Grilling

One of the most frustrating parts of grilling for me is the parade of bowls, plates, and tools you have to carry from the kitchen to the grilling station outdoors. A stack of inexpensive rimmed aluminum baking sheets makes this easy. Just load them up with food or utensils, and you're ready to go. Of course, in the off season, they're the best pans for roasting meat, baking cookies, and charring vegetables.

This is an incredible little oven with simple, reliable operation, whether you're using gas, wood, or charcoal to fire it. It consistently hits wood-fired-oven temperatures and maintains them for as long as you are cooking, with no fussing or babysitting, which means you can spend more time enjoying pizza with your friends and family and less time coddling a temperamental flame. It's attractive, solidly built, weatherproof, and portable.

Single-use wooden skewers are just fine if you only rarely cook meat-on-a-stick, but if you kebab your dinner more regularly, a set of sturdy reusable skewers is a sound investment. I like to use flattened metal skewers, which prevent vegetables and meat from rotating as you maneuver them on the grill.

For many of us, grilling and barbecuing have long dwelled in the realm of folklore and legend. In his eponymous book, Meathead Goldwyn (you may know him as the founder of AmazingRibs.com) distills decades of research into the art and science of barbecue and grilling into a single volume that will show you not just the best ways to take food to live fire, but why the techniques work.