The handle gives you instant control of the heat.

Steakhouse Sear:

Raise the handle for high radiant heat until the outside of the steak is exactly how you want it. Lower the handle to finish with convective heat. The most certain method is to place a thermometer with a remote probe into the side of the thinnest steak. Set the thermometer to 125. Wait for the beep.

At 125 it will be steakhouse rare. Remove the steaks from the heat, cover with foil, and wait five minutes for the juices to reabsorb. The temperature will rise about ten degrees to Medium/Rare. Enjoy! If you like it truly rare, set the thermometer to 115.

Charring peppers on the skewer rack, with lamb kabob as the main course

Perfect charred peppers:

It's easiest to do this with the skewer rack. Halve the peppers, skewer them and then move the coal basket up and down until they are exactly how you want them. They won't spin on the skewers, and the rack is engineered to hold them from rolling around.

The trick is to get a little char on the peppers while keeping some of the crunchy texture and taste. It takes high heat and a close fire to do this properly. With most grills, by the time the peppers are charred they have gone limp and the flavor has changed. Some people like to scrape off the blackened part. Not us.

We ate these peppers with some lamb kabobs from our local mideastern butcher shop. We almost got the camel steaks, but couldn't work up the courage. More to follow...

Grilling Vegetables:
Use the high radiant heat to char vegetables for fajitas. For tex-mex we use red or yellow onions, green and red bell peppers and if you are adventurous, try shallots which add a subtle garlic flavor. Almost any vegetable can be dowsed in olive oil and charred for more flavor. Here are a few unusual things that we haven't seen anywhere else that you can try:

Anise (fennel) can be split, oiled and grilled for amazing flavor. We usually microwave it for three minutes first. It tastes wonderful with beef or pork. Just give it a little char and move it to the back while you grill your meats.

Squash can be barbecued in the skin and comes out great. Split it, butter it and barbecue it for about 30 minutes until it's soft. To take it even higher, we have made it into soup that is truly unique. While the squash is grilling, brown the seeds and the "squash guts" in a sauce pan in a little butter. Add chicken broth and let it simmer. Strain out the seeds, and when the smoky, sweet squash is soft, scrape it into the pan. If you like it smooth, add some cream and use a hand-held blender. So good.

Gooey onions

Cook gooey onions for steaks and chops. Start with sweet, white onions the size of a baseball. Microwave them four minutes on high. Cut them in half at the equator. On the grill, give 'em some char and move them to the back while you cook the meat. They get soft and sweet with a caramelized top.

Try this with Vedalias or some other "sweet" onion. Amazingly good with grilled meats. Our kids used to eat these with a spoon.