Cuts.

The most overlooked grill capability — live fire is closer to a wood-fired oven than a kitchen oven will ever be. Five bready cooks (pizza, flatbread, focaccia, garlic bread, naan) that turn a kettle, kamado, or pellet rig into the best home pizza oven you'll ever own.

The most-grilled protein in America by frequency. Thirteen cuts from forgiving thighs to holiday turkey, the 165°F / 175-185°F two-target rule, and the crispy-skin problem that defines poultry cooking.

The catch-all — venison, bison, rabbit, goat, halloumi, paneer, tofu, and the dessert course. Wildly different proteins linked by one rule: most are too lean, too dense, or too delicate to cook by feel. A thermometer earns its keep here.

The most underrated BBQ protein in America — canonical everywhere else (Mediterranean, Middle East, Australia, Kentucky’s near-lost mutton tradition). Six cuts spanning quick-luxury chops, low-and-slow shoulder, and ground/skewer kebabs.

The Carolina and Memphis foundation protein. Eighteen cuts spanning low-and-slow shoulder + ribs, fast chops + tenderloin, the full sausage family, and the cured tradition — anchored by the single most forgiving smoke in BBQ.

The fastest cooks over fire and the least forgiving of inattention. Seventeen items across rich fish, delicate fish, shellfish, and cephalopods — salmon and alder is the canonical pairing, sixty-second windows separate perfect from ruined.

Live fire makes vegetables sweeter, smokier, and better than any oven can — fifteen items across four families, no internal temps, doneness by char and collapse.