About Grilling

There are literally dozens of brands and styles of outdoor grills on the market. Our recipes assume that unless you have a gas grill, you own a charcoal-burning kettle-style grill with a vented lid. The racks are usually not adjustable for height, so the heat level is determined by how much charcoal is being used and how long it has burned, and by controlling the position of lid vents. Charcoal can be added through the openings provided next to rack handles on some grills; on others, you may need to lift the rack slightly to add fuel. Various grill-top accessories are available; one of the most useful is a rib rack, which holds several racks of ribs vertically. This allows twice as many racks of ribs to cook at one time.

We suggest regular hardwood charcoal briquettes, not the presoaked kind. Chunk wood charcoal (rather than briquette style) is available in many locations. Our experience is that it burns hotter and longer. We prefer chimney-style starters, which need only a page or two of newspaper to ignite charcoal quickly, or electric starters. If you use lighter fluid, be certain to allow the fire to get uniformly hot before cooking, which will ensure that lighter fluid has burned away. Never add fluid to burning coals!

To start a charcoal fire, open vents on bottom of grill and mound about 3 pounds charcoal in center of charcoal grate. Squirt starter fluid all over charcoal, and allow to soak for 1 minute. Light charcoal. Or, use an electric starter or a chimney starter according to directions. When coals are covered with a gray ash, spread them evenly over the charcoal grate, if using the direct-cooking method, or mound them to one or both sides of the charcoal grate, if using the indirect-cooking method.

An indirect fire uses coals mounded against one or both sides of grill, with food positioned on opposite side from coals or between mounds of coals. Some grills have special metal baskets positioned inside to hold charcoal in the correct position for indirect cooking. A drip pan is often positioned below food to prevent grease flare-ups. Indirect cooking is used particularly for long, slow cooking, as for barbecued ribs. A direct fire uses coals positioned directly below the cooking rack. It is employed to quickly grill foods that do not need long, slow cooking, such as hamburgers or fish steaks or fillets. Foods such as ribs are often cooked slowly using the indirect method, then reheated and crisped over a direct fire using medium heat.

Judging how hot a fire is takes practice, but a time-honored method is to hold your hand 5 or 6 inches above the grate and count off seconds–"one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three," and so on. If your hand is uncomfortable after 1 or 2 seconds, the fire is hot. If you can count 3 or 4 seconds, the fire is medium. If you can count 5 or 6 seconds, you have a low fire.

Most flavor in grilling comes when food juices drip onto coals, producing smoke. An extra degree of smokiness can be produced by adding hardwood chips to a fire. An aluminum foil pouch folded around chips, with a few holes poked in it, is a handy package to lay directly on coals. Or, use a small disposable aluminum pan. A couple of handfuls of chips are usually enough to get the job done. Some folks think soaking chips in water to cover for 30 minutes makes for more smoke, while others disagree. If there's no water shortage in your area try both methods to find your favorite!

A long-handled spatula and long-handled spring tongs are valuable grilling tools. The spatula helps prevent burns; the spring tongs don't have to be manually opened, which facilitates turning items on a grill rack. Some cooks like to oil the grill rack before adding food, in which case a heavy-duty natural bristle (not nylon) brush reserved for the purpose is handy.

This content is from the book The Basic Gourmet Entertains by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, and Kathleen Taggart.