If you spend any time in the barbecue TikToks, you know there’s always a new tip or secret grilling method to learn. But in the attention economy, which barbecue tips and techniques are worth your time? We’ve seen reverse sous vide, herb twigs scattered atop the burners, and steaks cooked from frozen, pre-glazed with Marmite, or “dirty grilled” right on the hot coals. It’s always fun to try something new, but a lot of grilling gimmickry will come and go, while the classic techniques endure. Here are some tips that won’t change with the algorithm:
Marinating: Use a light touch, for both acid and time. Marinating too long or in a liquid too tart changes the protein’s texture—fish gets mushy and chicken rubbery. Remember to dry the surface of the meat with paper towel before grilling: wet meat will steam instead of brown.
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Pre-heating: At least 15 minutes, please. Grilling, like roasting, depends on an initial blast of heat. Even for low-and-slow barbecueing, preheating lets you adjust the burners or coals so the chamber stays at a consistent temperature before the food goes in.
Oiling: Oil on barbecue grates polymerizes into a food-releasing layer, just as a cast iron pan becomes non-stick with regular use. And like a cast iron pan, you need to renew the coating every time with a little lubrication. Pinch a well-oiled paper towel with tongs and wipe it over the pre-heated grates. Or, oil the steak itself just before it goes on the grill. If meat sticks early in the grilling time, don’t scrape it in panic. At first, proteins bond with hot surfaces; in time, the Maillard reaction browns the protein and weakens the bond—and the meat will unstick itself.
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Lid up, lid down: When grilling thin, flat steaks and similar cuts, leave the lid up most of the time. The bottom then browns before the middle overcooks. Thicker, rounder pieces—chicken legs and pork roasts, for example—do better with the lid down. Then, the barbecue acts like an oven and heat penetrates from all directions.
Zone cooking: By learning where your grill’s hot spots are, or adjusting the burners to create hot and warm zones, you can shuffle food around to control how quickly it cooks. Indirect cooking, with an unlit burner on one side and the adjacent burners turned on, creates two distinct zones for cooking. You can grill over the lit burners and use the other side, with the lid down, as an oven. Switching back and forth is the secret to cooking thick steaks or other large cuts.
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Resting: You’ve seen what happens on TV cooking competitions when chefs don’t let meat rest after cooking. The juices escape, the meat is dry, and there’s lots of performative yelling. No one wants that. The secret is resting your meat for a few minutes after cooking. But if you really want to present the steak with that fresh-off-the-grill sizzle, the secret has a secret. Let the meat rest while you crank the barbecue heat. Pop the meat back on the hottest part of the grill for 30 seconds per side, to reheat only the surface. You’ll need practice to get the timing right, but now that you’ve stopped watching all those dumb barbecue tiktoks, you can master some real-life grilling techniques.
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