More woman manning the grill

The 16th annual Weber GrillWatch Survey found 20 percent more women now are grilling outdoors than five years ago. In honor of the increase, the Weber Stephen Products Co. has reissued its “Weber’s Girls Guide to Grilling.”

With an introduction by Jennifer Bushman, author of the Kitchen Coach series of cookbooks and owner of Nothing To It! Culinary Center in Reno, Nev., the free booklet is a quick guide to the basics – how a grill works, gas versus charcoal, what accessories you need for the grill, direct and indirect heat, and approximate grilling times for a variety of foods and recipes.

To order the free booklet call the Weber Grill-Line, a year-round (except Dec. 25) consumer information grilling line at (800) 474-5568.

Knight Ridder

Herbs you can squeeze

A new line of squeezable herbs and spices may be the answer to the dilemma that arises when the herbs you buy go bad before you use them.

Gourmet Garden’s herbs are picked at the height of the growing season and packed into a squeezable tube. They’re available in the fresh-produce section of local groceries. You can store them in the refrigerator for three months.

Makers of the product suggest squeezing them on burgers while grilling.

Available herbs include garlic, basil, chili peppers, lemongrass, ginger and cilantro. The four-ounce tubes retail for $3.99 each. For more information, visit www.gourmetgarden.com.

Knight Ridder

Mysteries of meat unraveled

Don’t know a tri-tip from a skirt steak, how to buy a guinea fowl or how to grill bison burgers? Aliza Green helps unravel these mysteries and more in “Field Guide to Meat” (Quirk, $14.95). This pocket-sized compendium of all things carnivore will help you, as its subtitle says, “identify, select and prepare virtually every meat, poultry and game cut.” The book is sold at some Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores and online at amazon.com.

Chicago Tribune