Grilling up a good meal used to mean heading into the backyard and tossing some steak, hamburgers, and hot dogs on the barbecue. While that can be nice, there are far tastier meals you can cook on a grill. Gourmet grilling isn’t just reserved for professional chefs – if you love to cook and want to impress your guests, here are some of the most important grilling techniques and recipes to master before your next party.

Multi-Tasking

Cooking is all about timing and technique, and multi-tasking happens to be one of the most crucial techniques to master. You’ll never get good at cooking gourmet meals without mastering this art. Most recipes will call for multiple foods to be prepared and cooked, and it’s just not practical to do it one thing at a time. For instance, if you’re cooking chicken fettuccine alfredo, you’ll need to start making the alfredo sauce from scratch while the chicken is grilling, and then time the noodles to be done cooking when everything else is ready.

When practicing multi-tasking, you might burn something here and there, overcook something, or forget to add an ingredient while you’re focused on other things. If that happens, it’s okay; keep practicing the same dishes, and it will all become second nature.

Cooking On An Outdoor Grill

Obviously, if you’re grilling food, you’re going to be cooking outside. However, there is an art to cooking on an outdoor grill compared to using an indoor range stove and oven. While in both cases, you’ll need to preheat your appliance to get the right cooking temperature, the process is a little different. For instance, it takes about 10-15 minutes to heat a gas grill to 500°F, and around 30 minutes for charcoal. Gas is easier to start and maintain, you can control the temperature, and it’s also said to be healthier.

Know what temperatures are ideal for cooking specific foods, especially meats. Here’s a rough guideline:

• Low heat (225-250°F) is ideal for smoking brisket, lamb, and ribs.

• Medium heat (325-350°F) is ideal for grilling poultry and smoke-roasting. If you’re grilling fish, crank it up to medium-high heat between 375-400°F.

• High heat (450-650°F) is great for grilling steaks, chops, chicken, and pizza (although having a wood-fired pizza oven is even better)

• Incendiary (650°F+) is what you want for searing steaks and chops

With a thermometer, you can test the temperature of the grill and your food to see if you’re in line with the ideal temp for whatever you’re cooking. Keep in mind that the internal temperature of chicken needs to reach between 165-175°F and lamb should reach 145°F for food safety purposes. Never serve or eat undercooked or raw poultry.

Marinades

Marinating food is a great skill to master. It enhances the flavor of a dish, adds moisture, and the right marinade can make people go crazy for more. Marinades are an important part of tenderizing meats (like steak), but this process doesn’t just apply to beef. You can marinate chicken, fish, and even vegetables.

A marinade is basically a mixture of 1-part acid, 3-parts fat or oil, and seasoning that you soak the food in over a period of time – perhaps a day or two, depending on the dish. There are a variety of spices that people tend to enjoy for specific foods, and once you learn how to create amazing marinades, your gourmet meals will be unforgettable.

Presentation

They say presentation is everything, and that’s accurate where food is concerned. There’s a reason top chefs go to great lengths to create impressive presentations when serving guests. The way food looks actually impacts the way the taste and quality are perceived. For example, in one study, 60 people were given three salads made with the same ingredients, and only the presentation differed. One salad was just thrown on the plate, another was neatly arranged, and the third was made to look like a painting. When asked to rate each salad, participants preferred the one that resembled the painting and said it tasted better.

When you master the art of food plating, you’ll be able to create a well-rounded, gourmet dining experience for your guests. Not only will they enjoy the benefits of sharing a meal with others, but the meal itself will be unforgettable.

Practice Makes Perfect

Learning to cook gourmet meals on a grill takes time, so practice as often as possible. Eventually, you’ll develop a personal style for making tasty gourmet meals people will rave about.

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