Well, the winter is pretty much behind us, as the grass finally sprouting in my back yard can attest. With warmer temperatures come thoughts of large slabs of meat being seared to perfection over a bed of hot coals.

Yes, I know, spring is supposed to turn a young man's fancy to thoughts of love, but I consider myself able to put aside such childish preoccupations in favor of meaty goodness.

Now, in some places, grilling is a year-round endeavor, but I've lived up north and understand that there are significant portions of our country where the idea of grilling in December is laughable at best.

So, a lot of you have grills that have been sitting (hopefully under cover!) for months. With a few simple steps, you can have them up and ready to sear in no time.

First, it's time to clean out the wildlife. Whether it's been in a garage or on a patio, your grill has quite possibly become a warm, safe den for any one of a number of furry critters or bugs. After you pull the cover off the grill, let it sit for a half-day or so and give any wintertime inhabitants a chance to leave peacefully. Not only is this polite, it'll save you from having to scour out insecticide residue should your grill resident be of the small and scuttling variety.

After allowing a decent interval, open your grill carefully and take a step back. At this point, a quick spray-out with a hose is a good idea, to get rid of any cobwebs and accumulated dust bunnies. Once you've got things well wetted, move in with elbow grease and strong soap to attack months of old grease accumulations and scunge. Starting with clean tools makes it easier to keep things clean along the way.

Remove and examine the grill grate. Hopefully, you treated it with a light coat of oil before storage. If you didn't, you may have some surface rust to scrub off. As long as it's not too deep, a quick hit with steel wool should do the trick.

If, on the other hand, your grate looks like it's been left out in the rain for months, you have my permission to replace it. This time of year, just about every big warehouse store, Target, Home Depot and similar outfits have replacement grills of all shapes and sizes available.

If the exterior of your grill is rusting in spots, or the inside of the lid or firepan are showing some bits of corrosion, now would be the time to paint your rig. There are several brands of grill paint on the market, and all are basically the same. Make sure you allow PLENTY of time for the paint to dry and cure before you start cooking to avoid a potentially explosive situation at worst, and food that tastes like Krylon at best. I recommend a week between painting and cooking, just to be safe.

Now your grill is ready to rock, so let's look at your tools. There are five basic tools every cook should have: tongs, spatula, fork, grill brush and squirt bottle.

For your tongs, eschew the standard U-bend design tongs that come with most grill sets and invest in a good set of longhandled spring-loaded tongs. They're much easier on the hands and will give you much better finger control of the food (no more accidentally tossing chicken on the ground).

Your spatula and fork should be longhandled, of course, and I strongly recommend against purchasing nonstick-coated utensils. The rough environment of the grilltop will pit and scar the coating in no time.

My very favorite grill brush is a two-sided, longhandled monster with a stout wire brush on one side and a stainless steel "grill brick" on the other that gets even the smallest bits of goo off the grill. Remember that the best time to brush a grill is right after you take the food off, while the coals are still hot.

For your squirt bottle, why not have a little fun? Grilling was never intended to be a deadly serious endeavor, so if you want to swing by the toy department and pick up a Super Soaker to control flame-ups, that's your God-given right as a grillmaster. I've been hunting for a Godzilla-head squirter like the one Alton Brown uses, but have had no luck, so I'll have to stick with my plastic Walther PPK for now. ("Grill. James Grill")

Let's take a moment here and talk about charcoal. Those of you with gas grills can go and give your grates another coat of oil while we "primitives" grunt over our coals.

How do you light your charcoal? Do you buy that bottle of Gulf-Lite and douse the briquets, then toss a match and hope you're outside the blast radius? Do you plug in an electric lighter and hope the charcoal lights before the meat goes rancid? Let me offer a third choice: the chimney.

Now, back when I was a kid, the only charcoal chimneys I ever saw were made by suburban dads out of 3-pound coffee cans. Those cans no longer exist, but you can now buy chimneys with such luxuries as heat-proof handles and rustproof coating at most large stores.

These chimneys use no chemicals to light your charcoal, and they do it about four times faster than electric methods. You fill the bottom chamber of the chimney with wadded newspaper and the top with charcoal, then light the paper and stand back. By the time the paper burns out, you'll have a fire well started and you'll be ready to cook in about 20 minutes. Best of all, you'll have no lingering petroleum byproduct flavor. If you LIKE that flavor, feel free to dip your hot dog in Gulf-Lite before slapping it on the grill.

To get your grilling season off to a good start, I'm going to share the previously tightly held secret recipe for Mongo Marinade. This recipe started life years ago as my father's steak marinade, and I've added some small tweaks over the years. This is guaranteed to make the toughest, cheapest sirloin or chuck steak cut like butter, and the flavor is amazing.

You'll note that I specify Crosse and Blackwell Worcestershire sauce. They are not (sadly) cutting me a fat check for doing so. C and B is quite simply the best, richest Wooster on the market. You can, in a pinch, use Lea and Perrins. It's almost as good.

The "tamari" soy sauce is a darker, richer version of the stuff you've used for years. Look on the top shelf in the Asian foods section at your supermarket.

Mongo Marinade

1 c. Crosse and Blackwell Worcestershire sauce

½ c. tamari soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, crushed

½ tsp. Tabasco sauce

2 tsp. Chinese (Chingkiang) vinegar

1 tsp. chili powder

Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, then allow to cool to room temperature.

Pierce steak thoroughly on both sides with fork, then place in plastic container or bag and add marinade.

Marinate for at least 12 hours and as long as 48 hours. The flavor will get stronger the longer it soaks. I generally shoot for about 24 hours.

This also makes a dynamite brisket marinade.

Grill. Eat. Enjoy.

NOTE: I do NOT recommend this marinade for naturally tender cuts such as ribeye and NY strip. The acid in the vinegar will tenderize them to the point that you'll end up with gummy meat. Besides, ribeyes and strips generally do not need any flavoring assistance other than some kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.

If you want a pre-mixed marinade that is so good I'm pondering legal action against the maker for stealing my recipe, check out Mikey's Marinade. It's made by a guy who's a sommelier by trade, and you can tell he's got a master's hand at marrying flavors. I use it myself fairly frequently for a change of pace.

Got a comment? Question? Recipe to share? Drop me a line anytime!