The Grilling Mistakes You Should Avoid

Grilling may be a summer pastime, but it’s never the wrong time to brush on your skills. Be ready the next time the warm weather rolls around by correcting these mistakes you may not be aware you’re making.

The Grill. Lighting a fire with lighter fluid may get everything blazing faster, but it’s better to start things slow. Build your fire with charcoal and newspaper until they’re fully gray. Give your grates time to heat up as you need these to be hot before you start laying anything down. If your grates aren’t hot enough you may end up steaming your steaks instead of building a crust on them. This will let all the juices escape.

The Food. A common practice in restaurants is to allow grilling meats time to come up to room temperature. If you place meat onto a grill directly from the fridge you’ll get an uneven cooking process. The outside will char while the inside will be more rare than it should be. When planning out your cooking process, consider cutting back on the amount of foods on your grill. Take those burgers, hot dogs or kabobs in smaller batches to prevent overcooking some and undercooking others. This will also help avoid cross-contamination.

Grilling. If you are looking to char your meats with direct heat, it should only be for a moment. You want to cook around the open flame. Once you have everything on your grill it’s best to leave it alone until you see a crust. Putting pressure on meat with tongs or a spatula disrupts the meat without need. After you’ve gotten everything grilled, let it sit on a pan for about 10 minutes before slicing into it. This will allow any juices inside to redistribute properly.

Sources: House Beautiful