill was a fresh chicken Parmesan with a basic marinara sauce and some veggies I tried in the grilling wok I got.  This is an above shot.  With the below shot being a diagonal which means the subject fills the shot from one corner to another.

The side burner worked great for my sauce.  It bubbled merrily away while I worked on everything else.

I also tried out the grilling wok I bought, but there must be a trick to it or maybe it has to be on the grill while the entire thing heats up for cooking.  I love the idea of the grilling wok, but it barely cooked the carrots, red peppers and squash I put in there.  I ended up taking the veggies inside and finishing them on the stove.  The second photo is an example of above with perspective to draw in the viewer's eye.

The next thing I grilled were some thick cut boneless pork loin chops.  I absolutely love either grilling or broiling thick cut pork chops.  They're fantastic with some olive oil brushed over them and then whatever spices you prefer.  I love mine with any kind of spicy rub on them.  YUM!!

And of course I had to grill burgers cheeseburgers.  I used a 75% Angus ground chuck to make these with some thick Worcestershire sauce on both sides.

I guess the 75% Angus was a little too greasy because I got smoke and flames on the grill.

Due to all the flames I was pretty cautious when putting the cheese on but it all worked out to gooey cheese burgers.

My last meal is something I love to make on the grill, PIZZA!!  There is nothing better than making a homemade pizza on the grill.  Besides having to make and let the dough rise (or letting the bread machine do all that for you) and prepping the toppings, it takes no time at all to grill up a pizza.

The dough has to be pretty well oiled before you put it on the grill.  It takes about 2 minutes to do one side.

Then its time for sauce and toppings.  We went with sliced baby Bella mushrooms, pineapple, fresh ricotta cheese and mozzarella.

Then you carefully put it back on the grill and cook it until the cheese is melted.

So that's my week of grilling on my new Sears grill.  It's awesome that Sears is sponsoring my photography class at #SoFabU because #grillingishappiness.  :)

I am a member of the Collective Bias Social Fabric Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and Sears #CBias #GrillingIsHappiness.  All photos and opinions are my own.