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5 Common Grilling Mistakes to Avoid for Your First BBQ

July 23, 2020

Are you thinking about hosting a BBQ, but are a bit worried about your grilling skills?

Hosting a summer barbecue can be a lot of fun. However, before you step in front of that grill, you need to make sure you know what you’re doing. Otherwise, you’re going to end up with a bunch of burnt hamburgers and hot dogs.

So, what do you need to know?

Check out this guide to discover the most common grilling mistakes and how to avoid them.

1. Grilling Food Right Out of the Fridge

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is grilling food right out of the fridge.

Before you throw meat or fish on the grill, take it out of the fridge and allow it to warm up for 15 to 20 minutes. Cooking cold meat won’t affect the flavor, but it will affect the texture.

Plus, when meat and fish are at the same temperature at the core and surface, they’ll cook more quickly and evenly.

2. Not Starting With a Clean Grill

Before you place anything on the grill, you want to make sure that it’s sparkling clean. Otherwise, the flavor of whatever was cooking before could seep into the food you’re cooking.

Also, a clean grill is necessary for sanitary reasons. But, don’t make the mistake of waiting until your grill is completely cool to give it a scrape. It’s actually a lot easier to remove drippings and dusty ash when the grill is still super hot.
Of course, you’ll need to make sure you use proper cleaning tools to ensure you don’t get burned. You can also check out this guide to learn how to clean a gas grill.

3. Cross-Contaminating Food

The last thing you want is for your guests to wake up the day after your BBQ with food poisoning.

To prevent cross-contamination, you need to make sure you keep your raw foods and your cooked foods separated. While this may sound obvious, a lot of people get distracted when they’re grilling and end up placing a cooked burger on a plate that formally held raw patties.

Any time food has been grilled, you should place it on a new, clean plate. The same goes for tongs, brushes, and forks.

4. Opening the Grill Lid Too Often

We know- you’re excited for your delicious food to cook so you can serve it to your guests!

But, if you keep opening your grill, then your food is going to have a hard time cooking, as heat will escape every time you open the grill. Trust the grilling instructions and try to only open the grill a couple of times throughout cooking.

5. Flipping or Moving the Meat Too Early

Another major mistake people make is flipping or moving the meat too early. Once the meat hits the grill, the cooking and caramelization process begins.

Every time you flip or move a piece of meat, you’re essentially starting this process over. Once a piece of meat unsticks itself from the grill grates, that means it’s time to flip it over. Also, whatever you do, don’t press the meat into the grill in hopes of speeding the process up and soaking up more flavor- it won’t work!

Common Grilling Mistakes: Time to Grill

Now that you know about the most common grilling mistakes, it’s time to start grilling. Before you know it, you’ll be a grilling pro!

Be sure to check back in with our blog for more grilling-related tips and tricks.

5 Common Grilling Mistakes to Avoid for Your First BBQ was last modified: by

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