Maybe it is the 4th of July, or just another day in the summer, but someone in your neighborhood is always having a bar-b-que as it is just as american as hot dogs, because it is also where the hot dogs are cooked. Not only does the food that comes from barbequing have a taste that is unmatched by any other style of cooking, but it also gives a family a reason to gather outdoors. Over 89% of families in the united states hold or attend barbeque at least once a year an about 70% of all of the barbeques are held on a gas grill.

Planning A Barbeque
Plan your barbeque in advance and check with your guests to make sure they will be available. Finding a suitable time and date should not be difficult if you give your guests enough advance notice. Although you can not predict the weather, do your best to estimate what the weather will be like by checking with an online weather service and always have a backup plan if your weather goes bad to make sure your guests still have a great time.

The type of foods you serve at your barbeque should depend on the type of guests and the event, if any, that you are celebrating. With so many food options available, you can always find at least a few items that will please your crowd.

12 to 24 hours before you plan on beginning the party, make sure to thaw, prepare, and marinate the meat you will be cooking. If you want a tradition barbeque, stick with traditional side items like potatoes, potato salad, baked beans, and coleslaw. A basic coondiment bar should be provided and include pickles, relish, and onions. You can add additional items, but any barbeque is complete with just the items listed above.

A themed barbeque may present more opportunities to hold a festive event. With a themed event, you can splurge on the atmosphere and decorations. Matching tablecloths, napkins, and plates can be found at any local store. You can also match your décor to the party. For example, a luau could simply be creative colored utensils, leis, and Tiki torches, all of which are extremely cheap. You can even reuse the Tiki torches later!

Your party area should be set up before guest arrive. It only takes a few minutes to get everything ready, but the reaction you get from your arriving guests may make you feel like you were preparing and decorating all day. The smell of barbeque will help get your hungry guests in the mood, so you may want to start cooking before they get there!

Choosing Your First Outdoor Barbeque Grill
There are many different brands of grills and styles to choose from, this may seem overwhelming, but read our simple guide to barbeque and you will be familiar with the differences between each type of grill.

Charcoal Grills
Charcoal grills are one of the most used types of grills and they utilize charcoal and lighter fluid to cook food. Charcoal grills come in all shapes and sizes, and vary in cost. Charcoal requires you to buy charcoal and lighter fluid each time you use it and it must be cleaned out after each use.
Charcoal grills come in small sizes, which are ideal for apartment dwellers or people with small homes.

Natural Gas Grills
Natural gas grills hook up directly to your home’s natural gas line if you have one, and can cook meat in record time, and they usually require more space.

Propane Grills

Propane grills are useful for small areas, since they can come in smaller sizes.
Propane grills use propane gas to cook your food and are great if you want to quickly cook your food while retaining that grilled flavor, than you may want to consider Propane grills.

Smoker Grills
Smoker Grills are used when flavor is the number one priority as smoker grills use wood to slow cook your meat and the flavor can be controlled by using different types of woods.

Things To Consider When Purchasing Your First Grill
A couple of factors should be considered when you go to purchase your first grill. Each type of grill comes with its advantages and disadvantages, so weigh your options and decide what is right for you.

Cost
Barbeque grills can range from extremely cheap to very expensive depending on the features.

If you are looking for a cheaper grill, then you should probably consider a charcoal grill.  While larger charcoal grills are available, smaller grills can be purchased for as little as $10 to $15 at your local department store. Propane grills are slightly more expensive, starting around $100 dollars. A smoker grill is slightly more expensive then a propane grill at about $130 each. Natural gas grills on the higher end of cost. Typically these types of grills start at about $300. Multiple fuel grills are the most expensive at about $450 and up. Multiple fuel grills allow you to grill using one or a combination of fuels.

Flavor
If you are concerned with flavor, you first choice should be a charcoal or smoker grill, these grills allow you to replicate a true “smoked” flavor. You can control the flavor on smokers by changing the type of wood or wood chips you use. Smokers are great if you want to slow cook your meat, but if you want to cook at a faster pace, you should stick with a charcoal grill.
 
Space
When you are not using your grill, you will need to store it. Charcoal and Propane grills are ideal for smaller areas such as apartments and city homes. If you have a large amount of space available, then consider the larger options.

Gas Barbeque Grills
Gas grills work by a spark igniting the gas within the grill and this is typically done with a knob or button that you push, which in turn activates a small hammer and the hammer hits the top of an ignition crystal to start a flame. After ignition, the burner mixes the gas with oxygen and spreads it across the grill's cooking surface. Propane can be purchased at your local grocery store, superstore, or from a propane dealer.

Weight
The type of gas grill you purchase should depend on it's intended use. If you are considering using it for camping trips, barbeques at the beach, or tailgate parties, than consider a smaller gas grill. Smaller gas grills can range from 5 to 45 pounds with portable gas containers available for every size.
If your think you will be doing mostly home cooking, then a larger grill would probably be better.

Surface Area
Consider the amount of cooking surface area you will need, based on the type of cooking situations you will be in. If you plan on cooking for yourself or you and one other, you should get a gas grill with a smaller surface area, as it will be easier to clean. If you plan on holding parties or cooking for a larger family, then get a gas grill with a larger surface area. The surface area may also include different types of cooking surfaces. Look for the type that suits you best, or is interchangeable. Do not get a bigger grill than is needed as it will use more gas and require more trips for fuel.

Cooking Surfaces
Different cooking surfaces include a BBQ surface, a flat grill, and a ribbed grill. Some grills even offer none stick surfaces, which allow you to cook different foods you would not be able to cook on a grill otherwise. Some gas grills even contain a Wok type surface for cooking pasta and rise dishes, or a full rotisserie set that allows you to cook rotisserie chicken.

Cost
Gas grills are typically on the higher end of the cost scale, as they require more mechanical parts then other grills. You can expect to spend anywhere from $40 for a smaller grill up to $500 or more for a large grill.

Grill Features
BTU is the measure of the amount of cooking power the barbeque grill has. Simple math can be used to determine the amount of heat that your grill produces. You can do this by taking the amount of space available for cooking (typically measured by square inch) and divide it by the total amount of BTU’s. You should have at least 95 to 100 BTU’s per square inch of cooking space. For example, if you buy a grill with 50,000 BTU’s and 450 square inches of cooking space, you will be gettting about 111 BTU’s of cooking power per square inch.

If you still do not understand the basic information provided about the grill, it may be a good idea to talk with a professional. There are stores designed specifically for barbeque grills and barbeque grill accessories. Other stores, such as your larger department stores may not have professionals trained specifically in barbeques, but chances are at least one employee in the store likes to barbeque, and can aid you, if on nothing else by personal opinion.

Tips for Better Barbequing
Before starting up your grill, spray the grill cooking area with a nonstick cooking spray to prevent meat from sticking. When meat sticks or tears, you lose juice, and you will dry out your meat.

Don't poke you meat while cooking because it will cause the juice inside the meat to leak into the bottom of the grill.  This will make your food dry and also could potentially ruin your barbeque grill or cause a buildup of grease on your grill.

Do not put food on your grill until it has heated up to the desired temperature as temperature fluctuations will cause your food to dry out or burn. If you are using a charcoal grill, make sure that the coals are completely gray before putting the meat on the grill. This allows the temperatures to level out, and the majority of the lighter fluid to burn off.

Wait as long as possible to put barbeque sauce on on the meat. Putting barbeque sauce on meat early will cause your meat to dry out, and possibly burnbut it could also burn.

Using charcoal lighter fluid when cooking will cause a taste that is different then with other types of grills, but not using any lighter fluid will be very frustrating because the the charcoal will be difficult if not impossible to light without lighter fluid.

Never put cooked meat back in on the same plate you used when the meat was raw or use the same utensils, as this can cause everyone to get sick and cause a barbeque no one will ever forget, but not for good reasons.

Open the lid as little as possible once the meat is on the grill, when you open the lid, you change the temperature in the grill and the change in temperature and air flow will make your meat dry.

Do not cook meat on a grill when it is still frozen, or even partially frozen. Thaw your meat by sitting it out about 12 to 24 hours before you plan on cooking it, or by thawing it in a microwave. If you meat is thawed, but in the refrigerator, set it out long enough for the meat to get to room temperature.

Higher heat is not always better, cooking food quickly is ok, but turning the heat up will cause the meat to dry possibly burn.

The use of tin foil or aluminum foil will make cleaning easier, but it will cause your food to have more of a fried taste then a grilled taste.