BBQ Menu Ideas

The mayonnaise dressing for this potato salad gets pungency from mustard oil (store-bought spicy mustard works fine, too) and a hit of smoky-sweet flavor from bacon and bottled barbecue sauce.

Mai My Lin, one of the chefs Marcia Kiesel met at the Nha Trang night market, prepares an aromatic and pungent marinade for grilled pork with two quintessential Vietnamese ingredients--lemongrass and fish sauce. The real surprise here is Mai's zesty Carrot and Daikon Pickles, which are amazing with the smoky grilled meat.

New Orleans-style "barbecue" shrimp is made with Creole seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, beer and butter, but David Kinch switches out those flavors here for a garlicky Italian anchovy sauce known as bagna cauda. No actual barbecuing is involved in either version.

These juicy, saucy ribs are chef Floyd Cardoz's ode to his mother's pork vindaloo. "There's nothing more American than ribs," says Cardoz. "I wanted to make something comfortable for our diners in New York, but that still honored the dish I grew up eating." Serve these ribs with crusty bread to mop up every bit of the spiced, tangy sauce.

Instead of making a traditional American barbecue sauce, Grace Parisi prepares a sweet, sticky, slightly fiery version using ingredients, like chile sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar and ginger.

These enchiladas take only 10 minutes to prepare and are surprisingly addictive. They'll be a huge hit with both kids and adults.

Tart avocado salsa and crunchy red onions accompany these full-of-flavor BBQ pulled pork tacos; quinoa adds a healthy twist.

Elizabeth Karmel grew up eating pulled pork in North Carolina. Now the creator of the consulting company Girls at the Grill and a competitor on the Swine and Dine BBQ circuit team, she has just published her first book, Taming the Flame: Secrets for Hot-and-Quick Grilling and Low-and-Slow BBQ. In it, she explains the benefits of grilling fish on a wood plank (this method prevents scorching and sticking) and shares her recipe for salmon in a fragrant blend of juniper berries and pink peppercorns.

This simple homemade BBQ sauce makes a sweet and tangy sauce for baked chicken.

Sweet pineapple and tangy BBQ Chinese-style pork make for a grown-up version of a sweet and sour stir-fry.