Best BBQ ribs, great outdoor serving pieces, grilling safety, our favorite burger recipes

Okay, the other day this blog had its first ever sports item, today is the first ever cooking item. Before he went into science writing, your blog host was also a food and travel writer, something I only have time for rarely these days. But I spent five happy years writing for Bon Appetit magazine (you can read one of my pieces about Paris here, on my Web site, a warning though it's a big file) and I still keep in touch with the old gang.

Here is the magazine's new newsletter. I don't mind plugging the mag, especially because the recipes are excellent and really work! We sometimes make them for French friends here in Paris and for American friends who have been away from home too long.

		NEWSLETTER 7/01/2008
			1/ cook Spice up your Fourth of July cookout with falling-off-the-bone delicious Barbecued Beef Ribs with Molasses Bourbon Sauce. The ribs are marinated overnight and cooked low and slow for three hours over charcoal. You'll find the recipe, tips on grilling, podcasts with top pitmasters, and three more delicious rib recipes on our BBQ Ribs Top 100 Dish page. Have a great holiday!
	2/ shop Here's a little-known secret to quick and easy outdoor dining: lightweight serving pieces. (There's nothing like lugging ceramic into and out of the kitchen to make dinner feel...weighty.) These handmade Vietnamese Bambu bowls are our favorite for feather-light entertaining. Available in eight fun colors, they're made of organically grown, sustainable bamboo. ($17) 3/ protect Grilling expert Elizabeth Karmel shares common-sense tips and advice on food and fire safety in our Grilling Safety video. Protect yourself and your guests, and keep everyone happy and well fed without any trips to the emergency room. Our favorite tip: Don't wear fringe while you're grilling! 4/ grill In our new slide show of 15 fabulous burgers, we've got something for everyone: Beef eaters will love the Jalapeno Cheeseburgers with Bacon and Grilled Onions, poultry lovers will savor the Bombay Sliders with Garlic Curry Sauce (they're made with ground turkey), and seafood fanciers can indulge in Salmon Burgers with Dill Tartar Sauce. 5/ go Caviar, oysters, and ice cream—not exactly the ingredients you'd expect to find at your next backyard barbecue. Yet they're just the kind of items featured on avant garde chef Victor Arquinzoniz's grill at Etxebarri restaurant, in Axpe in Spain's Basque country. How exactly do you grill baby eels, one of Etxebarri's signature dishes? Arquinzoniz has created a line of unique tools and pans in order to grill the unimaginable. It's just one of the reasons Etxebarri has quickly become one of the most sought-after reservations in the world. And you thought cooking the perfect medium-rare burger was an achievement.