Grilling Tips (The Do's and Don'ts)

Who doesn’t enjoy the experience of watching great food cooked on a grill?

With those oh so inviting aromas, the symphony of that perfect sizzle, the sight of the simmering smoke that seems to hug and greet you by your first name, like an old friend. And then the thought of the first perfect bite… you know the one… that moment when time stands still, as your taste buds converse with layers of carefully crafted flavors, and your vision becomes momentarily impaired just long enough for you to dream of the next bite.

If you’ve ever had the experience then you know what the journey means to your palate, but if you haven’t, we’re going to give you a few tips to help you get there.

To be fair, It’s important to understand that not all grills are created equal, and neither is the fuel that keeps them blazing.

A cast iron grill for example will cook differently from a porcelain grill, or an aluminum one. And wood will burn and cook differently from charcoal, or butane. But we’ll go into more details about those differences in a later post. For now, we want to focus on getting your grill game to the next level when it comes creating that euphoric experiences like the one we mentioned earlier. To start, lets talk about the importance of heat distribution and how it affects the flavor of your food.

Heat Distribution…

Heat distribution can be the determining factor in whether your final dish will be served as leather, pure ash, or finely tuned delectable delights at your table. To ensure the later, we recommend creating heat zones on you grill, as these will go a long way to ensuring even cooking and proper doneness. Fortunately, there are several ways to manage heat zones and as an added bonus, heat zones help to better manage your cook times as well. Heat zones simply means controlling the grill space where you cook your food. To do this you’ll want to know where your HOT spots are on your grill and where the COOLER spots are. This will determine which foods you cook where, and how long they cook for.

Creating zones is simple enough, you can do this by moving your heat to a specific area on your grill… (i.e. if you’re cooking over flames, move your fire to one side of the grill to create a direct heat source, allowing the area with less flames to become your cooler spot/indirect heat space. Or, if you’re cooking with butane, simply turn the heat down on one side of the grill to a lower setting, thereby allowing the higher heat to create the hot zone.) Super simple right?

But now that you have your cooking zones, you’ll need to know how to maintain the heat, so that your foods cook evenly, and that can be done simply by keeping your grill grates clean.

The reason for this is because dirty grill grates, where proteins, and sauces, and other textures have seared onto them can lose heat due to the spaces in between to become clogged. When this happens, the heat cannot reach the food which results in uneven cooking. Additionally, as the residual foods continue to cook and carbonize on the grates, they can add a burnt flavor and small bits of crunchy textures, that simply do not belong in great grilling. While it may not be possible to keep your grates in perfect condition for every grilling session, the importance of at least trying to keep them clean and free of caked on debris, cannot be overstated. So it’s well worth it to purchase and use a grill scraper; your food will thank you!

The Placement…

So now that we have clean grill grates, and cooking zones established, it’s time to understand how to use the zones, and why… Simply put, HOT ZONES are best for searing, or caramelizing, while the COOLER ZONES are best for extended cook times or for holding items. So for example, if you were planning to cook ribs, you would definitely want to cook them in a medium/cooler zone, because they’ll need to cook slow and low to retain moisture and texture. On the other hand, grill marking steak or chicken works best using the hotter areas, because you’re only marking/searing them there; but you’ll still want to finish them in the lower temp zones.

It’s worth noting that grill marking, does not always mean cooking to completion. For example, grill marking chicken to completion in a hot zone means chances are, the texture will end up reminiscent to jerky, while the flavors will be much closer to burnt char.

The Point… Use hot zones for what they are, medium zones for long term coking, and cooler zones for holding.

Another tip for cooking ribs is to try place them with the bone side facing downward, closer to the flames. This is so that the meatier side does not dry out during the cooking process, and turn into leather along the way. Grilling chicken, thick cut steaks or center cup pork chops? Try grill marking them first to seal in some of the juices, and then move them to a cooler area to allow them to finish cooking over lower heat.

Grilling vegetables comes with cornucopia of flavor variations, but not without a series of challenges, so we’ll discuss this too in another post.

For now, though, lets walk through the process of removing the meats and getting them ready to serve them.

Removing & Re-Seasoning

When its time to remove your meats from the grill, remember to remove them just before they reach the “completely ready to be eaten” stage. This will allow time for the residual heat to carry over and cool slowly to ensure the meat doesn’t get too tough. In other words, if you want a medium well steak, remove it when the temp is medium. The residual heat will do the rest, and as the juices settle within the meat, you can count on a more consistent texture when you serve it. Also don’t be afraid to reapply a few spices to your meats or vegetables as they are cooling.

Sometimes as the foods cook and release moisture, some of the spices can run off in the drippings and leave them just a touch bland. Sauces are always a nice touch to have on hand to create a great finish, but using your favorite spices works just as well, if you’d prefer not to sauce things up.

So now that you have the basics, you’re ready to cook like the pros! Soon you’ll be a renowned community Pit Master, creating euphoric moments like the one mentioned earlier. But before we go though, here’s a few more Grilling Tips to add to your repertoire, and as you do, check back with us and tell us your story! We’d love to hear it!