This extended 4th of July holiday, you barbecuers can lay on all the briquettes and pump all the propane you want, but I’m just as happy in my kitchen at my stove with a grill pan. The minus is you don’t get that fresh-fired carbon taste. The plus is you don’t get that fresh-fired carbon taste. What’s more, you can regulate the heat and not worry about flame-up that singes the outside of your hamburger, for example, but leaves the inside ice-box cold (not as bad for a veggie, but dangerous with meat products). Eventually the non-stick wears away, but you can always oil the pan up for both ease of flippage and flavor (think garlic or infused oils). And there’s always a new grill pan, like that Le Creuset Sonoma Blue, that coyly makes eyes at you from the kitchen supplies catalog, too.