Boss Hog?

In a kettle-style barbecue, a lot of the heat is lost through the lid. If you reflected that heat back onto the grill, you’d cook faster. An add-on called the Pit Boss, designed to fit inside the lid of a 22 1/2-inch Weber, does this strikingly well.

It’s made from a multilayered aluminum insulating material developed to solve heat problems in car exhausts. The manufacturer claims that the Pit Boss raises the temperature inside the kettle several hundred degrees, maintains peak heat longer, makes use of more of the grill’s cooking surface, uses up to 40% less charcoal and reduces cooking times by anything from 21.4% to 37.4%, depending on the kind of meat.

In backyard tests, we found that it performs as advertised. Besides dramatically speeding up cooking, it noticeably cooks the top of the meat. You could get by without flipping the meat at all, though we preferred the results when the meat was flipped about 80% of the way through cooking.

The Pit Boss actually comes with an instructional video, but the main message is simple: Until you get used to this speed demon, check the meat regularly as it cooks or follow the manufacturer’s time charts so that you don’t incinerate your food. Also, if you want to wash the insert (you don’t actually have to), use soap and water, not oven cleaner. Apparently oven cleaner causes bad, potentially dangerous things.

Available in hardware and discount stores at $16.95, or directly from the manufacturer for $19.95; call (800) 993-BOSS (2677).

Smokin’ Herbs

Williams-Sonoma, better known as a good place to buy espresso makers or charming French butter molds, offers an herb grill rack. It makes sense; just as you can soak wood chips and flavor your barbecue with them, you can soak fresh herbs and put them in this 16-by-12-inch hinged rack. Williams-Sonoma recommends strong herbs such as rosemary, sage, tarragon and dill, but mentions basil and cilantro as well.

The company sees herb-smoking as the next stage in the craze for herb-infused oils and vinegars of recent years, and promotes it as a totally fat-free alternative to marinades and rubs. Since the mesh is fairly fine, it might also be useful in grilling small things that tend to fall through other grill racks.

At Williams-Sonoma stores, $20.

Devil Flames

These Lil’ Devils Smoking Pellets (they look rather like rabbit food) are made by forcing ground wood through a die under high heat. The result is “densified,” meaning that it has a lower moisture level than natural wood. The pellets come in hickory, mesquite, alder, apple, cherry, maple and oak.

West Oregon Wood Products says they are a more efficient source of smoke than wood chips, but warns not to soak the pellets because they’ll fall apart. You put them on the coals in a smoking chip pan, an empty tuna can or even just some heavy-duty aluminum foil (it may take a couple of minutes for smoking to start). The smoke flavor is good, and unlike chips, the pellets produce no fly ash to get on your food.

A 3-pound box is $3.95, a sampler pack of six flavors is $9.50, a 20-pound bag, $9.95. Available at specialty shops, including San Marino Pools in Pasadena, Fireplace and Patio Trends in Orange, La Paz Patio and Fireside in Laguna Hills, Tom Gold’s BBQ and Fireplace in Arcadia and ABC Pool and Patio in Torrance. Or call (800) 966-5654 for nearest location.

Saucy Deal

“Sauce Your Daddy Silly” is the slogan of the BBQ Sauce of the Month Club run by Scott O’Meara, the pit-master of a barbecue restaurant in a Kansas City suburb. O’Meara has a collection of more than 500 commercially produced but hard-to-find sauces. There are some truly unusual ones. The sample we got was Willingham’s Sweet ‘n’ Sassy Wham Sauce, with an intriguing flavor that reminded us of a Chinese bean sauce (the secret ingredient turned out to be chocolate).

Along with the sauce of the month, you get a newsletter giving recipes and lore. For example, always cover your wood chips while you’re smoking: “Soggy hickory chunks in water is a breeding ground for insects and puts off a smell that you won’t believe.” O’Meara also informs that fruit woods give a pink smoke ring, hickory a bright red smoke ring and oak a maroon oak ring.

Price is $30 for three months, $50 for six months, $90 for 12 months (prices include shipping and handling for U.S. orders); call (800) 873-0710.

When You’re ‘Cueless

If you don’t have a smoker, or don’t want to fire it up, or are camping out, you can get a smoked flavor using this foil food smoker bag. You put your food in the bag and heat it over a fire or even in an oven. Smoke from wood chips sandwiched between two bottom layers seeps out through perforations.

There are four flavors: mesquite, hickory, apple and alder. The company also recommends the latter two flavors for grilling fruits.

Available at Barbecues Galore stores, or call (201) 227-2426 for the nearest store; $3.95.

Access to Accessories

Among barbecue stores, Barbecues Galore is notable for its wide range of accessories, starting with 9 flavors of wood chips (alder, apple, cherry, hickory, maple, mesquite, oak, peach and pecan).

They include Hot Talk ($14.95), a novelty talking barbecue spatula that croaks things like, “I’m burnin’ up! Flip me, flip me!” when you press a button and Gigantic Fruit Candles ($12.99)--your basic mosquito-repellent citronella candle, but shaped like an apple, lemon, baseball or boot. Foaming Simple Green ($3.95) is a useful spray-on cleaner for barbecue grills, like an oven cleaner but not caustic.

Hot Pages

Grill Lover’s Catalog, published by Char-Broil Barbecues, has a huge array of barbecue paraphernalia. Here’s a sampling:

Barbecue Fan: a crank-operated bellows. Aim the nozzle at the coals or kindling and turn the crank; $8.99.

Cordless Screwdriver Brush: fits on a cordless screwdriver for cleaning a dirty grill; $2.99.

Basting Gun: a powerful baster with a pump handle rather than a bulb, for sucking up or distributing liquids; $21.99.

Super Flipper Twin-Spatch: two spatulas arranged tong-fashion for turning over steaks, burgers, etc.; $14.99. Also available in the Super Sizzler Set, along with an angled sauce brush and a sauce/tool caddy that attaches to the side of the grill; $29.99.

Sauce Boss: screws onto standard barbecue bottles for pouring or basting with sauce. Comes with brushes for thick and thin sauces and an adapter for small bottles; $8.99.

Snack Helmet: a full-size football helmet with National Football League team logo (allow three to four weeks for delivery). Inside is a two-compartment plastic dish (dishwasher and microwave safe) for dips, etc.; $59.99.

The BeerBell: a 20-ounce beer mug permanently affixed to a 1 1/2-pound dumbbell for those who want to pump iron while pounding brews. Top-shelf dishwasher safe; $12.99.

Vacuum Marinator: cuts marinating time in half; attach hose to lid and pump air out of chamber. Can also be used to store wine; $39.99.

Weather One Radio: permanently tuned to the National Weather Service: impact-resistant ABS plastic, splash-proof gaskets, 5-by-3 inches with wrist strap, uses 9-volt battery; $29.99.

All from Grill Lover’s Catalog, P.O. Box 1300, Columbus, GA 31902-1300; (800) 241-8981. Prices do not include shipping and handling.