Grilling for Beginners

The grill doesn’t have to be intimidating. The key to great grilling starts with feeling comfortable with the grill you’re using. Are you most confident using a small tabletop grill, a kettle grill, or maybe you’re at home using a large, full setup grill? Whichever you choose, it needs to be something you feel you can master easily rather than the grill mastering you.

Before we get started, let me say that the words barbecue and grilling are not just two different words, they are, in fact, two different things. Grilling is what you DO, and a grill is the medium used for it. Barbecue is what you EAT. The industry tends to use these terms interchangeably, kind of like stuffing and dressing – – they’re two different things – – but they tend to be used to mean the same thing. 

Your next step is to decide what type of fuel you want to use in your grill. If not having to worry about getting your fire started, managing your level of heat, dealing with coals or wood, etc., is important to you, then you may want to consider a propane grill. Using a propane grill is essentially like using your indoor kitchen gas stove, except you’re using it outside.

If you love the thought of a bright burning lump coal or charcoal in your grill, then you should consider a grill that allows you to use various types of charcoal and/or wood.  And if you want to introduce smokiness into your grilling, you should do some research on ways to achieve the level of smoke you want.  There are combination grill/smokers, pellet smokers, offset smokers, vertical smokers, and big boy smokers out there. I recommend you start small, especially if smoking is new to you, and use a smoking cylinder that can be placed right on your grill while you are cooking your food.

For non-propane grilling, you will want to spend a little time learning how much charcoal or wood to use for the amount of heat and flame you need for what you want to cook. When using wood, remember that some woods burn very hot and quick, while others are slower burning. Wood also imparts flavor, so think about whether you want a stronger, smokier wood such as hickory, or something more mellow, like pecan. There are also sweet woods such as apple, peach, and cherry.

Using too much charcoal/wood will result in a hot, fast cook. It can also produce a charred exterior on your food, with the interior not having time to cook properly. Conversely, not using enough wood or charcoal will produce insufficient heat to bring your food up to temperature and create a longer-than-necessary cooking time. When you’ve got hungry folks waiting for your grilled masterpiece, this is not what you want.

If charcoal is your choice for getting your fire started, selecting the type of coal you want to use is important. Briquets are the most common type. There are also types of charcoal that are essentially compressed wood. It can be a little overwhelming trying to choose the medium that works best for you, so again, doing a little research is a good way to help you feel more informed and confident.

You will next need to decide how you want to start your coals or wood. Using a charcoal cannister is one of the easiest, safest, and surest ways to guarantee you will get a good start to your cook. There is also charcoal on the market that has already been pre-treated so all you have to do is light it and go. If you’re comfortable with the idea of using starter fluid, that’s great. You will need to experiment with how much starter fluid to use for the heat you want and to ensure you are creating a safe fire. There is nothing worse than biting into that ribeye you’ve been waiting to devour, only to be hit with an overwhelming flavor of starter fluid. For wood fires, a clean burn is best, especially if you want the aroma and flavor from the wood to come through. Wood kindling is the best way to start this kind of fire and get the clean burn you want.

Of course, when grilling your food, you are typically exposing it to direct flame as opposed to being cooked in a pan over the flame. Therefore, regardless of whether you are cooking with propane, charcoal, or wood, you still have to gage how long to expose your food to the flame for the doneness and flavor you want to achieve. Getting those beautiful, picture-perfect grill marks while still producing food that is not over- or undercooked does take a little practice, and admittedly, a lot of patience!

My final advice for beginners wanting to get their grill on is to learn from the masters. Grilling isn’t rocket science, but there IS a science to grilling. Watch some YouTube videos, visit the websites of some famous grillers and pit masters, or invest in a couple of good books on grilling and barbecue. Find out what appeals to you and piques your interest. And PRACTICE!  That’s really the best teacher

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