Cooking is my love language, but entertaining may be the fullest expression of it. I’m the person who posts an open invitation for an impromptu barbecue, starts planning the holiday menu months in advance and sees a backyard gathering as an excellent excuse to try a new cut of meat, build an over-the-top spread or finally pull out a piece of kitchen equipment I’ve been itching to use.
I love eating while I travel, but I’m just as happy cooking at home—especially when there are friends and family to enjoy with. And while conventional wisdom says you should always cook what you know when hosting, I think that’s baloney. With a little research and preparation, a party can be the perfect opportunity to flex your culinary muscles, experiment with something new and have fun doing it.
Over the past several months, I’ve cooked, grilled, smoked, sipped and served my way through a wide range of products perfect for summer gatherings. Some made feeding a crowd easier. Others became true centerpieces or gave me a new idea for how to bring people together. What follows is not simply a list of grilling gear and impressive ingredients, but a tried and tested culinary adventure for all the parties, menus and moments you want to create.
For the centerpiece cooks
We tend to think of ambitious centerpiece proteins as the terrain of cold-weather holidays: the Thanksgiving turkey, the glazed ham or the New Year’s Eve prime rib. But summer provides just as many opportunities to go big. A rack of lamb curled into a crown roast, a whole smoked duck or a platter of grilled lobster can bring the same sense of occasion to the table — only with more sunshine, live fire and friends gathered around the grill.
These are the proteins to reach for when you want the main course to feel like the main event.
Eagle Rock Ranch oxtail takes on smoke beautifully, allowing for mostly hands-off cooking. Preseason it well and smoke it for about two hours, then place it in a pan with flavorful stock to braise in the smoker. This creates a built-in sauce to serve with, so all you need is jasmine rice or creamy mashed potatoes to catch the saucy goodness. Ferndale Market’s whole turkey is another unexpectedly summery option. Spatchcocking helps it cook faster and more evenly, while a 24- to 48-hour marinade in buttermilk, lots of garlic, seasonings and a little pineapple juice gives it deeply seasoned flavor and helps keep the meat juicy. Pair it with colorful summer sides like corn and avocado salad, broccoli slaw or cucumber kimchi, and it will feel nothing like Thanksgiving 2.0.
For something even more dramatic, La Tienda’s double-frenched racks of lamb make a hell of a centerpiece. Connect the two racks with a sewing needle and twine, shape them into a crown with the bones facing outward, then smoke the roast without stuffing it — or add fully cooked stuffing at the end. A whole duck from Culver Duck Farms is another fun project. Spatchcock it, score the fat so it can render as it smokes and place a pan beneath the bird to catch the liquid gold that is duck fat. There are a million ways to use it, but my favorite is crispy potatoes.
And when you want the centerpiece to feel unmistakably like summer, try making live lobster from Lobster Boys. Preparing a live lobster might sound intimidating, but it’s a lot easier than you think and will truly take your summer hosting up a notch. Split the lobsters lengthwise with a sharp, heavy knife, brush them with butter and grill them once your guests have arrived, since they cook very quickly. Serve them with grilled Caesar salad, corn on the cob and something bright and fresh alongside.
For feeding a crowd without missing the party
One of the worst parts of hosting is realizing that you missed the entire party. The food may be great, but you barely saw your guests because you were stuck tending the grill, checking the oven or assembling plates. The best crowd-feeding dishes give you some of that time back: They can be prepped ahead, cooked largely unattended or finished with minimal fuss, leaving you free to hop in the pool, refill your drink or simply step away from the flames and enjoy the people you invited over.
KOW Wagyu beef cheeks require minimal effort for a massive flavor payoff. Because they arrive fully trimmed, they can go straight into a low, slow smoke or a gentle braise, where the collagen breaks down into gelatin and the meat becomes tender enough to shred. Serve it with warm corn tortillas, diced onion, cilantro and a flavorful salsa, and you have the makings of an outdoor taco night that largely takes care of itself.
Fox Hollow Farm’s Ground Beef Party Pack offers another versatile route. Burgers are the obvious choice, but smoked meatloaf stuffed with cheese is mostly hands-off and packs a hell of a punch. I like to finely grate or purée zucchini and carrots into the mixture for extra juiciness. Smoked stuffed peppers are another great option: Prepare the par-cooked rice-and-meat filling ahead, smoke a few tomatoes for the sauce, then let everything finish together while you mingle.
For days when even that feels like too much, a few freezer and pantry standbys can save the gathering. Perry’s Steakhouse Dinner Size Pork Chops are fully cooked and only need to be thawed and warmed through; add a big, fresh salad and baked potatoes, and dinner is served. Synear Foods’ pork-and-mushroom shumai, sold at Costco and H Mart, can go straight from the freezer to the steamer and be served right in the basket.
Party wings are another reliable crowd-pleaser: Farmer Focus wings come pre-split, grill quickly and only need a coating of Tabañero BBQ sauce near the end so it can caramelize and get sticky.
If regular wings just don’t cut it, Joe Jurgielewicz & Son Duck Wings come in a 30-pack that’s made for a crowd. They require a little more fussing, but most of the work can happen before anyone arrives: Braise them in flavorful stock or confit them low and slow in duck fat, then finish them on the grill until the outside is crisp and the meat is tender. Seasoning options are endless, from sticky-sweet orange sauce to classic barbecue or your favorite dry rub. Split the wings before cooking, and save the tips in the freezer for a rich duck stock.
Short on funds but still want to host? Apasta bar with Pasta Garofalo, Carbone sauces, homemade pesto, grilled chicken, vegetables and plenty of Parmigiano Reggiano. Guests can build their own plates, and I don’t have to spend the evening playing short-order cook.
For cooking around the fire together
There’s something undeniably fun about cooking around a fire together. That’s probably why we’ve been doing it for, well, forever. A grill can be more than the place where dinner happens; it can become the center of the party, giving everyone a reason to pull up a chair, put down their phone and get involved.
Double date over a tabletop grill? Count me in. The Mibrasa Hibachi Table Top Grill is portable, maintains a fire for hours and makes grilling skewers, vegetables and even steaks feel like part of the entertainment. Just prep a variety of proteins and vegetables ahead of time and have at it. STK’s thick, well-marbled filet mignon is perfect for kebabs with little more than salt and freshly cracked pepper. Stuff the grilled meat into charcoal-toasted pita with salata na’ameh—a finely diced Palestinian salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion and herbs—plus hummus, baba ganoush and/or toum, and you’ve got a handheld feast.
For a more classic grilled centerpiece, 44 Farms’ 16-ounce prime boneless ribeyes are rich, well-marbled and substantial enough to anchor the whole meal. Salt them the night before and leave them uncovered on a rack in the fridge, which gives the seasoning time to penetrate and helps the surface dry for a better crust. I’m a fan of making the entire dinner on the grill, so add whatever vegetables look good — zucchini, broccoli, sweet peppers, mini eggplant, asparagus or onions — then serve everything with a quick tahini sauce made with lemon juice, garlic, water, salt and pepper. The creamy, savory sauce pairs beautifully with both the meat and the charred vegetables.
Manchester Farms’ butterflied quail is another fun protein to add to your grilling repertoire. The birds are ready for marinating, which helps keep the lean meat moist, and they cook incredibly quickly—so throw on once your guests have already arrived. The Chef’s Garden Grilling Box takes care of the vegetables, with a rotating selection that might include asparagus, romaine, zucchini, eggplant or corn. Drizzle them with Nara’s Roasted Garlic Oil from Algae Cooking Club, season with salt, fresh-ground pepper and your favorite spices, then let the fire do the rest.
And because half the fun of live-fire cooking is having the right toys, a few tools are worth keeping close. Jealous Devil XL lump charcoal lights easily, produces minimal ash and burns for hours; Boom! Firestarters make getting it going even easier.
There are three tools I’ve been reaching for nearly every single time I grill. The weighted, stackable Chef’s Press helps you get a beautiful crust on burgers, steaks, fish and even delicate vegetables, while the MÄNNKITCHEN Pepper Cannon makes grinding a whole lot of fresh black pepper much less of a chore. The Typhur Sync Gold Quad, meanwhile, tracks several foods at once, plus the ambient temperature, so you can stop obsessively lifting the lid and enjoy the people gathered around the fire. These have made cooking that much easier.
For the table — before and after the grill
Sometimes, it’s the little bites that make the biggest impression when entertaining. A great appetizer gives everyone something to snack on while the grill heats up, while an easy dessert lets the evening linger without sending you back into the kitchen for another complicated cooking project. These are the extras that make a gathering feel abundant and special — even when they require very little work.
PrimeFish LUXPACK snow crab is fully cooked, shelled and frozen in individual pieces, making it ready for just about anything. Add it to a seafood cocktail, pair it with avocado for DIY hand rolls or make the crab the star of the show by mixing it with celery, lots of lemon, mayo and fresh-cracked pepper, then stuffing it into toasted, buttered brioche rolls. Serve them with crispy French fries and you’ve got a meal; or take things in a completely different direction with crab grilled cheese and peak-season tomato soup.
Paramount Caviar’s kosher salmon roe adds a delicious salty, briny pop to deviled eggs, hash browns with whipped cream cheese and dill, or toast points with crème fraîche. It feels luxurious and special, but is more budget-friendly than its prized sibling, caviar.
For something smoky and delicious, ACME whitefish salad comes together as an appetizer in minutes. Spread it on rye crackers with dill and peak-summer tomatoes, or serve it as a dip alongside fresh vegetables and chips. St. James Smokehouse SAINT Nova Lox is similarly ready to eat straight from the package. Top crispy latkes or hash browns with a cream cheese schmear and a slice of lox, add it to deviled eggs or go all out with a brunch spread of bagels, herbed cream cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion and capers.
After a delicious summer meal, a little treat is certainly in order. Edible Arrangements’ strawberry and banana cones offer the fun of chocolate-dipped fruit without committing to one of the brand’s elaborate arrangements. The chocolate-covered strawberries are bright and juicy, but the bananas were a surprising favorite among everyone who tried them — and I don’t even typically like bananas. Forte Chocolates’ rosemary-orange caramels are another excellent small bite: honey caramel infused with rosemary, bright orange and a dash of salt, all enrobed in dark chocolate.
For something colder, Clementine’s ice cream is the most scoopable straight-from-the-freezer pint I’ve ever tried, with traditional, vegan and alcohol-infused “naughty” flavors to choose from. Espresso Royale, a coffee lover’s dream, and Midnight Pleasures, packed with super-dark chocolate goodness, were my favorites. And when the dinner calls for something rich and indulgent, The Cheesecake Factory’s tiramisu cheesecake, available frozen through Harry & David, combines the best of cheesecake and tiramisu in a rich, coffee-forward treat. It arrives conveniently sliced, so you can pull out exactly what you need for your guests — and save the rest for the next party.
For a cooler kind of summer gathering
Not every gathering needs a full spread. Sometimes, a fancy beverage, a shaded spot, and friends are all you need. Matcha and fresh coconut water both feel refreshing and special, making them perfect for afternoon hangs, brunches or any gathering where you want to switch things up from the expected cocktails or beer.
I’ve been hyperfixated on matcha lately. It can be served a million different ways, is easy to adapt to dietary restrictions and feels luxurious without being fussy. When making it for a crowd — and, frankly, for myself — Terra Kaffe’s Aero comes in clutch. Just add water, sift in your matcha and run the matcha cycle. The Aero warms the water and incorporates the matcha, leaving you with a frothy base to serve on its own or mix with milk, lemonade, peach nectar or even espresso. It also froths milk and makes cold foam, which opens up even more possibilities for a build-your-own drink bar.
Methodical Coffee’s organic ceremonial-grade matcha is wonderful on its own and holds up beautifully in mixed drinks, too. Even some of my matcha-skeptical friends enjoyed lattes made with it. For a decaf alternative, Caff Off is a great option, while Trăm Phần Trăm’s salted pandan, lemongrass and toasted rice syrups make it easy to mix things up.
And for the simplest possible showstopper, Frieda’s Hulas Ready-to-Drink Coconuts come peeled and prepped with a tool that lets you open them and insert a straw in seconds. Coconut water is already delicious and refreshing; serving it straight from the coconut makes it feel like a party.
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