Grill, baby, grill
But before you crank up the heat, check out all the new tools / toys you can use.
It’s time to break out the white shoes and fire up the grill.
Memorial Day signals the unofficial start of summer, which means more of us will be heading outdoors to make dinner. (According to the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Assn., 80% of all American households own a grill or smoker.)
Grill manufacturers are raising the steaks (pun intended) for cooking al fresco with a host of sizzling accessories designed to make grills work smarter.
“Houses aren’t getting bigger,” says Steven Blaine, western regional manager for Napoleon Grills, “so people are finding ways to make their usable space bigger. They are moving outside and making their patio an outdoor kitchen.”
Competitive pricing for multitasking grill accessories is fueling the fire. “What used to be just for rich folks, is now pretty much for everybody,” says Blaine, “and it’s exploding.”
And that means grill accessories are keeping pace.
Additional side burners, rotisserie attachments, universal smoker tools, flavored wood chips, grill and pizza stones, warming shelves, wok rings, griddles, task lighting and infrared heat are designed to kick it up a notch.
Hawkins says it’s the social side of grilling that keeps us hungry for more. “No one’s ever in a bad mood,” he says of backyard barbecues, “you’ve got a cold one in front of your grill — it’s social.”
Here’s are a look at how the redhot trend is playing out this summer: Keeping it portable
The Liberty Grill collection from DCS by Fisher & Paykel offers a line of freestanding, mix-and-match pieces that combine to create the experience of a built-in cooking station. Grilling “carts” provide storage and can be outfitted with additional burners, drawers, refrigeration and work surfaces to form a portable island.
Infuse with f lavor
Similar to charcoal baskets used with kettle grills, a new cast-iron tray from Napoleon Grills sits atop interior gas burners and converts half the grill to charcoal. “You dump the charcoal in the tray, light your burners ... and in about 10 minutes you turn the burners off and you’re cooking with charcoal,” Blaine says. Food can be placed atop grates set above the charcoal, or beside the tray (on a grate or stone) and slow cooked via indirect heat. “It allows you to do a whole lot of things with one unit.”
Gadgets galore
Barbecue toys, ahem, tools offer variety for much more than just hamburgers and hot dogs. The skewers for grilling corn from Mr. Bar-B-Q are just plain fun. And the bacon rack from Cuisinart is just plain genius. (Good-bye, lingering indoor bacon smells!) Also genius? Utensils with built-in flashlights, for nighttime grilling. On the pricier end? Napoleon Grills has a shish kebab wheel that attaches to the rotisserie feature on their built-in models. It boasts infrared burners that heat to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit for restaurant-quality searing.