Grilling Techniques

Level up your live-fire skills — direct vs. indirect heat, two-zone setups, the reverse sear, flat-top griddling and cooking with cast iron. These techniques work on any grill and turn good cooks into great ones. Put them to work with our grill recipes.

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Grill Masters Club 10 oz stainless steel dry rub shaker beside a Grill Masters Club box on a grill

How to Fill and Use a Seasoning Shaker for Dry Rubs

To fill a seasoning shaker for dry rubs, mix your rub in a bowl first, break up any clumps, and...

A chef’s knife shaving thin, crispy, red-edged slices of al pastor pork off a vertical trompo stack sitting in a cast iron skillet on a grill grate

Al Pastor on the Grill: The Backyard Trompo Method

Make al pastor on the grill with a DIY trompo: slice and marinate pork shoulder, stack it on a skewer...

Three street tacos side by side in a neat row on a dark weathered wood table, each on doubled small corn tortillas

Al Pastor vs. Carnitas vs. Carne Asada: The Big Three Taco Meats, Explained

Al pastor and carnitas are both pork shoulder, but al pastor is chile-marinated and spit-roasted while carnitas is slow-cooked in...

A tall stack of thin red chile-and-achiote-marinated pork slices on a vertical metal skewer, standing in a cast iron skillet on the grate of a black charcoal kettle grill

Al Pastor BBQ: The Backyard Guide to Mexico's Favorite Taco

Al pastor is thin-sliced pork marinated in dried chiles, achiote and pineapple, stacked on a vertical spit called a trompo...

Steak Doneness Temperature Chart: Pull Temps for Every Doneness

Steak Doneness Temperature Chart: Pull Temps for Every Doneness

Medium rare is 130 to 135°F after resting. The full steak doneness chart with pull temps, carryover by thickness, where...

Burger press smashing a beef patty on a hot griddle for crispy-edged smash burgers

How to Make Smash Burgers: The Complete Guide to Crispy-Edged Smashburgers

A smash burger is a different cook with a different goal: maximum crust. The beef, the surface, the heat, the...

How to Cook Chicken Wings: Crispy Grilled, Smoked & Flat Top Wings

How to Cook Chicken Wings: Crispy Grilled, Smoked & Flat Top Wings

Crispy skin and a glaze that sets instead of burning: the baking powder dry brine, times and temps for every...

Eggs and smash burger patties cooking on a flat top griddle with a wide spatula

Blackstone Griddle Accessories: What You Actually Need (and What to Skip)

Already own a Blackstone? Skip the second griddle. Here's the press, spatula, dome, fat, oil and seasoning setup that actually...

Pro Tip: The Finishing Dust, and Why Some Seasonings Go On After the Cook

Pro Tip: The Finishing Dust, and Why Some Seasonings Go On After the Cook

Most people season once, before the food hits the fire. That throws away the most interesting third of what seasoning...

Blackened Fish on the Grill

Pro Tip: Blackening on the Grill, Not in Your Kitchen

Blackening is the fastest way to turn a shaker of seasoning into something that tastes like it came off a...

Finished Grilled Pepperoni Pizza

Everyday Classic Pepperoni Pizza on the Grill

Pepperoni is the pizza everybody actually orders, which makes it the honest test of a backyard setup — there's nowhere...

Close-up of deep bronzed crispy skin on a smoked turkey

How to Get Crispy Skin on Smoked Turkey: 9 Fixes

Why smoked turkey skin turns out rubbery, and the nine things that fix it, starting the day before the bird...