Contributed by Info Guru Oliver VanDervoort

With the warm weather months comes the desire to be outside as often as we can. Even when winter looms, the grill calls dedicated grill chefs, and the dead of winter has seen more than one parka-clad charcoal master at work.

It seems that there is no more enjoyable a past time than when we are outside in our backyards or our driveways or our back decks cooking up something on our grills. There is a sense of satisfaction we get when we are able to cook while we are spending time outdoors. These days, it seems as though people want to cook out in a way that still gets them some truly great gourmet burgers and dogs or any other kind of food that can be cooked over an open flame. In order to pull off this high-end brand of cooking, you will need the top ten gourmet grill cooking accessories.

10. Bamboo Skewers

These days, gourmet cooks are doing incredibly interesting things with what we used to simply call shish-ka-bobs. Using high quality bamboo skewers you can make tons of different taste treats over an open flame.

9. Ceramic Cooking Stone

Many gourment chefs will tell you that there is just something about cooking in brick lined ovens that brings out the flavor in food. Cooking with a ceramic stone on top of your grill does the same kind of wonders for your food right in your back yard.

8. Personalized Branding Iron

When you are looking for gourmet grill cooking accessories, you are also going to want to have an accessory that tells everyone exactly who was doing the cooking. A personalized branding iron will allow you to have whatever indicator you want, seared onto whatever meat you choose when you are doing some high class barbequing.

7. Electric Rotisserie

There is some food that needs to be kept on a spit or a rotisserie in order to cook it up right. Using something like an electric rotisserie allows you to get perfect gourmet food while still being able to work on other dishes at the same time.

6. Basting Brush

Every now and then you are going to need an accessory that allows you to smear on the flavor for whatever you are cooking. A BBQ basting brush will allow you to quickly and evenly cover your food in whatever flavors you desire.

5. Flavored Wood

The best grilling gourmets will tell you that one of the ways you can change the flavor of whatever you are cooking without adding a bunch of different spices and sauces is by changing the wood. Cooking and smoking with different woods means you can actually make entirely new taste combos out of the same meats.

4. Meat Thermometer

In order to make sure that you are getting the best cookout food you can possibly have, you don’t want to leave the food up to the eyeball test. There are plenty of different meat thermometers out there that work quite well with any grill to tell you exactly when that perfect steak or burger is done and ready to be taken off the flame.

3. Grill Light

Most cooking outdoors is done when the sun is still up, but on occasion the outdoor gourmet will find themselves cooking while dusk or night has already stolen over the land. On these occasions it is best to still be able to see what your food is looking like so that you can make sure that the presentation is as good as the taste. A grill light will allow you to see the food as if it were still daylight.

2. Grill Tongs

The last two items on this list are probably not going to be a surprise to anyone who has done some outdoor cooking. Using the right kind of grill tongs is essential to any gourmet griller. You want to have a set that won’t crush the food but will allow you to get a good grip for flipping and taking the food off the fire.

1. Spatula

Using the right kind of spatula on your food will allow you to get better burgers or steaks or whatever else you are cooking out there on your deck. The wrong spatula will leave too much food on the grill and ruin the look and feel of the dish.