Most people enjoy grilling, but great grilling is an art. Common grilling mistakes lead to raw chicken, charred steaks and burnt burgers.

To avoid these mistakes and produce perfect food every time you grill needs advice and experience, wise grillers know that they can learn from more experienced grill chefs, that's why the Grilling Coach invites you to sign up to his newsletter, just use the orange box on the right. Are you smart enough to take up his offer?

One of the trickiest meats that is to be grilled is chicken. It is very hard to grill it perfectly; it is often overcooked or undercooked. Who would want to eat a burnt or a nearly raw chicken? So here are some tips for you to try when grilling marinated chicken.

• It is always preferable to use low heat in grilling in order to avoid burnt meat. Wait until the chicken is tender and moist before adding any sauces.

• For you to keep the chicken moist, constantly baste it. It is not advisable that you use wine on grilling marinated chicken, the alcohol can cause flare-ups while grilling. One of the main reasons why meats are burnt during cooking is because of the sugar mixed with the sauce. But if you apply your sauce when it is nearly cooked, it will not burn. Using dry rubs are a good way to avoid burning your meat.
• If you have a hard time in telling whether your chicken is almost cooked for you to apply the sauce, you could always purchase a meat thermometer. It is a very handy gadget in grilling; it gives a tone alert when the meat is almost cooked. This way you will not have undercooked nor overdone meals. This also saves more of your time, if you are grilling and at the same time need to do other chores and chat to the grill party guests without worrying about the state of the chicken.
• Using marinated chicken is the main way to produce some very nice flavors and make your chicken juicier.
• Marinating gives flavors to your meat, it is composed of seasoning, acid and oil. The usual used acids are citrus juice, vinegar and wine, this tenderizes the meat by breaking down the hard fibers from the meat. Oils absorbs the seasonings that were placed onto the chicken and helps the flavor to penetrate.

Grilling marinated chicken is truly a very good way to have a delicious meal. Here are some tips in marinating:

• It is better to marinate meat with a big surface area because it can easily absorb the marinade. But, when marinating a very compact pieces meat, it is advised to do it by injecting it into the meat or just cut the outside of the meat, massaging it with the marinade with your hands.
• If you are marinating a large size of meats, longer time is required for it to absorb the flavor. For such small sizes, it is between 30 minutes and one hour.
• If you want your grilled marinated chicken to be brown, take the meat out of the marinade then dry it, then you can brown it.
• If you want to save energy in cleaning, use a Ziploc bag in to marinate the chicken, but a baking dish or glass bowl would also work.
• When marinating the meat, turn it several times and keep it in the refrigerator to reduce the natural growth of the bacteria present on the raw chicken.
• Reusing the marinade for another stock of meat is not good. If you wish to reserve some for your dipping sauce, better do it before marinating it with the meat. If you intend to serve the marinade, cook it first to kill any bacteria from the raw meat.

Grilling marinated chicken can really give you a perfect meal anytime!

So you can see how easy it is to become an accomplished grilling chef by following these tips with your fish, meat or vegetable recipes. Wise backyard grillers know that it makes sense to get these insider's tips from more experienced grillers - so get smart and sign up now for the Grilling Coach newsletter - NOW!