Skewer

You can always ask your butcher to slice the pork shoulder on the electric slicer for you, which will ensure even pieces and save you time.

Be patient with these; they need to stay over indirect heat the whole time to minimize flare-ups. If you try to rush them, they’ll burn to a crisp.

These sweet and sour chicken kebabs get topped with a sesame-citrus sprinkle for extra flavor and crunch.

A perfect cube is not essential, but try to get the lamb into roughly the same size pieces so they cook at the same rate.

Don’t braise your short ribs—grill them. They’re intensely beefy, with gorgeous marbling that encourages crispy bits.

Sweet and Spicy Beef Kebabs are a delicious twist on traditional kebabs. Pair them with Bush’s® Beans to create the perfect meal that you’ll enjoy all summer long.

These flavor-packed meatballs are delicious whether poached, grilled, or baked.

With a sprinkling of spice, these simple broiled salmon skewers make an impressive appetizer.

These flavorful grilled mushroom skewers get their pop from a marinade of red wine or Sherry vinegar, garlic, and chopped fresh thyme.

Serve these skewers with grilled pita and yogurt mixed with a little Maras pepper, olive oil, and chopped mint.

Any combination of flame-kissed veggies brushed and tossed with this easy vinaigrette makes a deliciously smoky side.

These skewered meatballs are a quintessential Japanese bar food, a great drinking snack that can be turned into a larger meal with rice. Flavored with plenty of garlic and ginger and brushed with a sweet-and-savory soy glaze, these meatballs are a great defense of ground chicken, which can be bland if not seasoned well.

Long before I discovered my love of sashimi, I fell in love with the viscous, sweet taste of teriyaki. With anywhere from 300 to 700mg of sodium per tablespoon, however, teriyaki chicken from the local takeout is now out of the question. So, to meet my cravings, I let go of the original dish and focused on finding a substitute with a similar color, thick coating, and unique flavor. The low-sodium answer lay in tamarind paste—a sweet and tart concentrate made from tamarind seed pods. It is popular in Indian, Middle Eastern, and East Asian cuisines, and can even be found in Worcestershire sauce. Its acidic properties help tenderize meat, and in Ayurvedic medicine it is said to have heart-protecting properties. Or in Western medicine speak, it may help lower bad cholesterol. While it is no teriyaki, this tamarind sauce sure makes a convincing look-alike. The savory sweetness of the tamarind will delight your palate. If you have any leftover herbs in your kitchen, like mint, cilantro, or even some green onion, dice and sprinkle them over the chicken at the end for some extra color and cool flavor. And to make a traditional bento presentation, serve with a slice of orange and crisp lettuce salad.

It's the crispy fried skin that makes wings a diet no-go. Using chicken tenders keeps 'em healthy.

This tropical dish, adapted from the Mnemba Island Lodge off the coast of Zanzibar, pairs chiles-piced mangos with freshly grilled shrimp. Complex in flavor and easy in execution, this sweet, spicy, and creamy entrée makes a balanced and beautiful meal that Epicurious members make again and again.

Sam Hazen, the former executive chef of New York celebrity hangout Tao, created this broiled fish dish seasoned with the Japanese trifecta of sake, mirin, and miso. A great riff on beef satay, this appetizer can be marinated up to a day ahead for a quick weeknight snack or full meal when served with rice. Avoid unsustainable Chilean sea bass; look for white sea bass from California, black cod, Pacific or Alaskan halibut, or striped bass.

Of all the ways to prepare shrimp, the grill delivers the best flavor. Although unadorned "shrimp on the barbie" are great, an easily assembled gingery barbecue sauce makes them that much better. You can save time by buying already shelled and deveined shrimp, but our recipe developer, Alexis Touchet, who grew up in shrimp country in southwest Louisiana, thinks shell-on shrimp are better quality. Depending on where you live and what's in your market, you may not have much choice. Freshness trumps all, so don't hesitate to use your nose in deciding which shrimp to buy.

With the neo-eco-bio-cool. We'll pick our own apricots, cut some rosemary from the garden, a little organic honey…

Fig trees love warmer climates. However, for the adventurous northern gardener, the best way to grow figs is in a container that can be placed outdoors in warm weather and then brought indoors to winter. The best variety of fig tree for a container is the Petite Negri fig. It's a small- to medium-sized black fruit with sweet, red flesh. If you have great weather, Mission figs are superb. The natural sweetness of figs goes well with pork tenderloin in this dish. If you like, use sturdy fresh rosemary branches (as from the Tuscan variety) for the skewers.

The baby artichokes are cooked in advance, so they only need to be grilled for a short time.

If baby beets are not available, use large beets cut into 1-inch chunks.

The potatoes must be parboiled so they will be done at the same time as the chicken.