Better outdoor grilling

For many Americans, the upcoming Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of the outdoor grilling season.

Here are a few tips from TheKitchn.com to get you ready to fire up your outdoor grill.

1. Let your hand be the

heat guide: While some grills have built-in thermometers so you can see the heat level, others do not. For those that don’t, you can use your hand to determine how hot your grill is.

• High heat: Hold your hand (palm down) about four to six inches above the grill. If you can hold it one to three seconds before you need to pull your hand away, you’re at high heat.

• Medium heat: If you can hold your hand four to six seconds above the grill, you’re at medium heat.

• Low heat: If you can hold your hand seven to 10 seconds, you’re at low heat.

2. Use both direct and indirect heat: A preheated grill should have at least two options: direct and indirect heat.

• Direct heat: Direct heat means you are grilling directly above an open flame. Direct heat is good for searing or getting grill lines.

• Indirect heat: This separate part of the grill is still hot, but there are no flames directly below the

grill. You can start cooking over direct heat and then move it to indirect heat to finish.

3. Keep the lid on or o :

Each time you open or close the lid, the temperature of the grill fluctuates. Thin cuts of meat can be cooked with the lid off, while thick cuts of meat benefit from the lid holding the heat.

4. Sauce at the end: The more sauce added for a lengthy amount of time, the more likely meat will start to char or burn on the outside. Brush or drizzle on about 1/3 or 1/2 of the sauce near the end of the cook time and save the rest for serving.

5. Let it rest: Resist the urge to slice into meat immediately. Resting allows the juices to evenly distribute and settle.