Some Final Tips

Appears in

Cooking One on One

By John Ash

Published 2004

About

Be sure to have everything organized and next to the grill before you start cooking. More good food has been ruined by someone forgetting something and having to run into the house to find it.
Keep a spray bottle full of water next to the grill to dampen flare-ups and to cool things down (including the cook!) if you need to.
Always start with a clean grilling surface. Oil it lightly after it’s hot and before you place any food on it.
Only cover the grill when you are cooking items that will take longer than 30 minutes. For items that take a short time to cook, covering will give off-flavors to the food. If you’ve got something like bone-in chicken breasts or thick-cut chops, which are “in between,” an alternative is to move them to the cooler part of the grill and cover them with a metal roasting pan or pie pan so that they can finish cooking without the outside becoming charred.
Wood chips to create smoke are a waste with the direct heat method since we don’t cover the grill—so don’t use them! Save them for those times when you use the indirect heat method and cover the grill.
To test to see if a grill is ready to cook on, many cooks use the “open hand test”: hold your hand about 6 inches above the grill. If you can hold it there for about four seconds before it becomes too hot to stand, the fire is ready. If you have to move your hand sooner, the fire is still too hot. If you can hold it there longer, the fire is too cool, and you’ll need to either turn up the gas or add more coals.

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Grilling

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