Your summer grilling goals should read as follows: 1) invite over multitudes of friends, 2) stuff craw with assorted meats, 3) repeat.
That said, simple are the ways to up your grill game, and we’ve got ‘em all here in our InsideHook Summer Grilling Guide.
Witness: a mail-order butchery that rethinks not just burgers and steaks, but the entire grilled meat spectrum. An heirloom-worthy leather apron you’ll pass down. A grill with the size, shape and portability of a toolbox.
Oh, and a robot grill cleaner.
Because that’s one job you’ll gladly share.
Your meats: Greensbury Market
Your local butcher is great. So, too, this mail order meat company, which sources its grass-fed beef from Blackhills Farms in South Dakota. They have burgers and steaks, but go wild: we sampled the buffalo burgers, turkey bacon and chicken. All tasty. And they’re great for ethical seafood decisions, too.
Your hot dogs: American Wagyu Hot Dogs
Greensbury doesn’t do frankfurters, but Idaho’s Snake River Farms does. Its 100% natural Wagyu/Angus skin-on beef dog will do wonders on your grill.
Your grill apron: Capps Leather Work Apron by Moore & Giles
Adjustable neck strap, easy cinch waist strap, multiple front pockets … all well and good, but how about that full grain aniline leather? Unlike your burgers, this’ll only get better with age.
Your grill (suburban edition): Weber Summit Charcoal Grill
A cool new hybrid cooker that marries the best of both charcoal and gas grilling, with a “Rapidfire lid damper” that makes for more even heat and faster cooking times. The expanded “Grilling Center” option provides a stainless steel tabletop, wire basket and tool hook, along with additional storage.
Your grill (city edition): Balcony BBQ
Apartment dwellers, don’t fret. The weather-resistant Balcony BBQ hooks over your railing, takes up almost zero room and costs just 50 bucks.
For grill travelers: Barbecue Toolbox
A brilliant combo of men’s favorite toys. This easily transportable metal kit folds open to expose an 8×15” stainless steel grill with a removable charcoal tray, a warming rack and a storage area to hold cooking tools and spices.
Your clean-up: Grillbot
Three words: Robot. Grill. Cleaner.
Your non-meat lesson:
What are the best veggies and fruit (for dessert) to char over a grill? We asked Executive Chef Travis Strickland of L.A. steakhouse Baltaire: “For me, the best fruit for grilling are Satsuma plums,” he says. “When they’re fully ripe, they soften and caramelize and pair great with ingredients like vanilla and ginger. My go-to grilled veggie is baby carrots, which pick up smoke really well, and I love to dress them with harissa, yogurt and fresh mint.”
Your accessory: Outset QV57 Verde Multipurpose Tongs
Terrible name. But great idea — a combo of tongs, spatula and pronged fork with a cool-to-the-hand bamboo handle.
This is but one installment of 37 Things a Man’s Gotta Do This Summer, our annual compendium of everything worth seeing, doing, eating, drinking and generally making time for in your neck of the woods between now and September
Main image via Barbecue Bible
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