This consists of holding your hand approximately 6 inches above the coals or heat source, about the spot where the food will be cooking, and counting how many seconds you can keep your hand in this position. There are primarily two methods of using a grill. Cooking directly over the heat source is known as grilling over direct heat. The food is cooked for mere minutes on a hot grill, and the lid is rarely if ever closed. Thin cuts of meat, fillets, kabobs, sates, and vegetables are good candidates for this method.
Indirect heat is used for larger pieces of meat, such as thick steaks, roasts, and whole fish.
The lid is closed, and the cooking times are somewhat longer. On a gas grill this generally means firing up the two outside burners, and cooking the meat over the middle, unlit burner. When using charcoals, the coals are pushed to the sides of the grill, leaving a place in the middle to cook. Traditional barbeque is a form of indirect heat using very low temperatures over long periods of time. A table of grilling times is of necessity only approximate.