Basics of Grilling

Grilling, just like any other type of cooking, is an art form. And never let anyone put your grilling down, especially if they can’t do it themselves! Unlike conventional cooking, grilling is a combination of the stove, and the oven. You have direct heat from the gas burners or the charcoal and you have indirect heat that fills the grill when the lid is down. Also, grills have more heat and less control. With an oven you can set the temperature to the exact temperature you want. With a grill, you can either turn it on, or light a match to start the charcoal, and the heat keeps rising. Most gas grill can reach 500 degrees in just a few minutes. This is one reason why you can’t just “set it and forget it” when grilling.

Managing heat, both directly and indirectly, is the key of grilling. While it’s easy to cook food very quickly on a grill, you want to make sure you flip the food to cook it evenly and thoroughly. If you turn the food too quickly the food can turn out dry and tough, but if you don’t cook the food enough, it can be raw and disgusting. The secret is rotating the food only when needed. When cooking a steak or a hamburger, get down low, by the edge of the grill, careful not to burn yourself. Slowly lift up the corners of the meat or burger. You’ll notice lines on the meat from the grill starting to create dark black lines, now it’s time to flip!

Knowing when to turn and when things are cooked is the whole skill of grilling. Just about everything else is recipes, how good the food is, and basic cooking knowledge. This is the hardest thing to teach, especially over the internet, in text form. Ideally, a steak will be turned once, but this is very hard to accomplish. If the steak is very thick (more than about 1 1/2 inches) you may need to do it three times to get it cooked through and to the center of the steak.

The best way to start is with simple things. Purchase smaller steaks and move up as you feel more confident with your grilling skills. The same goes with hamburgers, start off around half an inch thick, then move up. This will help you learn what parts of the grill to use, the correct temperatures, and timing for cooking your meals. As your confidence grows, so will the meals you are able to grill.