1. Feel the heat
Light coals about 30 minutes in advance of cooking time. To determine if the coals are ready, hold your palm five inches over the fire. If you can hold it there for two to three seconds, the fire is hot; if you can stand four to five seconds, the fire is medium; tolerating a full six seconds means the fire is low.

2. Stop the stick
Use high heat--and patience--to prevent food from sticking to the grill. "A lot of guys think that grilling means turning everything 40 times," says Flay. "I use really high heat, turn it once and let a nice crust form. It sears in the flavor and keeps food from sticking." Repeated turning cools the meat so that it steams instead of searing.

3. Cook ahead
To speed up grilling time, partially pre-cook chicken, spare ribs, potatoes, carrots, and other slow-cooking food in the oven or microwave.

4. Save food from falling
When using skewers, cut food into chunks that are too large to fall through the grate. Or grill foods whole, then cut them before serving.

5. Give up the gadgets
"Forget the bells and whistles and keep your equipment simple," says Flay. A strong pair of tongs, a sturdy spatula, some heavy-duty potholders or mitts, and a strong wire scraper are all you need.

6. Control the cooking climate
If you need more than one cooking temperature, mound some coals on one side to create a hot section and spread coals out on the other side for a cooler section. Other ways to control heat are to raise and lower the grill rack. The closer the rack is to the fire, the hotter it will be. And opening vents will raise heat, while closing them will lower it.

7. Avoid overgrilling
Brush the foods you are grilling with sauces during the last 20 minutes of cooking to prevent overbrowning or burning.

8. Clean up quickly
"Before you shut your grill off, brush it while it's still hot and all the crusts will come away and burn in the coals," instructs Flay. He recommends a good quality grill brush with metal bristles to scrape the grate clean.

Loosen shells of shrimp and butterfly them cutting down the devein line of the back of the shrimp. Toss shrimp with 1 teaspoon coarse salt. Combine melted butter with lemon juice and zest. Using a pastry brush, cover shrimps with lemon butter and set on hot grill. Grill shrimp 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until pink and firm.

In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, horseradish, cream and salt. Let the cream soak into the bread crumbs 2 minutes. Loosen bread crumbs with a fork. Stir in cayenne sauce or cayenne and combine with sour cream. Spoon equal amounts of sauce into ramekins on individual plates or a dip bowl in the center or 1 large platter.

Arrange 5 grilled shrimp down the center of 1 leaf of romaine lettuce. Serve shrimp with seafood forks alongside dipping sauce.

Lightly coat chicken with oil and sprinkle each evenly on both sides with the salt and pepper. Grill chicken breasts for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side, or until thoroughly cooked; the meat should be solid white throughout and the internal temperature will read 165 degrees F. Remove from grill and immediately top with cilantro herb butter. Garnish with parsley, if desired. Serve as butter is melting.

Pour condensed milk into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate and cover with foil. Put pie plate in a roasting pan and add enough hot water to pan to reach halfway up side of pie plate. Bake milk in middle of oven until thick and golden, about 1 1/2 hours. Carefully remove pie plate from pan and cool completely.

Add rum and vanilla to milk, whisk until smooth, and season with salt. (The dulce de leche may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.)

Prepare a grill or grill pan. Cut the pineapple lengthwise through leaves, keeping leaves attached, into 4 wedges. Grill the pineapple wedges, cut-side down, until just charred, about 2 minutes on each cut side.
Divide the wedges among plates, put a scoop of ice cream next to each, and drizzle with the dulce de leche.