Not to burden this greatly enjoyable activity with the word "philosophy", but I have my set ideas on the matter of grilling. The title says "A Summertime Thing" for a reason: there's a pleasure to the cycle of the seasons, to anticipating the one ahead and reminiscing about past ones. During the cold and snow of winter, one looks forward to the green of spring, the sun and warmth of summer, and the colors of fall leaves. Late spring should the time for asparagus, late summer the season for ripe and flavorful tomatoes and fresh corn, to say nothing of the seasons for fresh peaches and apples. Now worldwide production and transportation brings us these fruits and vegetables all year and eliminates the seasonal cycle for them. All that may explain why I keep my grilling seasonal, extending summer with late spring and early fall, but no more.

A long time ago, I graduated from briquets and lighter fluid to hardwood charcoal and a chimney. Lighting a real fire under real coals feels more real than touching a match to a gas jet; if I want gas, I'll use the kitchen stove. Fat or marinade dripping on the coals burns and smokes and supplies some the special flavoring to grilled food.

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A lot articles and books on grilling say to let the coals form a white ash before starting grilling. I've found that although the heat may be at its peak then, it will then decrease during the actual grilling of the food, especially for longer-cooking items. My preference is to start earlier, and to reach the peak heat during the cooking. This works especially well if I'm grilling vegetables, which can certainly tolerate a bit slower cooking, first.

One of my indispensable tools is a thin metal spatula. Most are too thick to get easily under grilling food that's stuck on the grill. I have an old favorite spatula like that which is an essential grilling tool; if it were to become unusable, I might just grind down a thicker spatula to suit my needs.

Another vital piece of equipment is a fish grill, essentially two closely spaced grill planes that are hinged together. To cook both sides of fish filets or steaks, one simply turns the grill with the fish in it. I rest the fish grill on top of the usual grill grating.

I've gotten a lot of incredulous commentary about my keeping grilling surfaces clean. Yes, after each use, I'll take soap and steel wool to the surfaces until they're free of the burned-on material. Quite simply, I find the grill surface easier to use when it's clean, and also dislike the old gritty crud on my food, however carbonized it might be.

Cleanup is also made easier by putting a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil under the coals before starting the fire. Yes, that elminates the upward air draft in the Weber bowl grill, but there's plenty of air getting to the hot coals.

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All of the above may be interesting or not, but the intent is to grill food so that it's especially tasty.

Fish - Salmon, Arctic char: Salmon, especially steaks, are a frequent favorite. Being somewhat fatty (certainly true of the farm-raised) salmon is fairly tolerant of variations in grilling time, but 11 minutes total works best. We prepare a standard marinade of about 1 tbsp. olive oil, 2 tbsp. soy sauce, 3 tbsp. lemon juice along with chopped ginger and garlic, and let the fish rest in that while the fire comes up. My successful procedure is the grill one side for 4 minutes, then the other side for 4 minutes, then the first side for 1.5 minutes, and finally the second side 1.5 minutes. Before each turn, I baste with marinade; the 4-minute turns cook the fish, and then the 1.5 minute turns brown the marinade on the fish to give it a nice flavor.

Salmon filets, being thinner, get grilled for 10 minutes (3.5 + 3.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 minutes); the same is true for the less fatty wild (such as Alaskan) salmon.

Fish - Halibut, Swordfish, Tuna: These fish take more care because they dry out easily if cooked too long. I recall lots of restaurant swordfish in the early 1960s that had the consistency of balsa wood, before people learned how to cook fish properly. We use the same marinade, and the same basting procedure during grilling, but keep the grilling tme to no more than 10 minutes.

Fish - Trout (smoked): Grilled trout is especially good if smoked during cooking. Start by soaking somewhat more than 1 cup of wood chips (I use mesquite) for 1 hour. Just before putting the fish over the fire, sprinkle the wet wood chips over the coals, then quickly start cooking the trout (this takes some preparation and split-minute timing). Grilling each side of the thin trout filets for 3-4 minutes while the wood chips smoke will impart a nice smokiness to the fish.

Scallops: Scallops work out well on the grill too, although they take some careful tending. Although we put them on flat-bladed skewers, they still tend to rotate some about the skewer axis. Grill them about 2 minutes per side (4 sides: first, half turn, quarter turn, half turn); it's a good idea to loosen them with a thin-bladed spatula before turning.

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Over time, we've put more and more vegetables on the grill, and enjoy the consequent smokiness and bit of charring. For preparation, all that's needed is cutting into slices, brushing with olive oil abd sprinkling with some salt and pepper. It's a good idea to slice vegetables along the long axis, so that there's a greater surface area, and less of a chance of a chance to fall through the grill grating.

Fish - Zucchini, eggplant, sweet onions, peppers: Zucchini, often despised as so prolific that one tires of it, is great when grilled. A sprinkling of balsamic vinegar after grilling eggplant slices gives them some extra zip.

Vidalia onions caramelize and sweeten a bit more when grilled, so they're a great favorite of ours. It's a good idea to grill the larger-diameter side of a slice first (i.e., down toward the fire), so that, after turning, the slice acts as a bit of a cup to hold the various rings together.

Potatoes, regular and sweet: Potato slices are an obvious choice to grill, and always taste great. They will stick to the grating, so it's best to loosen them with a thin spatula before turning. Sweet potatoes were a discovery for us. They will cook a lot faster than regular potatoes, turning yellow and then blackening; don't be afraid to let them char some.

Carrots and parsnips: Their natural sugar content will cause caramelization and some blackening; parsnips and their greater natural sweetness will cook faster. Both will retain some firmness after grilling and offer a nice texture as well as taste variation.

Corn: No real sucess here. We've tried some variants, like putting corn with water-soaked husks on the grill, or grilling the unhusked corn after boiling. Nothing seemed to add any special flavor or texture, so we've gone back to just boiling fresh corn.

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A couple of favorites, nothing terribly fancy.

Whole chicken - with an ancho chile rub, and smoked in a covered kettle grill: The ancho chile rub comes from a Chris Schlesinger book on grilling. The grill preparation consists building two piles of charcoal opposite each other and constructing an aluminum foil drip pan to sit between them. Soak a generous cupful of wood chips (I usually use mesquite and fill a 2-cup measuring cup) for at least an hour beforehand. I start the charcoal, as usual, in the chimney, and then pour the hot coals on the two piles, half on each. While the charcoal piles come up to heat, I place the chicken back-side up on the grill grating. After draining the wood chips, I toss about half of them on the charcoal piles, and then quickly place the grill grating with the chicken on the grill and cover. That way as little of the wood smoke is wasted.

The touchy part is regulating the amount of air through the grill to control the temperature and the fire. Rather than the slow cooking at 200 degrees, we've found that 400 degrees works surprisingly well, with the chicken being done in 45-50 minutes. About halfway through the cooking, I'll turn the chicken over so that the breast-side is up. I've also taken to saving some portion of the soaked wood chips and tossing them on the charcoal piles at this point.

London Broil: The meat will have sitting in a soy-sauce based marinade for some time before grilling. The trick here is to baste and turn the meat frequently, about every 4-5 minutes for a total of about 25 minutes. That way the meat develops a tasty dark brown crust without burning.

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A Gin and Tonic goes together perfectly with summertime and grilling. My version is relatively light on the gin and strong on lime juice, and so is refreshing rather than inebriating:

Pour about 3 oz. of gin into a 16-oz. glass. Add 2 or 3 ice cubes. Cut 1/3 of a lime and squeeze all its juice into the glass. Fill the rest of the glass with chilled tonic water, and stir gently. Skip the traditional lime wedge on or in the glass; all it does is soak up some of the drink.

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