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So here is the best tip I can give you for cooking with either charcoal or gas......once the grill is hot, rub the grate down real good with a large onion cut in half. This will prevent the meet from sticking, and it seasons the grill very nicely. After I rub the grate real good, I just leave the onion in the grill to let it cook as well (not for eating, but for seasoning the grill). Do this everytime you use your grill, and you will be amazed at how nice it keeps the grate,and how easy it makes cleaning it. Also, I take a wire brush and clean the grate immediately after removing the last of the food, while everything is still hot.

As to the vents on a charcoal grill, I usually leave the bottom one wide open and adjust the air flow with the top one only. You can literally extinguish a charcoal fire if you cut off it's O2 supply.

Deltacottonboy12 wrote:i'm just getting into the grilling stage of my life i guess. I tried to do some grilling tonight and lets just say it was less than spectacular. I know grilling is something that takes time to gain skill, just as any hobby, but do ya"ll have any tips or suggestions to help a youngster out?

I bought a 30 dollar grill, and kingsford charcoal and used lighter fluid. built a pyramid with the charcoal and let it sit for 10 or so minutes. i then spread out the charcoal and let it sit a for bit then started cooking..

What did i miss?

My $0.02 is this:

I just dump my coals into a pile (no stacking or anything, just where they land).
I then take my lighter fluid and pour it on good to coat the bricks good and let them sit for about 2-3 minutes so the fluid soaks into the bricks.
I then light it up, leaving the top off until the flames burn down good and the coals start turning a tad white.
I then shut the lid and let it sit about 10 minutes to get good and hot. If you have a thermometer on the grill top you want it around 400-450 degrees for grilling you can also probably get a handheld laser thermometer that would work, other than that it's just guess work.
After I deem it's ready, I put what I'm cooking on the grill and shut the lid. I have found that universally I can leave something for 8 minutes and flip, 8 minutes and flip, then check. After that if it still needs cooking then i go to 2-3 minute intervals in flipping. I do this one whether I am cooking on a gas or charcoal grill and works perfect.

As crazy as this sounds the meat will unstick itself when it is ready to be properly seared. We all know that meat shrinks when cooked, this is because all the fibers compact when heated, also getting short, essentially pulling itself from the grate. All this oil cloth and onion rubbing on the grates stuff is unneccesary. Grilling is done hot and fast, otherwise your lady friend would be responsible for cooking it in the oven. Get the grates hot, put the meat on and when it will willingly turn with little or no sticking, it is ready to be turned.

Charcoal tip:

If you are a guy and creamated after death... question is....do you have a charcoal "tip"...jus' sayin

GET-N-RITE wrote:Gas is kinda like a fart. Everybody thinks its funny but they taste bad and it stinks.

This begs the How do you know what farts taste like?

I too, use the chimmeny with good results. Find them at Wally Stop or Home Depot/Lowes or any hardware store I'm sure.

mudsucker wrote:

GET-N-RITE wrote:Gas is kinda like a fart. Everybody thinks its funny but they taste bad and it stinks.

This begs the How do you know what farts taste like?

I too, use the chimmeny with good results. Find them at Wally Stop or Home Depot/Lowes or any hardware store I'm sure.

Have you ever smelt an egg fart or a sulfur fart? As old as you are I am sure you have? Well these are room-clearers, for sure. 100% of the people who smell it will complain. Especially since you can almost taste egg farts.

Might've all most but I never DID taste one!

Mudsucker says it don't bother you when your the one doing the farting.

Our dredge spoils smell like farts when we dig in Cameron LA and Sabine Pass TX because of the methane and H2S! Seriously!

When you cook steaks, don't cook both sides the same amount of time or you'll over cook it. For example when cooking a thick ribeye at 300 degrees, cook for five minutes on one side and then flip it and cook it for three minutes on the opposite side for a rare to medium steak.

I have a question. How long is "prime" cooking time on charcoal? When I first get my charcoal out of the chimney they have a great orange glow. But the charcoal seems to ash over and lose a lot of cooking heat. Is this normal?

It almost seems that by the time all the charcoal is ready in the chimney that the bottom charcoal is already past its prime. There for the top half is ready for cooking. Then the bottom layer covers the top layer and ashing out very quickly. Anyone else have this problem?

Go buy you a thermometer, you are over thinking this. The charcoal turns white, and "ashes over" when it is ready. If you are just burgers, steak, pork chops,....... you should not need to keep adding charcoal. I think you are going a lot off of what the charcoal looks like and not the temp of the fire. Get you a thermometer so you can see how hot the fire is. The only time you should need to keep adding charcoal is if you are cooking something very slow over a long period of time.

I think the problem you might be having is number one, the coals are not ready when you are starting to cook. Number B, is that you are smothering out the fire. If you close the vents you are going to put out the fire.

Why don't you try this. GO buy you some burgers, because they are cheap, and make your fire. When the charcoal is mostly white in the chimney, dump it out and either spread your coals out evenly for direct heat or spread them to one side for indirect heat. Leave your lid on the ground for this cooking. Cook your burgers and see how hot the fire actually is. Once you have mastered cooking without the top and having to screw with the vents, then start putting the top on and messing with the vents. With a thermometer you will learn real quickly that closing the vent half way will equal a certain degree of temp.

Just buy plenty of beer, meat, and charcoal and make a Saturday out of it. Hell, after this weekend, what else to you have to do.

When I get home again me and greenheadgrimreaper and a couple other buddies are going to stay at my camp off the refuge and fish Bluff Lake. We will be grilling all kinds of stuff, so why dont you come on out and eat and socialize and we will try to help you out on the grill. Going to try and get bigbeeducker to come(if he is still in starkville) so maybe yall could ride together. It will be around MArch 6th as that is my spring break and opening weekend on the lake