Grilling Tips

• Make sure to preheat your grill to between 350 and 400 degrees. Starting with a hot grill will help you avoid the occurrence of food sticking to the grill and make clean-up easier.
• A great way to oil up your grill without creating unneccesary flare-ups is to use a cotton towel, diped in vegetable oil and then spread onto the grill grates
• When using wooden skewers, be sure to soak them in water to prevent them from burning before your meat or vegetables are cooked
• Try using a dry rub instead of traditional barbecue sauce. Barbecue sauces contain sugars that carmelize and then quickly burn. Cook chicken through and baste them with a thin coating of sauce
• You can marinate your meat for as long as you want before you put it on the grill, but if you want to use barbecue sauce while you cook, you should wait until the meat is almost done. Sauces tend to burn and turn black when cooked too long, so wait until the very end to brush on the sauce and just let it warm on the meat
• If you've got nice, inch and half thick steaks, you'll want to sear them on each side for about a minute and a half. This will serve to seal in the meat's natural juices
• After searing, move the steaks to the edge of the grill and cook over indirect heat. The heat that circulates inside your grill will cook the meat better than the direct flame will.
• Searing chicken should be avoided. Chicken needs to cook through and through until it's no longer pink inside. Searing will burn the skin and prevent the center from cooking thoroughly.
• To tame flare-ups, drain off excess marinade before putting food on the grill. Also less fat will prevent flare-ups so use leaner cuts of meat, trim excess fat to ¼ -inch on steak and chops, and remove skin and excess fat from chicken pieces.

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