Everything You Need For The Perfect Cookout

The grill master controls the pit, and homemade sides are a must.
Etiquette includes not touching the grill, seasoning food well, and bringing something useful.
Desserts like banana pudding and peach cobbler take priority over store-bought sweets.

Cooking barbecue ribs and steaks on campfire grill — Source: Unaihuiziphotography / Getty

Summer season and summer holidays are quickly approaching, some would say it’s already here. This means it’s the season for backyard bar-b-ques, late summer nights, pool days with family and friends, but most importantly, the one everyone has waited all year for. The cookouts, it’s officially cookout season.

A successful cookout is built on great food and the unwritten rules that come with it. It’s the smell of seasoned meat on the grill, foil pans filled with family recipes, and everybody crowding around the food table waiting for their turn. The best cookouts always have structure without anyone needing to explain it. The grill master controls the pit, the sides better be homemade, and nobody shows up empty-handed.

From perfectly cooked ribs to the unspoken etiquette around fixing a plate, every detail plays a part in creating the kind of cookout people talk about long after the food is gone.

Take a look at these mandatory foods that are a must at every traditional cookout, along with the unwritten cookout rules:

First unwritten rule:

Speak Before You Eat

You greet the family before heading to the food table.

The Mandatory Meat Lineup:

BBQ chicken

Unwritten rule:

Seasoning Is Mandatory

Bland food will get talked about all night. Everything better have flavor before it hits the grill.

Ribs

Unwritten rule:

Everybody Thinks They Can Cook

At least three people believe they make the best mac and cheese or ribs in the family. This dish needs to be tasked to one person only.

Burgers

Unwritten rule:

The Cook Eats Last

The person cooking usually feeds everyone before making their own plate.

Hot links

Unwritten Rule:

The Best Meat Gets Hidden

Somebody always saves a private tray of ribs or hot links for later.

Smoked sausage

Hot dogs

Brisket

Unwritten rules of the grill

Don’t Touch the Grill

The grill belongs to the grill master only. If you weren’t asked to help, stay away from it. This goes for in the kitchen with the sides as well.

Bonus Item:

Turkey legs

The Required Side Dishes:

Sides are where the real competition begins. Mac and cheese, potato salad, baked beans, greens, and pasta salad can make or break the entire function because everybody secretly judges the sides first.

Baked mac & cheese

Unwritten Rule:

The Mac and Cheese Must Be Baked

Box mac doesn’t count. Real cookout mac and cheese comes baked with cheese on top.

Potato salad (no raisin preferred)

Baked beans

Greens

Corn on the cob

Deviled eggs

Hawaiian rolls

Controversial but common items that are brought from time to time:

Spaghetti

Though delicious, its not needed at a traditional cookout

unwritten:

Keep the Food Line Moving

Don’t block the table being indecisive.

Vegan food

Healthy food options are good, just not at the cookout

Unwritten rule:

One Dish Always Looks Suspicious

There’s always one dish people wait to see someone else try first.

Must-haves desserts:

Banana pudding

Unwritten Rule:

Don’t Come Empty-Handed

Even if they say “just come,” bring drinks, ice, chips, or something useful.

Peach cobbler

Unwritten Rule:

Homemade Desserts Come First

Store-bought desserts get ignored until the homemade cobbler disappears.

Sweet potato pie

Unwritten rule:

Everybody Takes Food Home

A good cookout ends with leftovers packed in foil and to-go plates.

Pound cake

Unwritten rule:

The First Plate Should Be Calm

People judge overloaded first plates. Save the big plate for round two