The summer grilling season officially begins, in the US at any rate, with Memorial Day weekend. For folks who love to picnic or dine al fresco, it’s a red letter day when the covers come off the grill and patio furniture and living moves outdoors.

Whether your favorite main dish is steaks, baby backs, tender pulled pork, chicken, or the great American cheeseburger, adding sous vide cooking to your routine can make it simple and foolproof to put a perfect barbecue on the table.

• No more sweating over the grill while your guests party–you can do most of the cooking in advance, quick chill, bring back to temperature and sear on the barbee when you’re ready to serve
• No more worries about undercooked hamburger making someone ill.
• No more risk of chicken charred on the surface and still bloody at the bone.
• No more need to perfectly time everything and, as often happens, miss and find yourself apologizing when the charred results of the medium rare steaks your guests requested shows nary a trace of pink when it’s cut. Oops. Sorry.

First, step away from the grill. At least as the instrument of cooking the feast. Instead, turn that duty over to the little silver box and go chill out with a brew. With the SousVide Supreme as your ally, your barbecue can be cooked to perfection ahead of time–beef, chicken, pork, veggies, even ice cream bases. The meats will need at most just a short finishing sear on the grill, when you and your guests are ready to eat. Check out this sous vide barbecue video series in which Master Chef’s Sharone Hakman does just that for tips on how to cook like a rock star chef in your own back yard.

To get you started thinking along those lines, here’s is a recipe for a kicked up burger that will put a little sweetness and spice into this year’s Memorial Day celebration. Pair it with sous vide cooked Corn on the Cob, a big tossed salad, and some cold beer or iced tea and you’re sure to not only be the hit of the party, but actually even have time to enjoy it yourself.