Grilling Tips

Always preheat your grill. You should have a hot cooking surface for searing the food when it hits the fire. Before you add the food to the grill, scrub the cooking surface with a brass grill brush to remove any charred bits from your last cookout. For delicate foods such as fish, brush or wipe on a thin coat of olive oil to help protect the food from sticking.

Test for doneness. For most people this is the trickiest task. Many of you like to cut into meats to inspect the color of the juices. Don't do this. First, it dries the meat, and second, it's not very accurate (marinades can mask the natural juice color). There are two methods one can use - touch and temperature. Obviously, temperature is the most accurate and healthy. Insert a quick read thermometer half way into the thickest part of the meat without touching a bone. Remove the meat from the grill 5-10 degrees below the desired doneness because it will continue to cook for the next few minutes. Below is a chart for proper inte

For some reason, I don't do well with a thermometer (I usually end up overcooking my meat) so I tend to rely on the touch method, and when in doubt, use a thermometer to confirm the results. The touch method simply means you poke the meat with your finger and based on the texture you can judge its doneness. If it feels very tender and springy, it's rare. If it offers resistance with a little spring, it's medium. If it's firm and dense feeling, it's well done. If it's hard, serve plenty of vegetables!

Let the meat rest before slicing. Resting the meat for five or ten minutes allows the juices to settle into the fibers of the meat creating a moist, tender, grilled food.