5 Ingredients or Fewer

See "Prep School" for photos showing how to wrap the fish.

This recipe originally accompanied Baja Fish Tacos .

This recipe originally accompanied Baja Fish Tacos .

Mustard couldn’t be any simpler to make. Soaking the seeds before puréeing gives the finished product body and mellowness.

Mushrooms in general are great for grilling, and portabellas—which not only have a wonderful, earthy flavor but are also large enough to be easy to handle on the grill—are perhaps the best of all.

If your grill is already fired up, why not give it a quick brushing and throw dessert on there, too? A balanced tropical marinade brings depth to caramelized pineapple.

Freshly ground black pepper is more distinctive on top of baked salmon, so be sure not to use preground. Serve alongside these homey dill potatoes mashed with olive oil and with plenty of sour cream.

If you don't have assorted potatoes, just use regular Idahos. Scrub and cut them into 1 1/2-inch chunks.

Cooking Method: Direct Heat Suggested Supplies: 4 Bamboo Skewers Barbecuing gets a bad rap sometimes as being the domain of fatty meats and high-calorie sauces, but the truth of the matter is that smoking and grilling don't add fat to a dish, only flavor. With the right ingredients the outdoor cooker can be the focus of cooking for a healthy diet. These charcoal-grilled fruit skewers, with their spicy flair, make eating fruit exciting. It's a versatile dessert or side dish recipe that can be made with any number of fruit combinations. Pair it with grilled chicken and enjoy a guilt-free meal.

Dwight Eisenhower wasn't the first or only cook to grill steaks directly on hot coals, but he was the most famous one to do it. One of many stories about Ike in the Eisenhower Library archives relates that he liked three-inch beef strip steaks—also called New York strip, shell steak, or Kansas City strip—completely covered with salt and pepper, then placed directly on white-hot coals for a rare, charry-crusted steak that can be addictive. Sorry, gas grillers, but no dirty-steak cooking on your grill—you need the coals for this one! I have also grilled thick chuck roasts—similar to Ike's famous three-inch steaks—this way, cooking each side at least 15 minutes directly on the coals, with delicious results. This technique works well for any relatively tender protein of a uniform thickness; branch out and try thick pork chops or even a thick tuna steak.

If you can smoke bake a casserole, then you can also smoke roast. Smoke-roasted root vegetables take on smoke flavor at a higher temperature, generally around 350°F. If you like roasted vegetables in the oven, you'll love these. As an alternative method, you can also partially slow smoke vegetables, then transfer them indoors to your oven to finish roasting and crisping at a higher temperature. Substitute other root vegetables, such as parsnips, beets, turnips, and rutabagas, if you like. This recipe works well in a gas grill, too.

Use gas or hardwood charcoal when grilling fruits. Fruits absorb too much smoke flavor when grilled over wood or briquets. The trick to grilling fruit is to use fruits that are ripe but not overripe or too soft, then brush them with a glaze to bring out the sweetness. Turbinado is a natural, unrefined sugar; you can find that and cane syrup (a thick, sweet syrup used in Caribbean and Creole cooking; I use Steen's brand) at specialty markets, some grocery stores, or online. When you're grilling fruit and using a sugary glaze, it's most important to start out with a clean, oiled grill grate so the fruit is less likely to stick or taste of previously grilled foods.

The chicken sausages are a terrific time-saving ingredient: They're already cooked and full of flavor.

Pucker up with this refreshing sweet-sour spin on the classic gimlet. Ruby Red grapefruit vodka from Napa Valley stands in for gin, and fresh lime juice adds just the right amount of tartness.

This ultra-simple recipe relies on fresh, good-quality wild salmon. If you like, sprinkle the fish with some chopped fresh herbs or a little freshly grated lemon peel before roasting.

Don't be tempted to buy precrumbled goat cheese, despite the time savings—it won't melt as well.

This dish requires just four ingredients (aside from oil, salt, and pepper). Serve with an arugula salad.

A meal this romantic calls for a sparkling cocktail. This pretty and delicious drink is a new take on the classic Kir Royale, a mixture of Champagne and black-currant liqueur. Here, Prosecco (the Italian bubbly) stands in for the Champagne, and peach nectar and liqueur are used instead of crème de cassis.

Good for Slathering: Pork; chicken, turkey, duck; beef; lamb: It doesn't get any easier than this! And this mop is probably what 90 percent of the competition barbecuers use—with maybe a little beer mixed in for good measure!