Every grilling season brings with it new flavors and shiny toys. Whether it's a new recipe for the ultimate marinade or revved up tools that make an Edsel of last year's meat thermometer, the bar keeps getting set higher in the world of meat and fire. After all, every grillmeister wants to improve his flame game. In the end, however, it comes down to knowing key basics. That's where Jamie Purviance comes in. The author of 'Weber's Way to Grill: The Step-by-Step Guide to Expert Grilling,' which was nominated for a 2010 James Beard Foundation book award, talked to us about how grillseekers can find happiness and achieve satisfaction from their backyard fires. Here's some smoky insight from the grill king himself: Q: You say if someone is new to grilling they need to learn first how to light charcoal safely and to use a chimney starter. Don't most people just dump briquettes in the bowl of a Weber, squirt them with lighter fluid and light a match? A: Then you get the towering inferno. You get this tower of fire. Lighter fluid of course lights the charcoal but there is a safer and more environmentally friendly and more effective way of lighting the charcoal. One of the things I like about a chimney starter is that it lights the coals evenly so all the coals are the same temperature. The enemy of a good griller is an uneven fire. If you have some coals barely lit and some are burnt out, you're starting at a disadvantage. The cylinder of the chimney starter ensures that everything gets lit at the same time. It's a handy tool to have. Q: So lighter fluid will ruin the flavor of your food? A: That's subjective. There are some people out there who feel a hamburger is not a hamburger unless it tastes like petroleum. That's the way they were brought up. But that's not the flavor you want to add to grilled food. Q: Tell us about the two-zone fire. I think it's a step that some charcoal grillers skip. Don't most grillers like a nice, even fire all the way across the board? A: The problem with that approach is that you're locked into one kind of heat. If things aren't going the way you want, you have nowhere to go with the food but take it off. You're stuck. A two-zone fire gives you a little area flexibility. Now you can move things over to the cooler part of the grill. They don't stop cooking there but it's a place for them to cook in less intense heat. There are a lot of foods that turn out best when they're cooked with two different types of heat. A big thick steak or chicken, for instance. Those things do well when you sear them over the direct heat first then move them to a cooler part of the grill to finish. Q: What should I know about the vents on top of my grill and how to use them? A: They're there primarily to control air flow. A charcoal fire needs air. Most of the air is entering underneath the grill. That air needs some place to exit, otherwise it doesn't flow. In my world, those vents are almost always fully open to maximize the efficiency of the fire. Closing them slows down the fire. You'd want to slow down a fire if it's too hot. Closing them brings the temperature down and slows down the rate of coals. You also can close them if you're having flare-ups. Just by restricting the amount of air, you're restricting the flare. Q: Is a clean grill a better working grill? It seems like such a chore to clean. A: The stuff that's on the cooking grate will probably burn off easily the next time you light the grill. But the burn-off doesn't get rid of the stuff trapped in the cooking box, where the burners are or where the coals sit. You have to scrape that stuff out. If you don't, the new fat and drippings fall into the old stuff and create flame. Q: Any quick tips for better burgers? A: The most important thing is probably not fiddling so much with the burger, believe it or not. When you put the burger down, immediately, it sticks to the grate. If you try to turn it too early, you leave stuff on the grate. It's the crust of the burger, and it tastes great. People can't hold themselves back; they think they're not grilling unless they're fooling with the food. The better idea is to leave it alone. Let the crust develop. You want a little bit of browning to develop. That's an indication it's ready to release from the grate without sticking. That deep brown crust is really important for flavor. Q: People always think meat when they hear grilling, but vegetables and even desserts love grill heat. Are people thinking beyond the proteins? A: Absolutely. There's a big interest, for health reasons, in cooking more vegetables. Grilling carrots might be a surprise to people, but it makes a really nice side dish for steaks. I blanch them first for a few minutes, then brush them with butter and seasonings, then grill, and they turn out great. When I make salsas, I very often will grill-roast the vegetables. greg.morago@chron.com chron.delish.com XXX - End of Story3D 