Missouri Beef Industry Council | Recipes and Cooking | Cooking Tips

Great Grilling Cooking Series

Lesson Two: Grill Preparation

Before beef meets flame, cleaning and temperature control are essential.

Grill Cleaning
When firing up the grill, make sure the racks the meat will be on are clean.

One of the best rules of thumb is to keep things from getting dirty in the first place. Before grilling, give the racks a quick brush with oil.

To do a quick clean, allow flames to flare up close to empty racks while you take care of food preparation. By the time the meat is ready for the grill, a quick rub with a good quality wire brush will get the grates ready for use. This won’t get grill racks shiny clean (that’s in our next tip), but old food material will come off easily.

For a deeper cleansing try this trick. Remove the grates and spray them with oven cleaner. Next, place them in a heavy-duty trash bag and tie. Set the bag out in the sun all day, then hose the grates off. They’ll come out looking great. Note: Alternative cleaning solutions include ammonia and water or dishwasher detergent and water.

Grill Temperature
Whether it’s a gas grill or charcoal, a burger or a roast, great grilling depends on great temperature control. The easiest way to estimate the grill’s temperature is to place the palm of your hand 3 or 4 inches above the grate. The amount of time you can comfortably leave your hand above the grate determines the heat intensity.

10 seconds = low
5 seconds = medium
2 seconds = high

Proceed to Lesson Three