Cooking on a grill is an excellent way to take your outdoor entertainment skills to the next level. If you recently bought your first grill near San Jose and are eager to show off your newest backyard accessory to family and guests this season, then keep reading to learn about some common mistakes that novice grillers make.
Waiting to Prep
Waiting until your grill is hot and the meat is cooking to begin slicing up vegetables and readying other ingredients can be a recipe for frustration and charred food. To have a better chance of grilling like a pro, prepare all your sauces, ingredients, and grilling accessories before you light the grill.
Starting Too Soon
Another common mistake that new grillers make is to place the food on the grill before it heats up. To help prevent food from sticking to the grate, practice patience and wait until your grill is nice and hot before adding your steaks and burgers.
Building One Fire
While a single, large area of flames may look impressive, creating a single heated area to grill over can lead to uneven cooking and poor results. For this reason, to get your new grilling hobby off to a good start, remember to create multiple cooking zones that provide a more even heat source for your food.
Adding Too Much
Next on the list of common errors that novice grillers make is putting too much food on the grill at one time. Again, having patience will prove valuable for evading this mistake, and it should indeed be avoided as a crowded grill can make it more difficult to check and attend to each steak that’s over the flames.
Using Lighter Fluid
After the effort that you put into preparing your ingredients and gathering your grilling accessories, the last thing you want is to end up with food that smells of lighter fluid. For this reason, if you’re using a charcoal grill, then consider lighting the coals with a chimney starter or newspaper, instead.
