• First, always start with a clean grill. This will help reduce the chance of flare-ups from burning grease, and it will also help keep smoke from previous barbeques from permeating the flavor of your food. That grilled salmon last weekend might have tasted pretty good, but salmon smoke on the grilled fruit kabobs you've prepared for tonight's dinner might not be quite so appealing.
• Position your grill in an open area, away from anything flammable, including your house. Heat from a grill that's set too close to the house will cause siding to scorch or melt and can even start a house fire. The same is true for grilling on the porch -- it poses a serious fire risk.
• To get the charcoal started, place crumpled newspapers or fuel cubes (another new invention since the 1960s!) in the center of the charcoal grate located in the bottom of the grill. Make sure the air vents on the outside of the grill are in the open position.
• Determine how much charcoal to use. One layer of charcoal should suffice for most foods; for larger foods, such as roasts, turkeys, or whole chickens, use two layers. When grilling in cold weather, use more charcoal.
• Place the charcoal briquettes over the newspapers or fuel cubes. Stack them in a pyramid shape and light the starter materials using a long match or a fire starters.
• When the charcoal is coated in a light gray ash (after about 25 minutes) the coals are ready.
• Before cooking, the hot coals must be spread out according to the cooking method you'll be using. For the direct method, arrange them evenly across the charcoal grate. For indirect cooking, stack the coals on the sides of the grate, leaving an open space in the center of the grill.
• Place the cooking rack in the grill. If you're planning to cook low fat meats, tofu, tempeh, or other foods that might stick to the rack, you may want to first coat it with oil.
• Close the grill lid, and give it a few minutes to thoroughly heat up before putting the foods on.
• Keep in mind that when cooking with indirect heat for long periods of time, fresh charcoal will need to be added throughout the process. Add 5 to 6 briquettes to each side of the grill as needed to maintain the heat (generally about every 45 minutes).
• Stay with the grill at all times! An unsupervised grill can heat up too quickly and overcook the food, and a flare-up, where grease from the food catches fire, can virtually ruin the meal or even cause a fire.