Read This Before Cooking Lamb On The Grill

There is something special about grilling food. Whether you are grilling an elaborate vegetable spread or looking to cook two juicy steaks over the open fire, your food will be transformed for the better. For the most part, folks believe that grilling isn't much of an art — how hard can it be to cook something on a grill, right? This is where many people go wrong. 

A Delish report notes that it's rather easy to make mistakes when it comes to grilling. The publication cites things like using lighter fluid, cooking on direct heat all the time, and cooking too many things at one time all as pitfalls people walk into when it comes time to grill meat like beef or lamb. While most folks are familiar with grilling beef, lamb is a whole different ballgame, according to The Spruce Eats. Of the meats, the site notes that lamb is one of the best to throw on a grill, but there's a bit of a catch. How the lamb (or mutton) turns out in the end depends on the grill master completing one very important pre-grill step.

Cooking lamb can be a little tricky if it is something that you don't often purchase at the supermarket or at your local butcher shop. But once you have the hang of it, reaping the delicious benefits will be easy. Apart from buying the right cut, you need to tenderize the meat if you're looking to get something that is not only delicious but also melts in your mouth. So how exactly should you tenderize lamb meat? 

The Spruce Eats suggests softening the meat with a meat tenderizer that will assist the enzymes within the lamb in breaking the meat down. Like with any gamey red meat, tenderizing helps it cook more evenly, according to the site. Some of the most beneficial ingredients to help you along in this process, according to End of the Fork, include lemon juice, yogurt, buttermilk, and sour cream. But if you're going to use acidic ingredients, you should be careful how long you tenderize it for. Users on a Chowhound forum recommend not leaving it to soak too long in the juices as the acid can break down the meat a little too much.