1) Don’t be afraid to season with a heavy hand when grilling. The meat will lose a majority of your seasoning while on the grill (read next tip to avoid this).

2) Don’t over-handle your meat. Make sure your grill is really hot before cooking, then put the meat on and leave it alone. You don’t need to poke, prod or roll your expensive steak around. If anything, pick it up once and turn 45 degrees, placing it back on the same side down. Then flip and repeat.

3) Never cut into a piece of meat that is still on the grill or just off. EVER. Remove the meat and let it rest for 10 minutes, for fish wait 5 minutes. This allows the muscle to relax and will retain more of the natural juices i.e. a juicier steak!!!

4) Keep your grill clean!!! After cooking allow the grill to heat back up and cook off the burnt crispies left on the grates. Then, take your grill brush and give it a good once-over to remove anything left behind. Turn off the heat and use either pan spray or a clean rag with cooking oil on it to rub over the grates. This helps to season the grates just like a cast iron pan and will keep them in better shape. This also blocks rust from forming as well as giving it more of a non-stick feature. I like to do this prior to grilling as it will do the same as above and will give your meat beautiful grill marks!

5) Know when to marinade and when not to. I am not a fan of marinating unless I’m cooking a tough piece of meat like a tri-tip. When you’re using a good cut, you’re paying FOR THE FLAVOR OF THAT MEAT NOT THE MARINADE. This is also how I feel about most foods. When you’re using fresh ingredients, let those be the flavor centerpieces and everything else is there to compliment them.