Cooking Tips: Grilling

picture from seriouseats.com

To get perfect grill marks on a piece of meat or fish, start with a hot, oiled grill. Place the item to be grilled at a 45-degree angle on the grill (so that its top points to 10 o'clock on an imaginary clock face). Once it's been marked, rotate it 90 degrees counterclockwise (so that the top now points to 2 o'clock). Once that side is perfectly grilled, flip and repeat on the other side.

Some basic tips to make your outdoor parties a breeze: if your apps are a precursor to a meal, assume each person will eat about 4-6 hors d'oeuvres apiece. If you're only serving apps, go with about 12 pieces per person. Each person will probably drink 2 drinks in the first hour, then 1 drink per hour thereafter. When you're planning your snacks, go for a variety of colors, textures, and cooking methods--whatever you make, though, should be finishable in two bites or less, and easily edible with one hand.

Food Network 2011 Calendar