What Is Direct Heat Grilling?

Direct Heat Grilling: 
One of the first things you’ll want to know when entering the world of grilling, is the different grilling methods, of which there are two primary choices; Direct Heat Grilling (what we’ll be talking about today) and Indirect Heat Grilling.

When most of the world thinks about grilling, they’re thinking about direct heat grilling, which is, in essence, grilling directly over the coals and flames.

But let’s break it down a little bit further, shall we?

Direct Grilling is a high-heat cooking method in which the food is grilled directly over the flame. This method is great for searing steaks, or grilling burgers. This method allows for quick cooking times, but runs the risk of burning your food if you haven’t yet learned how to master the flame/temperature of your grill. You can learn more about that here.

Typical foods that are cooked over direct heat are (by no means an extensive list):

• Steaks
• Pork Chops
• Chicken Breasts
• Fish
• Vegetables
• and Bread

Now, let’s take a look at how to build your fire for direct heat grilling.

Build Your Coals in Zones

You can learn more about this here, but for the sake of not taking you to another page, we’ll go ahead and break it down for you:

For a three-zone fire, you’ll be building one area (approximately a third of your grill space) where the coals are raked double-high. This is going to be your high-heat searing area. The second ⅓ of your grill will be raked to a single layer of coals. This will be your moderate heat cooking zone. The remaining ⅓ of your grill space will be left empty. This is your cooking-free/safety zone for indirect cooking or cooling.

By moving the food from the hot to the medium to the cool zone, you can effectively control the heat over which the food is grilling.

Some things to note while grilling over direct heat is that you can very easily run the risk of over-charring your foods. This cooking method , while ideal for smaller and thinner foods, does not work for roasting or smoking. We’ll discuss those in another lesson about grilling with Indirect Heat.

As always, Happy Grilling!