The Everyday Gourmet: How to Master Outdoor Cooking

Start with the basics of grilling: choosing wood, cleaning the grill, tools of the trade, and a few lessons in food safety. Then try your hand at three simple recipes - two types of steak and a grilled salad - to get a feel for cooking over live fire. This first lesson offers a wealth of rules of thumb.

Now that you're up to speed on all things grilling, take a closer look at preparing different types of salads, from pancetta-wrapped endive to Bartlett pears and greens. In addition to branching away from the traditional main course meat, this look at fruits and vegetables shows you how the grill can enhance your homemade salad dressings.

Delve deeper into cooking with different types of charcoal. Here, you'll find out how to make different types of bread recipes on the grill, including a delicious bruschetta and a savory crostini. Then turn to homemade pizza dough and various sauces and toppings. Plus, see how to use leftover breads to make a sweet treat with the coal embers.

Fish can be a tricky meat and requires close attention. Discover some common mistakes with grilling seafood and find out how best to prepare salmon, tuna, halibut, and more. Along the way, you'll learn crucial lessons about making marinades and vinaigrettes. End with a pair of recipes for grilled oysters and marinated shrimp.

Enjoy a wealth of multicultural dishes with this tour of the Mediterranean, from Italy and Greece to Turkey and Tunisia. Here, you'll explore several popular outdoor cooking recipes. Highlights include lessons in sauces such as muhammara and tzatziki, ember-roasted vegetable dishes, sandwiches and pitas, and lamb kabobs.

Take a deep dive into chicken on the grill. After reviewing the different parts of the chicken, learn how to make a classic American barbeque chicken dish, a unique marinated quail mixed grill, and a non-traditional smoke-roasted turkey with a complementary three-grain salad - sure to spice up your next holiday gathering.

Swing down to the Caribbean to sample the flavor of the islands. Start with a skirt steak in orange mojo sauce, and move on to an original jerk chicken recipe. Then hop over to the Yucatán for a unique twist on a traditional Mexican dish. Traditionally made with marinated pork, your cochinita pibil dish here is a barbeque halibut with fire-roasted salsa and tortillas.

When we think of the grill, many of us think of meat first. Look beyond the traditional burgers and hot dogs to explore different cuts of meat. Your chefs show you how to grill a marinated Thai-style hangar steak, a dry rub flat-iron steak with coal-roasted potatoes, and hoisin-glazed pork tenderloin.

Thailand. Japan. Vietnam. Korea. Asia is home to some of the most delicious recipes on the planet, and you will survey some of the popular Asian cuisines that can be prepared on the grill. After a series of skewered meat dishes - including beef satay and yakitori chicken - you'll end with Korean barbeque short ribs.

Shift your attention from meat to the rest of the meal. Learn how to time different types of vegetables on the grill, which will cook fast and caramelize depending on the combination of heat and sugar. Make a splendid vegetable platter with shirred eggs - perfect for a summer brunch - and then turn to grilled corn and portobello mushroom burgers.

Travel south for a tour of the great barbeque styles (vinegar-, ketchup- or mustard-based) and places (the Carolinas, Tennessee, St. Louis, and Texas). After exploring the history and culture of barbeque, see how to make your own with a variety of meats, dry rubs, and sauces. Cook everything from pork butts to ribs to brisket.

What's a grill without the occasional outdoor party? Put together everything you've learned with several scrumptious recipes for one amazing party this summer: smoked and grilled appetizers, cedar-plank grilled king salmon, and a dry rub leg of lamb - plus a few special desserts for the road.