The secret is what you do before and after: from marinades to salsas, 20 recipes from top chefs.

Gathering around the backyard grill is not usually a dress-up occasion--at least, not for the people involved. For the meat or chicken or seafood headed for the flames, it's another story. A little dressing up--a marinade or rub before grilling or the perfect sauce or salsa afterward--can bring out the best in an ordinary cut of meat or an unremarkable piece of poultry or fish.

Here are 20 "before and after" recipes from 13 chefs and four cookbook authors--10 marinades and glazes, two rubs, six sauces and two salsas--along with four recipes for simple vegetable accompaniments. These 20 extras feature flavors from around the world, from an Asian fish sauce with only four ingredients to a Brazilian coconut marinade and a blueberry twist on that all-American favorite, ketchup. 

 

Published June 1996