Must-Read: Clean Your Grill

With Memorial Day passing us by on Monday, that means that it’s time for the greatest season of all. No, I’m not talking about summer, although that’s great and all. I’m talking about Grilling Season, the best time of year to break out the charcoal, bring that grill out back, fire it up, throw a few steaks or hot dogs on it, and have yourself an afternoon. But there is something that happens to grills that haven’t been used in quite awhile: They get disgustingly dirty. And, unfortunately, a lot of people think that grills are, for some reason, self-cleaning. (They probably think fire kind of cures everything.) And, well, it doesn’t.

So today we’re heading over to Men’s Health, where they have a list of ways that you should be cleaning your grill before you use it. You know, to make sure you’re not accidentally eating a whole pile of rodent feces or something on that burger of yours. Among their best tip:

5. Fire up the grill.
Once everything is dry and reassembled, light the gas or start your charcoal fire. Every time you grill this summer, you should let the grill run hot for 20 minutes, making sure you spread the charcoal evenly under the grates. Move coals to one side later?having a ?cool? side now might allow some germs to survive. Scrape off food bits (if you?ve used the grill since your last deep cleaning) with a wire-bristled brush. ?Try to use the one made by whoever manufactured your grill, because you know they tested those on their own products and won?t scratch,? says Kolman.

So head on over to the link above and check out the other tips to figure out how to keep that grill in tip-top shape for the rest of the summer.