Grilling

If you’re seriously into barbecuing pork butts, briskets, and ribs, the FireBoard is the brainiest thermometer we tested, aimed at making your cooking more predictable. The app enables you to name, chart, and store your smoking sessions, and the base has a port to accept a fan accessory, which controls the temperature of a smoker or charcoal grill by adjusting airflow.

Precise enough for most cooking tasks, the Polder is intuitive to use and has a kink-resistant round cable that we found effortless to work with. The Polder’s six-inch-long probe is tied for the longest we tested, and it comes with one of the best pot clips.

After countless failed grilling mitts, we got ourselves a pair of welding gloves to use when grilling or smoking and never looked back. With great heat protection, dexterity, and construction, these are a necessity for every backyard cook.

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.