Editor's Picks: Great Grilling Gear

 

 

 

In addition to the gadgets Lisa Readie Mayer showed you in the October 2012 issue, these are some of our favorite grilling sidekicks this year: A top-notch smoker, tasty barbeque sauce made from pure ingredients, fun and functional jalapeno grillers, and an instant-read thermometer.

 

See also 7 Great Gift Ideas for Any Grill Master

Folks who’ve purchased this model from Cookshack consistently sing its praises. Reviews give it high marks for its quality construction, ease of use, and bang for the buck – oh, and the flavorful, fall-apart-tender dishes you’ll be able to dish up when you use it. The double-walled stainless steel unit has a cooking capacity of 25 pounds. And, it’s surrounded by 850-degree-F Spin-Glas insulation, so the unit doesn’t get hot on the outside (great peace of mind for when the kids are running around outside at the cabin!). A Smoking at Home cookbook, 5 pounds of hickory smoking wood, an operator's manual, a meat probe, and an aluminum drip pan come standard with the unit. Several add-on options are available as well. ($786, Cookshack)

Barbeque is high on our list of favorite cabin foods. For amazing flavor and pure ingredients, try Two Fat Guys Gourmet Barbecue Sauce. We tried the stuff and loved it. And we also love that the sauces are gluten-free, high-fructose-corn-syrup-free, fat-free, cholesterol-free and low in sodium. The recipes are crafted by two longtime friends (they were skinnier when they first started their venture in the summer of 1978), and you won’t be disappointed. ($7, Two Fat Guys)

To make sure you get foods to the perfect grilled temp, the Thermapen digital thermometer may just be your most accurate, speedy tool of choice. It can read a temp in 3 seconds, so you can avoid all the heat loss that happens when you leave the grill cover open. Other benefits: the display can switch between F and C, it has a temp-sensing range of -52 degrees F to 572 degrees F, it measures in 0.1-degree increments, you can switch off the auto-off function to get continuous readings, and more. ($95, Thermapen; $70 alternatives to Thermapen)

 

If you love grilled jalapeno peppers, these are two must-haves. The grillers are racks that hold individual peppers upright so you can stuff them with all kinds of goodies and throw them on the grill.  The grillers will entertain your taste buds and your sense of fun – they come in several great shapes (alligator, cowboy boot, Lone Star State, and more!). And to get the seeds out of the pepper, The Jalapeno Corer is quick on the draw (and the extraction). ($27–$37, The Jalapeno Griller; $10, The Jalapeno Corer)