When you're manning the grill for a few family and friends, keeping track of who had what and at what temp, is fairly easy. Hold a barbecue for a couple dozen people, and it gets more confusing. Which steak was rare? Who wanted theirs without the cajun rub? Which piece of chicken was made "low-sodium" for uncle Earl and his high blood pressure?

So how do you mark each piece of meat to help you remember? Use a Grill Charm. They're dime-sized, solid stainless steel "charms" that are placed in food before grilling. (Couldn't they have named them something more masculine, like Meat Buttons?)

The serrated stems hold the charms securely in place while flipping, moving and grilling, so when food comes off the fire, you'll know who gets what. The Steak Collection has six charms with letters denoting temps, R for rare, MR for medium rare, etc. The six-charm Spicy Collection has peppers that let you know the varying degrees of spice, mild,medium or hot. Other available sets have things like martini glasses, dollar signs and chef's hats, so you can identify personal selections. Because, as Chris Rock said, dad always gets the biggest piece of chicken.

$19.95
www.grillcharms.com