Tips for the Perfect Backyard Barbecue -- from the Experts

A dirty grill turns out dirty food — burnt-tasting and unhealthy. A good wire brush is useful, but if you don’t have one, say Hirsheimer and Hamilton, “wad aluminum foil into a rough ball about four inches in diameter, heat your grill, then hold the ball with a pair of long-handled tongs and use it to scrub the grill clean.”

Once your grill is clean, brush or swab it with a light coating of oil. “This is important to keep food from sticking,” say Hirsheimer and Hamilton.

“Take the meat out of the fridge at least an hour before putting it on the grill,” recommends Mixon. Wayman adds that it should always be at room temperature before you start to cook it, adding “this is especially essential with large pieces of meat.” (These may take several hours to warm up.)

“Salt your meat with coarse salt — I prefer sel gris from France — an hour before it hits the grill,” says Wayman. “This helps a nice crust to form.” Pressing the salt into the meat’s surface lightly will help it adhere during cooking. Some will fall off in the process anyway, and you can always adjust the seasoning when the food is off the grill.

Wayman notes that starting the fire well ahead of time heats the grill up evenly. This applies to any heat source, whether briquets, hardwood, or gas.

If you’re cooking with live fire, as opposed to gas, use hardwood charcoal, says Del Grande. “The more it looks like irregular chunks of wood (not pressed tar) the better,” he counsels. “Hardwood generally burns hotter, longer, and cleaner [than briquets], without any notes of resin.” Wayman concurs. “I prefer to use hardwood,” he says, “but if you’re using briquets you can always add a piece or two of hardwood for flavor and smoke.”

Van Aken recommends this tool for injecting marinade into large pieces of meat. “It will never get there with a marinade that sits on the surface,” he says. Use a large syringe, he stresses, “the kind a veterinarian would have for a horse,” and be sure to strain any solids out of the marinade beforehand so it doesn’t clog the syringe. In addition to its practical function, he adds, “A syringe gets immediate attention, and that’s the anticipation-builder that any person who loves to cook wants, even if they don’t admit it.”

Don’t put wet sauces on meat before you cook it, warn Hirsheimer and Hamilton. These will burn and may alter the texture of the meat. Instead, use dry rubs to add flavor without bringing about textural changes — and save the sauce, if any, for after the food is off the grill. Van Aken notes that while commercial dry rubs are readily available, “It’s very easy to come up with a variety of blends on your own. These give you a story to tell while you’re waiting for the food to cook.”

Always use a meat thermometer to cook any kind of meat or poultry to the correct internal temperature, says Mixon. Hirsheimer and Hamilton like to keep a thermometer, along with a timer, salt and pepper, and a flashlight (for grilling after dark) in a lidded plastic container near — but not too near — their grill.

While Mixon stresses that grilling temperature should remain constant, Del Grande notes that, even though it’s constant overall, it doesn’t have to be the same for every part of the grill. “Slope the coals to one side or the other, or even back to front,” he suggests. “This gives you a range of temperatures, letting you sear over the hot side and slow-finish on the cooler side.” He adds that “This works for gas grills, too. Don’t turn all knobs up all the way. Use a lower setting on one part of the grill.”

There are two schools of thought on this, and lowering the hood will make the food cook more rapidly and use the fuel more efficiently. On the other hand, Del Grande points out, “Once you close the hood, grilling becomes roasting. Plus you can’t see the food so you never know if something has caught fire.”

“One of the most often overlooked but I think most important tools for grilling,” says Wayman, “especially with hardwood, is something to create airflow.” This insures that the wood gets plenty of oxygen, which it needs to burn hot. He uses a woven cane fan from Mexico, but says that using a bellows or even just waving a piece of cardboard will work just as well.

Hook reminds grillers that poultry, meat, and seafood aren’t the only things that grill well. Among his favorites: fingerling potatoes, marinated with garlic and rosemary, oiled, and grilled until done; oiled cherry tomatoes “grilled till charred and soft, then tossed in a savory vinaigrette;” and radicchio, “stuffed with mozzarella, oiled, and grilled till oozy.”

Music is essential, says Van Aken (himself an accomplished blues harmonica player). “When you’re hanging out with your friends around the grill, you don’t want to do without a playlist,” he says. His favorite grilling music is a mix of classic blues (Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan, for instance) and classic country (like Chris Stapleton and George Jones).