An award-winning pitmaster shares 10 tips for cooking over an open flame

Rodney Scott is a James Beard Award-winning pitmaster, cookbook author, and the founder of Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ.

With its first location having opened in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2017, the restaurant has since expanded into an empire with three more locations across Georgia and Alabama. 

Scott learned the practice of barbecue from his parents, who also run a barbecue joint, and his time growing up in Hemingway, South Carolina. He worked with his family for 25 years until he moved to Charleston to open his own place. 

In a recent interview with Insider, Scott shared his tips to help home barbecuers successfully cook over an open flame.

"We all understand that not everybody, especially in urban America, has a place where they can build big fires," Scott told Insider. 

So he says that using a charcoal grill is the best at-home option. 

If you're choosing between briquettes and wood lumps, Scott recommends lumps, which you can get in a variety of wood types that each impart their own flavors. 

"For example," Scott said, "I'm right-handed, so I would put my coals on the left side of my grill."

He said he would recommend starting your proteins over the hot coals, and if it gets too hot and starts cooking too quickly, he'd move them over for more of an indirect cooking approach.

"Slide the proteins gently from over the direct coals to about the middle of the grill, and let it kind of smoke up there," he said. 

If you lay your meat too soon, "you get that bitterness off the coals," Scott says. "The charred flavor, it's not always good."

Let the coals burn until they're white, then you're good to go, he said. 

"We had a situation once where we put bacon on the grill and then it was too much over the hot flames, and of course, the bacon set the grill on fire," Scott told Insider. "But that's a normal thing, it happens. So be careful and stay in control of your grill."

If you are cooking something greasy, Scott recommends using that off-flame space that you set yourself up with when you piled the coals to one side. 

It's important to make sure you're serving meat that's cooked to a safe temperature, Scott says. Sometimes, cooks may be inclined to show that they don't need a thermometer to know when their food is done. But Scott says to check your ego when it comes to food safety. 

"Don't be embarrassed to not be a professional," he said. 

Scott pointed out that many thermometers will have a label on the back that indicates the safe temperatures for different proteins, which could save you the step of looking up the information on the internet. 

He did acknowledge, though, that some people do have a good idea about their meat's doneness just by feeling it with their hands. 

"If you're a touchy-feely person, great, that means you've got it down pat," he said. "But still, temp it to make sure. [A thermometer is] a cheap purchase, and it's well worth it. You can protect yourself and whomever your guest may be when you're cooking for them in the backyard."

Scott says it's important to not put your cooked food where raw food once was, and you should always clean up anything that's touched the raw food as soon as possible.

His biggest rule of thumb is to avoid cross-contamination, which he said he's heard people ask for clarification on.

It's when "this spoon that was around raw juice gets mixed into the sauce," he explained. "You don't want to do that."

That applies to cutting boards, knives, hands, and anything else you may be using. 

This means keeping a close eye on your grill and knowing exactly what's on there, approximately how long it should take, and how hot your coals are.

"Don't put the food on and go inside and watch Lifetime or college football," he said. "Just stay focused."

If you don't have a charcoal grill, the pitmaster says there are a few things to look out for when using one that runs on propane. 

First, he says, check your fuel level before you start cooking and make sure you have enough. 

"I've been to events where the propane ran out in the middle of the cook," Scott told Insider. 

Scott recommends starting off with a low temperature on a propane grill. "You can always turn it up if need be," he added. 

"And again," he said, "pay attention, temp it. Make sure that it reaches that safety temperature so nobody gets sick."

"Take your time and have fun with your cooking," he said. Regardless of how many people you're cooking for, enjoy the process.