10 Foods Every Man Must Grill

Call it firepower: Most foods, no matter what they are, taste better when they’re cooked on a grill. The char from the grill grates, the smoke infusing flavor, the certain something summer sun adds to any meal—this, fellow barbecue barons, is cooking at its finest. And these are the 10 foods every guy should grill.

Eat great all year long! Get awesome recipes and master succulent BBQ ribs at home with the Guy Gourmet cookbook.

LOBSTER

Lobster is luxurious. Especially on the grill, where the high heat turns the lobsters’ shells a rosy red and steams the tender flesh within to sweet perfection. Especially if you’re using the incredible recipe of Eric Ripert, executive chef at Le Bernardin in New York City. His variation requires a few ripe tomatoes, a sharp knife, and a little testicular fortitude. Man up and enjoy.

T-BONES

The secret to a great steak: cooking it directly on the coals. Seriously. That way, you’ll create a crispier exterior crust and a juicier interior than you ever would using a regular grill setup. Top it with a delicious hellfire hot sauce and you’ll reinvent the recipe. So, go on, tap your inner caveman.

CHICKEN WINGS

Deep-fried, greasy bar wings are over-rated. Check out Elizabeth Karmel’s recipe. She’s the executive chef of Hill Country Chicken in New York City. Her easy-as-all-hell recipe pre-soaks wings in Louisiana hot sauce and then cooks them on the grill, where the circulating high heat turns the skin crispy and the flame adds that something extra your oven (or a deep fryer) never can. Click here for the cluckin’ good recipe.

BACON

To make bacon even better, toss it on the grill. It gives the pork an extra-smoky flavor that only need some freshly ground black pepper and finely chopped fresh rosemary to make it some of the best you’ve ever had. Eat it with eggs, use it as a solid foundation to the ultimate BLT, or just snack on it as an appetizer as you’re waiting for the rest of dinner to grill. Click here for the recipe.

RED PEPPERS

There’s something about the char of the grill that sweetens and brightens vegetables to perfection. Grilled summer squash, zucchini, red onions, tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes—but none exemplify the tasty transformation more than grilled red peppers. The grill imbues red peppers with a subtle smokiness and a tender texture that tastes amazing atop fresh bread, summer salads, and seasonal salsas. Go on, grill ‘em.

CORN ON THE COB

Skip the big pot-o-water method and use your grill to cook corn on the cob. The fire has the power to roast corn in its flavorful husk and finish it off with a slight char—things the lazy-man’s boiling method cannot achieve. Skeptical? Try this recipe for grilled corn on the cob and I bet you’ll never go back to the boil.

SQUID

Grilled squid, or yaki ika, is a favorite in Japan, where pushcart vendors hawk the torpedo-shaped cephalopods fresh off charcoal fires, according to chef Tadashi Ono in his new cookbook The Japanese Grill. Grilled correctly, squid takes on new life after it hits the flame. The meat plumps up nicely and becomes tender and luscious—nothing like the rubbery squid you’ve had in fried calamari. Try it, you’ll like it.

PORK SHOULDER

Use indirect heat grilling to cook up slow-cooked pork. Our recipe combines the bite of bourbon with the sweetness of soda and the unctuousness of this luscious cut. Serve the pork shredded and stuffed inside a hamburger bun for the ultimate pulled-pork sandwich, or straight-up with a side of grilled summer corn or roasted red peppers. 

CLAMS

Even if you’ve never grilled anything in your life, you can grill clams. They tell you when they’re ready to eat. All you have to do is buy a dozen or two, give them a good scrub under cold water, pop them on a high-heat grill, and when they open, they’re done. That’s it. 

LAMB CHOPS

We conclude with a recipe that showcases the glory of the grill—a culinary coda designed to display why grilling is the ultimate form of cooking: the lamb chop. Go ahead, eat the meat straight off the bone. Then, because you’ll feel indebted after the experience, go give your grill a thank-you cleaning.