Outdoor grilling was a challenge for me at first

Having been to many grilling parties

Seeing all the guys hanging at the grill with a beer

I believed it must be in the male genetic code to grill perfectly

My first attempts did not go well

I had left the charcoal outside and it got damp

I burned paper and wood below it

But I only made flames for a short while

Before the flames subsided to white smoke

Then the charcoal refused to ignite

I got better with dry charcoal

Using firelighters to get things going

I put the food on the grill too soon

Everything tasted like firelighters

I learned to wait until the charcoal was searing hot

Then started cooking directly over it

But the food was instantly carbonized in the extreme heat

Waiting for the charcoal to cool off was my next idea

By this time the grill was too cold to cook the food

I ended up taking everything into the kitchen to finish cooking

Of course all these efforts were not flying solo

I had the usual beer swilling male posse surrounding my grill

They all gave me a good grilling about my techniques

It took many years of charred steaks and carbonized burgers to understand it all

Learning how to rake the coals to one side and then cook on indirect heat

Meat thermometers came in to play as science replaced guess work

Gradually I learned how to grill properly over a decade or so

But just as I mastered the mysteries of cooking over burning charcoal embers

I switched over to a gas grill and had to start learning again

This time it was so much easier control the heat

Turning the knobs up or down was all I had to do

And the bonus was no more clean up of dusty ashes the day after

I only cook on gas now and it always produces great food

I still get the posse surrounding my gas grill offering advice and grilling me

But I have learned to ignore them all and just smile

The truth is you can only learn how to cook food well

By experiencing how to cook it really badly many times

Happy grilling with or without the beer swilling posse