Myth: Slathering meat with a spicy red sauce from a bottle makes it barbecue.
Truth: Barbecue requires that the meat be cooked slowly over low indirect heat—with real wood smoke—until it is tender enough to chew without teeth. The sauce is optional, but still, it should be homemade.
Myth: The best way to light coals is to soak them with a petroleum-based lighter fluid.
Truth: Today’s griller lights charcoal cleanly with a chimney starter—an upright cylinder that holds coals in its top section and crumbled newspaper in the bottom.
Myth: Meat should be grilled over blazing high heat.
Truth: Sure, tender cuts of meat thinner than an inch (for example, most steaks and chops) do best over direct high heat, but tougher and thicker cuts will be more succulent if you sear them over direct heat and finish them more slowly over indirect heat.
Myth: The taste of any food will improve when you poke and turn it often on the grill.
Truth: Guys (yes, this tends to be a male problem), the more you play with the food the greater the chance that you will rip and ruin it. Turning most foods once or twice is plenty.
Myth: A grill is designed for meat only; all vegetables, side dishes and desserts should be made in the kitchen.
Truth: A grill is essentially an outdoor oven. It can roast vegetables, smoke fish, cook pizzas and even bake desserts. Of course, results will vary according to the cook’s DNA and learned grilling skills.
