Make sure your grilling area is equipped with some sort of sound system, whether that be a car stereo or portable MP3 player, so you can turn up the tunes while you fire up your grill.

Use different briquet arrangements depending on what's going on the grill. Thinner pieces of meat respond best to high temperature, direct heat grilling, which requires spreading the coals out evenly across the grate. Thicker pieces of meat cook beautifully all the way through, without burning on the outside, with a two-zone fire. Stack briquets to one side of the grate for high and low temperature zones. Begin cooking directly over the coals until the outside of the meat has reached the desired doneness; then move the meat to the other side of the grate (the low temperature zone) to finish cooking.

To achieve a perfectly grilled burger, only flip once. This is essential! Look for a pooling of natural juices in the center of the burger - that's when you know it's time to flip to the other side.

When searing meat, place it over the hottest part of the grill with direct heat. Cook for roughly one and a half minutes on each side, only flipping once, and remove from the grill. This method provides doneness on each side while maintaining the rich, red color and flavors in the center - and creates a nice presentation when slicing individual servings for guests.

When applying a dry rub to chicken pieces, it's often hard to keep that rub affixed and it's even more difficult to keep the chicken's original, golden color. Try painting chicken pieces with yellow mustard prior to applying the rub. Not only will the rub stay in place, your final product will be visually appealing - without any trace of mustard flavor.