Triumphantly I carried my prizes to the picnic table, laying out my instruments before me like a surgeon: the napkins, the wet wipes, the knife, the fork, and the lobster pick. The baked rolls placed here, the cobs of fresh corn there, the trio of fire-engine red lobsters aligned from left to right. Time seemed to stop. A yellow haze descended on the crowd, or was it a bit of lemon that mis-squirted onto my already steamed-up glasses instead of into the waiting butter dish.

I began with a controlled frenzy, ripping the soft shells apart with my bare hands, and sometimes front incisors, as I dug out the precious flesh, bathed the tender fragments in rich unguents of butter and citrus, and relished each morsel as it touched my tongue. In a flash I had sucked out all the juices, gnawed out all the tender flesh, and picked out any tiny remnants of edible meat from the discarded shells. I was a master culinary artist and the table was my canvas.

Now, even to someone (like myself) for whom lobster makes an interesting but often uninspiring meal, Browne makes it sound like a Must-Eat sort of thing. It is these types of segues, together with the occasional tip like the one on grilling food on wooden planks, that make Grilling America much more fun than your average cookbook. Browne's obvious enthusiasm for his subject matter is infectious, and you end up wondering how long it'll take to fire up the grill and whip up one of these delicious dishes. It's an excellent inspiration for those who aspire to use the grill for more than just the occasional "char-broiled" burger or hotdog.