10 Great Grilling Essentials for Every Backyard

I'll confess: I wasn't planning to test gloves, because I thought they were ridiculous. Who needs gloves to grill? Then the folks at GrillGrates sent me a pair, and I figured, what the heck. Turns out, heat-resistant gloves are awesome. You can do everything with your hands. Later, I got myself a pair of these gloves from Grill Heat Aid, which can handle up to 932 degrees Fahrenheit. A word of caution: These gloves help, but they don't make you invulnerable. You're still dealing with very high temperatures when grilling, so be cautious.

Cooking large cuts of meat means flipping heavy hunks of meat. Most kitchen tongs are not up the task. To avoid dropping your half-cooked food, I recommend heavy-duty stainless steel tongs. I love these ones from Weber, and the set includes a nice heavy spatula.

The gas-versus-charcoal grilling debate will never die, but you can skip it entirely with a set of GrillGrates. The extra flavor you get from charcoal comes primarily from the rendered fat dripping off your food, hitting the coals below, and becoming smoke, which then flavors your food. GrillGrates' grill gives you the same effect without the charcoal, trapping juices in its deep grooves where they burn off and flavor your food. They also prevent flare-ups, even when cooking flare-prone foods like bratwurst. They can replace your existing grates or just cover them. 

Here's a set to fit the Weber Jumbo Joe ($94).

If you want to branch out from grilling (high heat) to slow cooking (indirect heat or smoking), do yourself a favor and grab a set of charcoal baskets. These make it easy to cluster your briquettes to one side of the grill so you can keep your indirect cooks on the other. Combine these with a hinged grill and you'll have an easy way to feed in fresh fuel as your smoke progresses. These hinged grates fit the Jumbo Joe, our favorite portable charcoal grill.

A veggie basket is not a necessity, but it sure is nice to have. It lets you slice your veggies ahead of time, toss them in a little olive oil, and cook them without having half of them fall through the grates. Your veggies will cook faster, and there's less mess. This Weber basket is solid stainless steel with no rivets. My only gripe is that it's not big enough for a veggie-loving family of five. If you're cooking for a crowd, try Weber's 14-inch basket ($25).

It's not quite a wood-fired pizza—you'll want to check out our favorite pizza ovens for that—but you can make a pretty good pie with a pizza stone on your grill. I've used this Weber stone many times, but be sure to check the fit for your grill. Want something larger? I didn't test it, but this stone is 18 inches across, letting you make a large pizza. If rain drowns your barbecue, these pizza stones work just as well in the oven.

A stainless steel or brass wire brush can leave behind small bristles that get stuck in your grill and wind up in your food. It happens more often than you think. Instead, I like Proud Grill's Q Cleaner, which combines a wire-free scrubber, stainless steel scraper, and disposable wipes to clean your grill without leaving your brush a mess.

If you must own a brush, get one that's a single, continuous wire. I love this GrillGrate continuous wire cleaner ($20). Technically, it's made for the deep valleys of the GrillGrates, but it works on other grates as well.

You know those bamboo skewers at the back of your kitchen drawer you always forget to soak before you toss them on the grill? Stop using those. For one thing, splinters in food are no fun. For another, good skewers just make life easier. I hated grilling with skewers until I got decent ones, and I suggest you get a couple of sets. This Proud Grill set is my favorite for meat. The barbed tips ensure nothing comes off when you flip them, and you can fit enough meat for two on one skewer.

Sometimes you want a straight skewer though, and for those times I recommend BearMoo's stainless steel skewers ($18). They're heavy-duty, easy to clean, and come with a nice rack to elevate your delicate veggies.