Grilling is healthier way to prepare lean meats, poultry and fish. During the summer months, you can almost move your kitchen out onto the barbecue. If you haven't jumped on this particular culinary bandwage, just tune into the Food Channel or cruise the cookbook aisle of your local bookstore and you’ll find directions for creating exotic, elegant cuisine using the grill. Once you’ve got the right accessories, healthy barbecue cuisine can be a snap.

Grilling Accessories
Accessories are pretty important. Your grill doesn’t need a lid or a cover, but for some foods you do need some way to cover them. A metal colander can be used to cover grilling food to create a steaming effect. Invest in a metal colander with handles for grilling purposes.

If you plan on doing different types of cooking on your grill, you’ll need a cast-iron pot for stews and a hinged wire basket for grilling veggie burgers, extra firm tofu or slices of vegetables. You’ll want a sharp knife available, to cut into veggies to determine their doneness. Long-handled tongs are easier to use for turning food than spatulas and can double as serving utensils. Metal or heat-resistant wood skewers are useful for making veggie kabobs that are easily turned on a grill. Heavy-duty foil is the type to use for lining grills or for wrapping food to be placed on the grill. Invest in some long-handled brushes for cleaning the grill too.

Wood and Fire
Wood and fire are highly personal items for the experienced griller. Different types of wood, such as cherry, mesquite or maple, can impart different flavors to the food. You can select different types depending on their availability.

If you have a large enough grill, you might want to have several racks in it at different heights. This way you can take advantage of all the time and effort that went into building the fire. You can wrap white or sweet potatoes or corn in foil and place them underneath the coals. You can grill heartier foods, such as eggplant, onions, carrots or winter squash, on the rack closest to the fire and more delicate items, such as extra-firm tofu, mushrooms or asparagus, on the rack furthest away from the flames. Put together a vegetable stew with chunked tomatoes, green beans, summer squash, potatoes and onions in a cast-iron Dutch oven with a cover and place it on a rack further away from the flames to cook slowly. If you have an apple, wrap it in foil with some spices and margarine and place it next to the stew pot. Your oven’s going to get mighty lonely.

Grilling Tricks

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