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Pitmasters get fired up about these grilling accessories.
Seven in 10 U.S. adults own a grill or smoker, according to the Hearth, Patio & Barbeque Association, with more than 79 million adults grilling at least once a year. So as we roll into prime grilling season, MarketWatch asked professional chefs and avid grillers to tell us the one grilling accessory that they almost always use when they fire up their own grills.
The OXO silicone basting brush, to perfectly baste meat and veggies, roughly $11 on Amazon.
Principal Chef at HelloFresh, Claudia Sidoti, says she loves the OXO brush “because the silicone is so easy to clean and holds up very high resistance to heat, which is important when grilling.” Indeed, it can withstand up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit, is odor resistant, has a long handle so you don’t burn your hands and has tapered outer bristles to make basting easier. As one verified customer notes: “The brush releases the sauce or marinade perfectly on whatever I’m grilling … No more wasting sauce, making a huge mess and losing the sauce or marinade as I attempt to baste
food.”
This thermometer was the most-recommended grilling accessory among the chefs we spoke to. Pitmaster Anthony DiBernardo of Charleston-based BBQ joints Swig & Swine likes this thermometer because “it reads temperature quickly so you can spend more time cooking and less time looking.” Yankel Polak, head chef at ButcherBox, likes it for a similar reason, noting that the instant readout “means your hand spends less time in the fire.”
Many Amazon reviewers also rave about it (it gets 4.7 out of 5 stars). “I am a manager of a deli and I’ve spent hundreds of dollars in the last year on different digital thermometers. This is the most accurate and quickest food thermometer I’ve ever used,” writes one verified customer. “I didn’t want to leave a review until at least a month has passed because every thermometer I’ve bought for my kitchen crew in the past has broken after a few weeks. This ThermaPro is so tough it was dropped in the sink and still works perfectly. I am only investing in these from now on!”
The SpitJack Magnum Meat Injector to inject delicious flavors into your meats, roughly $80.
Alex Benes, the culinary director and pitmaster behind BBQ hotspot Wood Ranch, says this is his “favorite” grilling accessory: “It’s a great way to get flavor into a large piece of meat like a pork shoulder without marinating, which can oftentimes rob the meat of its natural moisture,” Benes says. Amazon reviewers love it too, with one verified customer noting that while it is admittedly pricey, “it is 1,000x better than the cheap one we had purchased from the grocery store.”
This is chef Tamra Scroggins, the director of food culture at Sizzler’s, pick — and something she’s owned and used for more than 25 years. “I use this pan all the time at home and at work. It can be used in so many ways: oven, stove, wood grill, campfire, etc. The griddle (flat) side I use for pancakes and quesadillas, and the grill side I use for anything you want to have grill marks,” she says. It’s a popular buy on Amazon too (more than 1,800 people have reviewed it) with one verified customer writing: “I’ve got lots of cast iron, but this is my new favorite.”
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