The Tools You Need to Master Your Grill

Let's get down to the nitty gritty. What are you going to need to start grilling? Ironically, I have been asked this exact question before. Well I was a little thrown off at the time because I thought that it was obvious. But that was stupid of me. Of course whenever someone learns a new thing what they need sound advice. So let's cover the bases. What I'm going to go over in this post are the four absolutely positively must have items that you gotta have in order to cook. Ready?

Here it is, short and sweet. You need a grill, charcoal, lighter fluid, and tongs. You need meat too, but you already knew that. These are the four essentials. Obviously, there's more to it than that. But what I want to emphasize to you is that grilling is like learning to play a musical instrument; start with the basics, periodically add to your knowledge, and before you know it you'll be playing 'twinkle twinkle' in no time. After that, practice makes perfect.




So here we go.  First on the list is a grill.  Don't worry!  If you've got no grill, go to the park.  There are plenty of grills there.  If that's not an option, buy a grill.

 Believe me, there's one for every budget.  This is more expensive than my first grill.  The bottom line here is you need a grill to cookout, so take care of that.

Next, grab yourself a bag of charcoal.  Trust me on this; go get a bag of Kingsford and keep on truckin'.  Here's the thing - charcoal can become this long, drawn out topic.  You would truly be surprised at how many folks take their charcoal seriously, but we are keeping things simple.  So therefore, grab a bag of Kingsford.  That's all you need.

The third thing on the list is lighter fluid.  Again for serious grill folk, this is a whole separate topic (I'm not kidding you).  But like we agreed before, we are going to keep things simple.  So while you are at your local grocery/department/convenience store, get your lighter fluid when picking up the bag of coals.  I would strongly recommend that you get the plastic squeeze bottle.  Trust me, it's easier to work with starting out.  

And last on the list is my favorite thing of all - tongs!  This is the one place that I would caution you against going cheap.  If you have to, cut corners on the charcoal and lighter fluid.  I personally wouldn't skimp on the grill, if you decide to buy one.  And I would NEVER buy cheapo tongs!  It's the main tool that you'll be using to handle your food!  For a variety of reasons (health, safety, ease of handling, etc.) get yourself a good pair of tongs.  Which means you'll have to leave the dollar store and go to Lowe's or Home Depot.  You get the picture.

After that, you can cookout.  Yes, there actually are other things that you need, but you can definitely get by with these four essentials to start.  Well, you need food to slap on that grill as well as matches or a lighter of some sort to start the flame.  But I know you knew that, so I didn't have to mention it.  Anyhow, the key is to get cookin'.  With these basics, cooking burgers and dogs will be a snap.  And some other stuff.


Otis