Barbecue season is quickly approaching, and our thoughts are turning to gathering in the backyard and grilling up their favorite foods over open flame. But with the latest trends and accessories from Napoleon Gourmet Grills, you can make your barbecue so much more than just a cooking rack over a fire. Different cooking methods and styles release new flavours. Other trends make life easier and complement the backyard oasis where people escape from the daily grind.

“Barbecue accessories seem to be endless these days, but there are several that will truly make your grilling experience that much better,” says Steve Gauci, Director of Retail Operations at Napoleon Gourmet Grills. “Staying on top of these trends will help you experience foods in new ways with new flavours that will excite your taste buds, or may just make cooking outside that much easier and convenient for you.”

Here are some of the latest trends that will be popular in backyards this summer:

· Charcoal tray.
Just because you have a gas grill, that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice the flavours of classic charcoal cooking. Place a charcoal tray on the burner of your grill, fill it up and enjoy delicious, smoky flavours.

· Get colourful.
Stainless steel is giving way — a little bit — to coloured porcelain lids. The porcelain doesn’t require as much cleaning and polishing as stainless — and the colour can be selected to match your backyard décor.

· Infrared grilling.
Just like they do in a restaurant! The high heat of infrared grilling comes from 10,000 ports flaming a ceramic burner until it glows red. The result is a clean, consistent method of cooking that produces juicier, tastier steaks and burgers.

· Smoker tube.
Pick your choice of woodchips, soak them in water, put them in smoker tube and place it on one of your heat shields to enjoy beautiful smoked meats.

· Shish kebab wheel.
A handy attachment that fits right on to your existing rotisserie spit, the shish kebab wheel holds your skewers of meat and vegetable in place as it evenly cooks them over the consistent heat your grill.

For more information, please visit www.napoleonproducts.com. Follow Napoleon on Twitter@Follow_Napoleon and Like it Facebook.