Barbecue grilling accentuates the natural flavor of food more than any other cooking method. When you cook something fast with dry heat, you cook it true and nothing you can do with seasoning or techniques will change the essential quality. The choice of ingredients is so important in grilling that we include extensive shopping advice in the recipe chapters of the Grilling Coach, identifying ways that anyone anywhere can find premium products.



Season Food With Bold Subtlety

The crusted, browned flavor of barbecue grilled food gains heft and dimension from many assertive seasonings, but your touch has to be gentle enough to protect the inherent taste of your main ingredient. Go intense but easy, hearty but not heavy-handed, striving to add layers of savor that enrich both the character of the food and its grill flavor. If you mask the underlying tastes by piling on the spices or sauce, you've achieved nothing by grilling. It's better to tilt toward simplicity -- some fine ingredients don't need much more than salt and pepper anyway -- but the optimum end is balanced complexity.

Organize Your Grilling In Advance

The cooking goes so quickly that it's important to have everything in place before you start. Prepare yourself by going through each step in your mind, reviewing what you'll need as you proceed. Line up ingredients, seasonings, and cooking utensils and place them within easy reach. Know your projected cooking time and any other useful recipe details. If you intend to serve the food hot off the grill, when it's usually at its best, set the table well ahead. Grilling is easy when you're ready, but not when you're not.

Think Grate

That's what you grill on and it should always be clean, hot, and lightly oiled before you begin. Preheat the grate with the grill covered while the charcoal or gas heating element reaches cooking temperature. Right before you put on the food, brush the warm surface with a thin coat of oil to prevent sticking. When you're done, scrub the grate with a wire brush to remove anything that didn't make it to the plate.

Serve Cooked Food

Sounds simple, but checking if the food is properly cooked can be a little tricky in grilling. An instant-read meat thermometer is seldom practical because barbecue grill cuts are usually too small to allow accurate measurements. Recipes provide general guidance on doneness for different types of food, but also watch the clock carefully while you grill and pay attention to the suggested cooking times for each dish. The times given in any grill recipe are always approximate because of the many factors that can affect a quick, high-heat cooking process. You'll often need to cut into meat, poke a fork into fish, or nibble on a vegetable to get the irrefutable inside evidence. No matter what anyone says, it's better for you to do the checking at the grill than to leave the job to your guests at the table. Undercooked food can be dangerous as well as unpleasant to find on your plate.

So sum up, subtlety, good quality ingredients, careful preparation and correctly cooked food will ensure that your barbecues are the most popular in the neighborhood.