1. Know the Equipment – You may think that buying grilling equipment would be a simple enough decision. However, when you walk into a store, you will find that there is an amazing variety of grills in the market today to suit the need of every person.

From small grills designed for apartments to big covered cookers that can cater to large groups, year long, you can find every type of grill in the store. You will therefore need to understand your requirements thoroughly before you step into the store so that you can buy a grill that is right for you and your grilling needs.

2. Know the Techniques – Most recipes will tell you which ingredients to use and how best to use them to make a great meal. Not many will tell you how to get them right on a grill. To grill anything just right, you need to get the combination of time, temperature and taste right too. You need to know the right way of starting a fire, regulating it well and then grilling food to just the right extent. Grilling is not the only technique; many prefer barbecuing or even smoking to bring out the real taste of meat.

3. Know the Ingredients and Flavors – Recipes can tell you in what measures you use different ingredients and what courses go well together. Some try to educate you on why a certain combination works well and which ingredients add a special flavor to your meal. Only when you know and understand the role that each ingredient plays, the special flavors that each one brings and how they all work together to create a unique dish, will you be able to work magic with your grilling.

Of course, as you keep working on your grilling techniques and learn new tips and techniques, you will get better at it and more confident of your own skills. In the last section of this ebook, we provide 101 tips to help you with your grilling and outdoor cooking.

Before you start looking at and evaluating the various grilling equipment in the market, it is very essential that you carry out some research on your requirements first.

There is an amazing array of grilling equipment and accessories in the market today ranging from fairly cheap hibachis to thousands of dollars worth three-tiered gas grills. Instead of looking for fancy and thus pricey grilling equipment and accessories you should probably spend more time in researching what your needs and constraints are. Some of the most important considerations for you to bear in mind would be as follows:

• The very first issue you will have to examine and examine carefully is where you intend to carry out your grilling. What kind of space do you have available? If you live in the suburbs of a city, you may have access to a big lawn or even a backyard where you could carry out your grilling. In which case, you could look at some of the bigger grilling equipment. On the other hand, if you live in an apartment on the twenty-first floor of a high-rise building and the only space available to you for grilling is the two feet by two feet fire escape, then your decision has been made for you. You most certainly need to get the smallest equipment possible.

• Next, you have to realistically assess how often you intend to grill. You may be very excited at the idea of holding regular barbecue parties in your swanky new apartment but you have to consider if you will really have the time and energy to hold major parties so regularly. If you are sure you will be able to hold a special ‘Barbecue Friday’ every weekend, go ahead and invest in fancy grilling equipment. If you believe that you will probably end up doing it only occasionally, say on the Fourth of July, then you should look for something cheaper.

• You may start with the intention of inviting all your friends and family to your special barbecue parties. However, you will eventually find that even after all the time and money spent in trying to get it perfect, the meat was undone, the vegetables over cooked and you ended up burning your favorite wicker chair. Again, be realistic about the number of people you think you can handle and whose company will make the experience memorable. If this number is really small, go in for smaller grilling equipment. If you sincerely feel that you would much rather have larger crowds than risk leaving anyone out, you should go in for larger grilling equipment.

• If you would like to invite a large group of friends to your grilling parties, then obviously you will need to be cooking larger portions of food on your grill which in turn means equipment with a large grill area. However, if your parties are small and more of the burger and hot dog kind, then standard sized grilling equipment should suffice.

• If you plan on holding frequent barbecue parties, you will be making substantial use of your grilling equipment. It then makes a lot of sense to have some additional workstations or shelves preferably on the grilling equipment. This may add to the total cost of the equipment but there is no denying the utility of having quickly accessible places that can hold various utensils, seasonings and even the meat.

• Finally, the kind of equipment you will be buying depends a lot on what your taste preferences are. Some feel very strongly about their grilled food having an authentic smoky taste, which most charcoal grilled food will have. Others feel equally strong about not having such a strong smoky smell and instead prefer the subtle flavor that gas grills provide. Though the final decision will be yours, it should be mentioned that even if you choose a gas grill, you could always provide your recipes with that smoky accent by using a combination of wood chips and herbs.

Now follow the steps as outlined below to start a fire in a charcoal grill.

1. To begin with keep all the items that you will need close to hand so that you do not have to rush for something in the last minute. This will include the bag of charcoal briquettes, a can of lighter fluid and some long handled matches or long-necked butane lighters. One can find lighters specially designed for lighting up grills.

2. About twenty to thirty minutes before you actually need to start cooking, you need to start the fire in the grill. For that, arrange the charcoal in a pyramid shape in the middle of the grill. The pyramid shape ensures that there is enough ventilation for the coals to quickly catch fire.

(How much coal one should use in the grill depends a great deal on the kind of grill you are using – the size, the type – as well as the amount of food that is to be grilled. A great deal also depends on the kind of weather that one anticipates; if it is too cold, there are strong winds or if it is too humid, it may be advisable to use a few more coals. A good thumb of rule to keep in mind is that you should use about thirty coals to grill roughly one pound of meat in ideal conditions.)

3. After arranging the coals, gently douse them with about half a cup of fluid. Typically, about half a cup of fluid for every two pounds of charcoal is considered workable. Let the fluid soak into the coal for about a minute or two. Now use the long handed matches or long handed butane lighter to gently light the coals.

4. You may not see any big flames coming out right away but you will certainly be able to see some smoke coming out from the coals.

5. While you may not see any flames right away, there will be some smoke coming out of the coals. Wait for about half an hour to give the coal enough time to start burning properly. When they look like they are glowing and they are covered with gray ash, you can be sure that the coals are finally burning.

6. Now take these burning coals and spread them evenly at the bottom of the grill. Use tongs to spread the coals in one single layer– use another one while actually grilling the food.

7. If you are still having some trouble starting the fire, just place a newspaper in the grill. You do not need to have too much of it, just a little to start the fire.

8. Never ever use kerosene or gasoline to start the fire. Also, do not spray the lighter fluid on the coals when they are already burning. The entire stream of fluid could catch fire, reach up to you and cause you injury.

9. If the fire starts getting a little sluggish or close to going out, do not add any lighter fluid directly to the coals. Just place a few coals in a small metal can, add lighter fluid and then using the long-handled tongs, place them on top of the already burning coals. Use a lighter or match to light them – these will help re-ignite the fire.

10. Hibachis are charcoal grills though they are smaller in size. To light a fire in them, follow the same instructions as above but use lesser amounts of charcoal.

• If you are just an occasional griller and have a very select group of people to cater to, chances are you will also be cooking smaller portions and smaller cuts of meat. Small picnic grills or hibachis, which are small, fairly portable charcoal grills, may be ideal for you.

• If you intend to host a larger group of people and have year-round grilling, with a preference for larger cuts of meat, then you may be better off going in for a large covered grill.

There are two types of covered grills – the covered charcoal cookers and the gas grills.

(a) Covered Charcoal Cookers: These cookers have now become a very familiar sight in almost every household. Portable and extremely versatile, these covered cookers are perfect for both city balconies as well as in country porches. These kettle-shaped cookers allow you to cook your food the way you want it, in practically any season of the year. You can just as easily smoke, steam, roast or even cook entire meals using these cookers. The temperature of the grill can be regulated through controls present on the lid as well as in the base. You can also regulate the heat by closing or opening the lid. When the grill is kept covered, the inner sides of the cooker reflect the heat evenly. This not only helps cook the food evenly, it also helps in keeping the food moist. When the lid is lifted off the cooker, added air circulation makes the charcoal burn more fiercely and they become hotter.

(b) Gas Grills: Though charcoal grills were very popular and are still commonly found in many households, gas grills are fast overtaking them in popularity. With a gas grill, you can perform almost all the cooking functions that you can with a charcoal cooker but with far greater ease and convenience. Starting or regulating a fire in a charcoal cooker is never easy. Gas grills involve a very easy start, temperatures can be regulated far more accurately and food is cooked more evenly. Further, you can use gas grills almost all year round. They are also much easier to maintain and less messy to clean up.

Gas grills use a bed of ceramic coals or lava rock to get the cooking power – no charcoal is used. When meat is placed on the grills, fat from the meat will slowly drip on these ceramic coals or lava rock. The burning fat creates smoke that gives the cooked meat a smoky flavor. Many prefer a smokier flavor for their food and use hickory chips or fruitwood chips in their grills for that purpose.

Always spray your grill with non-stick cooking spray or brush it lightly with vegetable oil. This will prevent food from getting stuck to the grill, which if not cleaned in time can end up making the grill crusty.

If you are using a charcoal grill or hibachi at home, it is important that the charcoal be changed as frequently as possible. Similarly, it is important that the grill does not get wet. Half-burned charcoal left unused for a long time tends to get damp and starts generating potentially harmful acids.

Cleaning up the grill becomes a lot easier if you just put in some heavy-duty aluminum foil all along the cooking grates so that anything that drips or falls in can be quickly collected and disposed of.

Another good way of cleaning gas grills before use is to turn the knob on high for a few minutes and then close the cover. Any sauce stuck to the grill or cover will slowly burn off and you can quickly clean the grill.

For detailed instructions on how to clean your particular grill, always refer to the instructions contained in the manual. However, one excellent way of cleaning the cooking grates is to just soak them in warm, soapy water once you are done using them. It is a lot easier to clean them later. You could use a standard oven cleaner with steel wool pad to remove burnt food that is extra hard to remove. However, grill surfaces can be fairly sensitive so you need to be careful while cleaning with anything slightly rough.

After having carefully reviewed the equipment available, understanding how one should make a choice of equipment and finally what accessories and tools one can consider having, we now proceed to learn the actual techniques of grilling.

A proper selection of these will turn good grilled food into great food. In fact, grilling is a fairly easy and a great way of cooking food. What makes them so special are the distinctive and exciting tastes that they acquire because of added flavors.

• Both rubs and marinades add flavor to the food by allowing the food to soak in the flavors for some time.

Rubs are typically applied onto the food, which is then placed in the refrigerator for many hours so that the food can acquire a strong flavor. Most of the time, the rubs seal in the juice of the food and form a crust over the food, which in itself is very delicious.

One can use dry rubs which are just combinations of various seasonings like paprika, black or white pepper and garlic powder. Depending on your taste preferences, you could add mustard powder or ground red pepper or even some brown sugar to the rub. Some of the herbs that we had mentioned earlier, like oregano, thyme, basil, can also be crushed and added to the rub to give the food a direct taste of these herbs.

Another alternative is to use paste rubs. These are essentially dry rubs that are made into a paste by adding some amount of wet ingredients. You could add olive oil, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, even crushed garlic to bind together the dry seasonings.

Marinades too are used for adding flavor but unlike rubs, these are used to moisten the surface of the meats. This added moisture prevents the meat from drying out while being grilled and helps it to stay nice and juicy.

Marinades are basically of two types – flavoring marinades and tenderizing marinades. As the name suggests flavoring marinades perform the function of giving an added flavor to meat, especially tender meat like fish, boneless poultry meat and even vegetables. These require marinating for a very short while – anywhere from fifteen minutes to about two hours should be sufficient. However, tenderizing marinades are used to tenderize meat. These contain special acidic ingredients that act as the tenderizing agents, like vinegar, yogurt, lime or lemon juice, tomatoes, even wines. Fruits like papaya, figs, kiwi and pineapple are other interesting tenderizing ingredients. These ingredients can be mixed with some oil, herbs and seasonings for a perfect aromatic blend of marinade. Lamb meat, beef, pork and even poultry meat with bony pieces need to be marinated for at least a few hours together, if not overnight, for the meat to become tender and to soak in the flavors.

While preparing the marinade, do not use aluminum pans or containers since they can have harmful chemical reactions with the acidic ingredients. Instead use ceramic, glass or even stainless steel pans. Another good choice to store the marinating foods is plastic, resealable food storage bags.

Whether you need to marinate the food for fifteen minutes or overnight, make sure they are turned occasionally so that the flavor spreads evenly throughout the food.

• While rubs and marinades are typically applied to foods before they are being grilled, basting is used as the food is getting grilled and dipping sauces are served as accompaniments along with the grilled food. These are excellent ways to add extra flavor to the food and give it a special zing.

One can prepare exclusive basting or dipping sauces to go with different kinds of food. However, if you are short on time, you can just put aside some of the marinade before you add the meat and use this as a base to make a dipping sauce or basting. Another quick alternative is to use the marinade that has been drained from the meat as a basting sauce to be applied on the meat as it gets grilled. The only safety precaution be to taken here is that the meat should cook for at least five minutes after application of basting sauce prepared from the drained marinade. Similarly, while preparing dipping sauce from this marinade, bring it to a full boil and only then use it to prepare the sauce. This way any bacteria contained in the raw meat and that might have made their way into the marinade will be killed and there is no danger of contamination.

Sure, it sounds easy enough. Get your grill going; once it is ready, put some ground beef or a steak on it. When done, you are ready to serve your burger along with some wonderful grilled vegetables as a side dish.

In reality, you will find that things are not as easy as that. A true grilling enthusiast, you may have decided to go for a charcoal grill to get that wonderful, authentic, smoked-in taste for the food. You will now need to have the patience needed to carefully build a fire with charcoal, regulate it well so that your food is not undone or burnt outright, and manage all this without burning your hands. Or, you may have bought a gas grill that unfortunately runs out of gas just as the guests start to arrive. You may realize that a whole turkey grills better if precooked or that too much sauce can quickly fill up an entire room with smoke. It is not surprising then, that grilling is considered an art not easily mastered by many.

The art of grilling involves more than just purchasing the grilling equipment and mastering a few barbecue recipes. To be a true grill master, one has to know how to buy the best grill equipment, how to operate it efficiently and how to maintain it. It means knowing the best way of starting and regulating grill fires. It also means knowing what the different grilling techniques are, what recipes work best on the grill, what ingredients and flavors mix well and also knowing what little tricks make the meals come out perfect.

It is true that in the grilling process, other than the actual grill, there are very few extra tools that one could say are an absolute must. However, there are some tools that make the process more convenient, help prevent accidents and also ensure that the very best results are delivered, thereby making them almost essential to the whole process.

• For example, it is best to have long-handled utensils like spatulas for turning, basting brushes for smearing sauces and basting and tongs for taking food off the hot grill. It is a good idea to have two sets of tongs – one to get food off and on the grill and the other to keep turning the charcoal and regulating the heat. Buy utensils that have hooks or loops so that they can be hung out of reach when not in use.

• Many experts can gauge very correctly when the meat or poultry is done. However, if you are just starting off or would prefer a more certain way of ascertaining whether the meat is done, food thermometers are the safest way of doing so. While most food thermometers can be inserted and read instantly, some may also be inserted before grilling. Since these thermometers are not heat proof, they cannot be left inside the meat when it is being grilled.

• It is absolutely essential to have a pair of heavy-duty mitts whenever you are using the grill. Use mitts that can not only protect your hands but even safeguard your forearms.

• When the juices from meats being grilled fall on the coals, they tend to cause flare-ups. The best way of dealing with these juices is to use metal drip pans or even disposable foil drip pans, placed right below the grilling meats to collect the dripping juice. Ideally, the pans should be about one to one and a half inches deep and extend up to three inches beyond both sides of the grilling rack. You need not throw away the juices being collected in the drip pan – you can use them in your gravy or even as a sauce. Just make sure that these drippings are well boiled before being used.

• It is inevitable that despite all precautions, there will be flare-ups in your charcoal grill. The best way of dealing with these flare-ups is to use water spritzers or water pistols to quench the flare-ups. If nothing else, fill a household plastic spray bottle with water and keep it handy. However, bear in mind that you should not use water with gas grills.

• Many foods are not easily turned over using a spatula, especially delicate foods like shellfish or mushrooms. When you try turning them over with a spatula they can stick to the spatula or even break. A hinged wired basket designed specially for use on grills can hold these foods and can be turned so that these small foods can be grilled individually and evenly.

• Along with larger cuts of meat that you can cook easily on the grill rack, you may also be simultaneously grilling smaller pieces of vegetables or meat. At times, they can get so small that they fall through the grid of the grill. Grill toppers are excellent solutions for this kind of food. These toppers are metal plates with perforations so small that you can place small vegetables and other pieces of food on it without fear of them falling through. If you are using grill toppers, make sure that you spray them with some non-stick cooking spray as well as preheat it before placing any food on them. You can even find grill skillets and woks that allow you to stir-fry or toss food on the grill itself.

• To cook more slabs of ribs and to cook them more efficiently, one can use rib racks that allow you to rack up the slabs at an angle to the source of heat.

• Kabobs are an all-time favorite and skewers are a must to grill kabobs. You can find both metal and bamboo skewers of different lengths. However, if you are going to be using bamboo skewers, you will need to soak them well in water for about twenty minutes before you start using them on the grill so that they do not get burned.

• Finally the most indispensable item in the grilling process is the aluminum foil. While it is used for a variety of purposes during grilling, vegetables can be wrapped in aluminum foil and then placed either directly on the charcoal or placed on the grill rack. They have to be packed a little carefully though, to avoid any leakage.

Gradually various means of cooking indoors were invented and cooking outdoors was more of an occasion than a necessity. Grilling was almost always associated with picnics and campsites and even then, not everyone managed the whole process without any problems. Around the 1950s, more and more families started moving to the suburbs where a house had a backyard and a nice open space to carry out some decent grilling. Soon, outdoor grilling became the rage.

Around this time, a metalworker in Chicago by name George Stephen, who loved to tinker around with various objects, felt that the commonly available grills in those times were not efficient enough. When he inherited the Weber Metal Company, which actually made harbor buoys, he realized that he could work on the buoy and come up with a better grill. He took a buoy and cut it along the equator. Next, he added a grate to the buoy and made some vents to allow the temperature to be regulated. Finally the top half of the buoy was used as a lid. This grill turned out to be so popular that the Weber grill became a household name and almost single handedly revolutionized the concept of outdoor cooking.

In the years that followed, grilling and barbecuing not only became mainstream but in fact became style statements. Dining outdoors became more of a family affair and barbecue parties were considered the ultimate experience. As the interest in grilling and barbecuing increased, so did the variety of grills in the market and their sophistication.

It was George Foreman who brought the concept of outdoor cooking to the city and with the new, neat looking indoor grills, grilling and barbecuing became distinct possibilities even for apartment dwellers.

Sometime in the 1990s, charcoal grills started being replaced by gas grills – it was much easier to start and regulate a fire in these grills.

Grilling equipment now include fancy rotisseries, smoking chambers, entire outdoor grill islands not to mention accessories like small refrigerators, beer taps and even warming chambers.

1. Even while working with gas grills, make sure that the grill is in an open, well-ventilated place. It is dangerous to attempt grilling in places like garages or sheds. Make sure that the grill is kept away from the house and also that there are no low hanging tree branches nearby.

2. Since gas grills work on gas, you have to have a full tank before every meal. This will save you considerable embarrassment and some last minute running around, in case you run out of gas just when you are in the middle of your party and have a half-cooked steak on the grill.

3. With gas grills, it is important to check that there are no gas leaks. The best way to check this is to light the grill and then turn the knob all the way to high to see how high the flame reaches. If the flame reaches a good height, you can be fairly certain that the main parts of the gas grill – the gas tank, the regulators as well as the grill fittings are in good working order. On the other hand, a low flame usually means less gas in the tank or a leakage. If you notice a low flame, then refer to the manual that came with the equipment. It should give some simple instructions for you to follow, like tightening the fittings to fix the leak.

4. Starting the fire in a gas grill is fairly simple – just turn on a switch or turn a dial and the flame is turned on. Some older models may require you to turn the gas on first and then start a fire by lighting a match or by using a lighter. Either way, it is a lot easier to start a fire in a gas grill than in a charcoal one.

5. Once the fire is started, it is recommended that the flame be turned to high and the grill covered. This is known as preheating and allows better and more even cooking of the food.

6. To make things even more convenient, some modern grills come with built-in temperature gauges that indicate when the grill is ready for cooking. Even if your grill does not have a temperature gauge, lighting a fire and leaving your grill covered for about ten minutes should get it ready for cooking.