The day of the party has arrived, the food is bought, and the gas grill stands on the deck, cleaned, checked and ready to rock and roll! The guests are starting to arrive so you fire up the grill. But what will you do to ensure that they go away thinking "Wow, what great tasting food"? Simple, read on and learn!

The first tip is to buy the best quality food that you can afford. If you economise on ingredients, it will show in your cooking. The world's greatest chefs will always use the best ingredients, that is why their food always tastes so good - apart from the fact that they can cook it to perfection of course! Then check out the recipes in advance, you should not use the day of the party to experiment. If the recipe does not work, you are heading for disaster. It is always easier to repeat a recipe, the first time you follow a recipe, it will take time as you are unfamiliar with the method, quantities and maybe the ingredients. The second and subsequent times, you are more familiar and can be a little slicker and more relaxed, knowing the results will be good. A relaxed host or hostess is better than one who is more concerned with the recipe and cooking than with the guests.

Marinade the food that you intend to give your grill party guests. Marinade meat for several hours, a lot of grilling chefs will marinade overnight to make sure that the flavors penetrate the meat, or poultry as much as possible. Maridnade fish less, about an hour is the normal recommendation as leaving it longer can make the flesh tougher. Marinade in the refrigerator, which inhibits the growth of any bacteria. Always research the different marinades for a particular cut of meat or type of fish before deciding on your recipe. Maybe find something unusual and TEST IT OUT well in advance so that you know what you are doing. Poor preparation leads to disasters with your recipes. If you then wish to use the marinade as a sauce, cook it thoroughly as it has been in contact with raw food.

Keep the raw food separate from the cooked food and use separate sets of utensils. Use utensils that are designed for the job, it will make it easier and leave less chance of errors in cooking. For turning fish and meat, always use tongs, never use a fork. The fork will pierce the food and allow the juices to run out, making it dry and tasteless. Using tongs is also easier and you can examine the food to make sure it is cooking properly.

Talking of properly cooked food, pay close attention to the recipes, use the correct heat settings and timings. It is extremely useful to have a cook's thermometer so that you can check the temperature inside the food. That way, you know that it is cooking right. Avoid the temptation to just blast the food with a high heat, it will be cooked on the outside but may end up almost raw on the inside. This is most important when cooking whole fish, game and poultry as you need to make sure that any bacteria within these foods is properly destroyed.

To get even better flavors in your grilled foods, consider the use of a smoker box. This is an attachment that fits in your gas grill and is filled with wood chips. These smoulder and the aromatic smoke gives extra flavor to the food. There are many different types of wood chippings that can be used, research what is regarded as being the best for your food and try it out well in advance of your important grill party. The wood chips are soaked first so that they don't set alight.

Consider also where in your backyard you will set up the grill. If it is raining, us an awning, never use the garage as the fumes may become trapped and could poison you and your guests. Always grill in a well ventilated area. Avoid setting up your grill under trees that are overhanging as that is a fire risk.

So there you have it, follow these tips and hopefully your grilling party will be a success and the talk of the neighborhood for weeks after - and for the right reasons!