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Grilling is something of an art. Everyone鈥檚 got their own favorite grilling tips, tricks and techniques. Yet some approaches are better than others 鈥 and it can take time to understand just how versatile your barbecue can be. Whether you already know how to master healthy grilling or need pointers on how to work with foods beyond meat alone, we can all benefit from fresh grilling tips.
And some of us are making more mistakes than we might realize. Here are seven common grilling mistakes you鈥檒l want to avoid for better dishes and easier cooking.
1. Oiling Your Grill Grates Instead of Your Food
In order to prevent food from sticking to your grill grates, it鈥檚 imperative to add grease 鈥 and plenty of grill enthusiasts oil up those grates before they add any food. While this technique technically works, it鈥檚 a pretty big grilling mistake in the eyes of experts.
Oil is important, but you don鈥檛 want to waste it on the grill grates. When you apply oil to your hot grates, it actually starts to聽聽almost immediately. This can infuse your food with a weird, unpleasant taste. And sometimes, if your grates have a carbon outer layer, adding oil can actually make food聽more聽likely to stick.
Instead, you should put oil on your food. Cover meats and veggies with a light coating of oil. You can brush it on or toss it in an oil-based marinade; either will do the trick.
2. Over-Marinating Meat
Marinades infuse all kinds of meat with delicious flavors, and they also do the double-duty task of tenderizing tough meats. While marinades can range anywhere from just 30 minutes to a full day of soaking up juices, herbs and spices, here鈥檚 something most people don鈥檛 realize: you can over-marinade.
If you leave your food in a marinade for too long, you can actually achieve the opposite effect that you intended. As聽聽explains, letting food soak longer can over-tenderize meat and make it mushy. Extra-long marinades will break down the protein bonds closest to the surface of your food. In addition to mushiness, this can dry out meat.
Double-check your recipe before marinating to make sure you aren鈥檛 overdoing it. Make sure you aren鈥檛 leaving any kind of meat in its marinade for longer than one full day 鈥 even for the toughest cuts of red meat, 24 hours is usually the max recommended time.
3. Failing to Properly Preheat the Grill
You always preheat your oven before baking or roasting, and you always let your pans come up to temperature on the stove. But do you always take the time to preheat your grill?
If you鈥檝e been turning up the flames and immediately putting food on the grill, you鈥檙e going to want to slow down and start preheating. It鈥檚 important to let the grill鈥檚 grates warm up before you start cooking. Cold grates can cause food to stick more stubbornly, which is both frustrating and messy.
Preheat your grill like you鈥檇 preheat your oven and wait about 20 minutes before tossing anything on its cooking surface. The hotter the grates are, the better those seared grill marks will be 鈥 and the more perfectly your food will cook.
4. Frequently Opening Your Grill鈥檚 Lid
Have you heard that opening your oven or lifting the lid on your slow cooker increases your cooking time by as much as half an hour? Well, the same goes for your grill.
It鈥檚 incredibly tempting to lift up the lid of your grill and check on what鈥檚 cooking. But every time you fuss with that lid you鈥檙e exposing your hot grill to cooler temperatures. That, in turn, drops the temperature inside and slows down the cooking process. The more heat escapes, the more challenging it鈥檒l be to achieve evenly, quickly grilled food.
Regardless of what you鈥檙e grilling, keep the lid shut as much as possible. If it鈥檚 too tempting to poke your head in, set a timer and walk away. To ensure you aren鈥檛 overcooking your food, check in at around 10 to 15 minutes for leaner meats and 20 to 30 minutes for thicker cuts. Veggies can take anywhere from 8 to 30 minutes, so you can pop in on these earlier.
5. 鈥淕uesstimating鈥 When Meat is Cooked
There are countless tips out there that are meant to help you determine when your food is fully cooked: touch tests, tenderness tests, and visual cues have all been touted as easy methods. But you really can鈥檛 tell when meat is completely cooked unless you get inside it.
If you rely on how meat looks or feels, you鈥檙e running the risk of serving yourself 鈥 and anyone else who鈥檚 dining with you 鈥 under- or overcooked meat. There are only two ways to get an accurate 鈥渄oneness鈥 assessment: by cutting into the meat or using a thermometer.
Avoid this grave grilling mistake by making sure you have a meat thermometer in your arsenal of tools. You can easily stick one into anything you鈥檙e cooking and get a quick temperature read. Many even offer guides or alerts to let you know ASAP when your proteins are cooked and ready. And you鈥檒l know every time that your meat is at a safe-to-consume temperature.
6. Putting Fish Directly on the Grill Grates
There are plenty of sins you can commit when grilling, but one of the biggest is placing fish right on the grates.
Fish is incredibly delicate. With flaky meat and thin skin, any kind of fish can immediately adhere to your grill鈥檚 grates and leave you with a sticky mess. Even worse, making this grave mistake can lead fish to fall apart (and through your grates).
To keep your fish from sticking, put it on anything but the grates themselves. There are a few options you can try: cedar planks, foil packets or griddles. You can also cook fish in a cast iron skillet or grill pan.
7. Using Lighter Fluid
Have you been using lighter fluid to get tall flames roaring from your grill? While lighter fluid certainly gets a fire going and your grill hot, it鈥檚 a mistake that can leave your food smelling (and potentially tasting) like gas. Instead of a smoky, classic grill flavor, you鈥檒l find that lighter fluid makes your food pretty unappealing.
If you need some help getting a fire started on your grill, there are other ways to do so without imparting a fuel- or gas-like scent and flavor. You can try a chimney starter, which lights a fire with old newspaper to get charcoal glowing with heat. That way, you鈥檒l get the heat you need and keep your flavors in check.
Once you鈥檝e made sure you aren鈥檛 making these critical grilling mistakes, take your expertise to the next level. Discover even more grilling tips and recipes:
Grilling Hacks: How Not to Overcook Shrimp