Most American homes include an outdoor grill (usually the iconic Weber kettle grill). Unfortunately, too few weekend grill jockeys understand the essentials of cooking with smoke and fire. I know, because I used to be among the ignorant. Are you? Hint: if you use lighter fluid to start the coals, or slather BBQ sauce on meat before grilling it, or turn it over with a fork, then you are in desperate need of some basic BBQ re-education.

Enter Steven Raichlen, the guru of the grill, the sultan of smoke. His outstanding books have been inspiring me to new heights of BBQ bliss all summer long.

Raichlen's most essential contribution, the one book you absoultely must read, is How to Grill. This beautiful book, with tantalizing full-color photos on every page, will help you master the basics of cooking with fire.

Adventurous grillers should also consider reading The BBQ Bible, in which Raichlen offers 500 tantalizing grill recipes from all over the world, from central Asia to South America. Jerk chicken anyone? How about Turkish shallot kebabs with pomegranate molasses? Fennel-grilled bass flambéed with Pernod? This is not your father's burnt burgers.

It's been a struggle to find decent BBQ sauce in the Bay Area. The usual supermarket brands, including Stubb's, Roadhouse, KC Masterpiece, and most Trader Joe's sauces, are too sweet. I prefer a sauce that's not too sweet and that has a nice `kick' (peppery heat) to it. One of my favorites is Arthur Bryant's (Mmmm.... pork lard....), but it's hard to find locally.

I've found two good BBQ sauces, in two different regional styles, that are reasonably priced and easily available in the Bay Area. First is Trader Joe's new All-Natural BBQ Sauce, which is a Kansas City-style (thick and tomatoey) sauce with a nice smoky kick. For Texas-style (thin, tart, and vinegary) sauce, my favorite is Armadillo Willy's Jalapeno recipe, which sells for $3.50 in Armadillo Willy's restaurants. Both of these sauces offer a nice balance of heat and sweetness.

Other local BBQ joints that serve excellent KC-style sauce with a kick are Uncle Frank's and Everett & Jones. Unfortunately, Uncle Frank's is not available in bottles, and Everett & Jones' sauce is ridiculously overpriced at the restaurant.

I finally made it over to Uncle Frank's BBQ at his new location in Mountain View inside Francesca's bar. It was more crowded than the old East Palo Alto location used to be, so apparently the new digs are working out. And since the new location is inside a bar, you can now enjoy beer and wine with your 'Q instead of just Snapple.

I'm happy to report that Franks's Louisiana-style BBQ is still just as excellent as it was in EPA, and the portions are still just as ludicrously massive. The beef brisket, smoked for 30 hours, is my favorite. For side dishes, skip the bland cole slaw and gooey potato salad in favor of the spicy creamed corn and the collard greens.

Frank's BBQ sauce is fantastic---rich, thick, smoky, and tomatoey without being too sweet. The hot BBQ sauce is hot enough to kill a man, so I always ask Frank to mix my sauce half-spicy, half-regular. The result is a hot, spicy BBQ sauce that won't make you cry in pain.

In a world full of phoneys and gimmicks, Uncle Frank Bell is the real deal.