It seems grilling is a national pastime during the summer and possibly during the entire year. Nothing tastes or smells better than an outdoor barbecue. Cooking out side doesn't heat up your kitchen and it makes clean up easier too. Personally I'm a bit challenged when it come to grilling. How about you? These seven tips for grilling meat may help improve your results.

1. Preheat your grill for 15-25 minutes before starting the meat.  This ensures the grill is at the proper temperature and that any bacteria on it are killed by the heat.  A properly heated grill will begin to sear the food immediately, prevents sticking, and helps the meat retain its moisture.

2.  Always use separate cutting boards, knives, and plates for meats and vegetables. This will reduce the chance of contaminating foods that aren't cooked.

3.  When you marinate meat before grilling, keep the marinating meat in the refrigerator.  Also, don't use the same liquid to baste the meat while cooking, that the raw meat marinated in unless you boil it first.

4.  To ensure that your meat is fully cooked, use an internal thermometer.

• Shrimp should cook for 2-3 minutes per side, scallops 3-4 minutes per side, salmon fillet for 3-5 minutes per side, and Mahi-mahi should cook for 5-6 minutes per side.
• Boneless, skinless chicken breast and chicken thighs should cook 6-8 minutes per side.  Chicken thighs with bone-in and skin take 15-25 minutes per side.  Both should reach 165 degrees F.
• Boneless and skinless duck breast should cook for 4-8 minutes per side and reach 150 degrees F.
• bone-in pork chops cook for 3-4 minutes per side and should reach 145 degrees F.  Pork tenderloin should cook 14-16 minutes per side and reach a temperature of 145 degrees F.
• Beef flank steak and strip steaks can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness.  Cook them for 6-8 minutes per side until it reaches 140 degrees F for medium.  Strip steak will cook for 4-5 minutes per side, again until it reaches 140 degrees F for medium.
• Lamb loin chops need to cook for at least 5-6 minutes per side and reach 145 degrees F to reach medium.

5.  If you don't have a handy-dandy meat thermometer, you can use your hand as a guide to check for doneness.  Allow your left hand to hang loose in front of you and poke your right index finger into the fleshy area between your thumb and index finger.  This is how a rare steak will feel when you touch it.  If you're trying to cook a steak medium rare, hold your hand the same way except spread your fingers apart.  How it feels when you poke it will be how a medium rare steak will feel.  If you're cooking the steak medium, ball your left hand into a fist and feel the fleshy area.  This is what a medium steak will feel like.  A well done steak will feel completely firm, with no give at all.

6.  Don't turn your meat more than once during cooking. If you turn the meat too often, it will dry the meat out quicker than if it's only turned once.

7.  When the time has elapsed to get your meat just the way you like it, remove it from the grill and put it on a clean plate.  Put a tented piece of aluminum foil over the meat, and allow it to rest for a minimum of 10 minutes.  This will allow the juices to redistribute which is what you really want.

Grilling the perfect steak and other meats is something that people have tried to accomplish for years.  If you've had problems grilling meat to suit you, try these tips and see if they help.  Who knows, before long you may be sought after for your grilling skills!