Stop making these common grilling mistakes that ruin your food

These common grilling mistakes are ruining your food.

Want your grilled food to taste better? The first step is to avoid these common grilling mistakes. With a few changes, anyone can stop ruining dinner.

From a great steak to burgers, grilling can create delicious flavors. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but a few tips, tricks and hacks can make anyone a better griller.

Think about it for a second. You buy an expensive steak. You crave the amazing dinner that you are going to enjoy. But, the food on the table is a charred hockey puck. How did that amazing steak go so wrong?

Here are some common grilling mistakes that you need to stop making.

Dirty Grill

Would you cook in a dirty pan? If the answer is no, why are you cooking on a dirty grill? All that seasoning from the previous meal doesn’t need to be transferred to the new one.

Use a good grill brush to remove the flavors from the previous meal. Or, better still, clean the grill after you use it. A few minutes to keep that grill clean will make a difference in the food you prepare.

Skip the lighter fluid

If you use lighter fluid to ignite charcoal, please stop. That flavor can get into the cooking process. There is no recipe that has a gas flavor in a marinade.

A chimney can be used to ignite the charcoal. It is simple to use. Plus, that method keeps the smoky charcoal flavors that you want.

Wait till the grill is hot

Just like you use a hot pan on a stove, the grill needs to be hot. The hot grates help food not to stick. Remember, grilling is a method of cooking. If you wouldn’t make the same mistake on the stove, don’t do it on a grill.

Don’t walk away from the grill

When people grill, sometimes other people are around. The conversation is lively, the beverages are flowing, and people get distracted. If you are not careful, that grill, the heat and food can go from perfect to a mess when your gaze is elsewhere.

While you need to keep your attention on the grill, you do not need to fiddle with the food. Remember all those good cooking techniques in the kitchen and apply them to the grill.

Use a thermometer

Do you know when your steak is the perfect temperature? What about that burger? No one wants to serve under cooked chicken. A good thermometer helps to avoid grilling mistakes.

While a professional chef might be able to tell a steak’s doneness by touch, the home griller might not. Use a good thermometer and you are more likely to have a better meal.

These common grilling mistakes are just a few cooking techniques that can help to grill better. If you are tired of disappointing dinners, make some changes. You might surprise yourself with your grilling ability.

What are your favorite foods to grill? How have you become a better griller?