Foil Cooking – Should the Shiny Side of Aluminum Foil Face In or Out?

I've always been taught that baking is a science when it is compared to cooking. Cooking is very much 'to taste' and very individual. There are not as many things that can go wrong with a standard recipe in cooking, and you have a lot more room for creativity. You don't have to look at baking as that precise. However, unlike cooking, where you can add or subtract from a recipe with no real harm to physical structure, that does not hold in baking. For examlple, if you feel that there is too much salt in a recipe, cutting back can (and most likely will) have a cascading effect through the ingredient chain. You have to understand your ingredients and the effect they have on other ingredients. That is what makes baking a more precise science.
And in terms of flour, it is often the most 'ranged' ingredient. Depending on flour type, miller, altitude, water temp. etc., the amount of flour in a given recipe is always a guide. Again, you have to know your ingredients. You will never see 'one and an eight cup plus 2 TBSP hard flour' in a recipe, because it is so variable for many different reasons. Flour and water are the two most flexible ingredients, and are always variable. Hopefully this helps, I am sure someone will come along with a more scientific explanation for all different ingredients, I am just offering an experience based answer to your question. Also, you are right, do not mess around with baking soda and powder. If you do, you are asking for trouble. I would suppose that the rule of thumb would be that the more exacting an ingredient is (tsp, quarter tsp), you don't want to change much.

As a fellow Webber'er and long time griller, I'm going to wager one of three things going on here:

• Your coals aren't hot enough. One of the biggest problems I see with folks and charcoal grills isn't waiting long enough for the coals. There's should be no visible flame and slightly more than half of the coals should be white. In a chimney starter - this is around 25 minutes for me. If you're using another method, YMMV.
• You don't have enough coals. If you've just got enough coals to spread a thin layer across your grill, then they won't keep heat well and they'll cool down fast. If the liquid hits them too much here, they won't heat back up well. They should be grouped together somewhat and generally a couple layers thick for best heat.
• There is waaaaay too much marinade still on your meat when it hits the grill. If its been soaked properly in the marinade, you don't need to have it still be gushing fluid when it hits the grill.