Just in time for the upcoming outdoor grilling season, a pair of new cookbooks has been added to the shelves of local book sellers.

“Mastering the Grill: The Owner’s Manual for Outdoor Grilling” (Chronicle Books, $24.95) is a comprehensive tome for grillmeisters by Andrew Schloss and David Joachim.

Beginning with the science and mechanics of grilling, the authors lead readers through a manual that teaches all how to master equipment, technique, ingredients and flavors (including rubs, brines and marinades).

Schloss and Joachim steer grillmeisters through their comprehensive recipes, which feature not only steaks, chops, burgers, ribs and seafood, but vegetables and side dishes, such as Grilled Polenta with Mediterranean Vegetable Compote, and Sweet Potatoes in the Coals with Lime-Cilantro Butter.

One chapter even teaches you how to master fruit and dessert on the grill with recipes like Shortbread S’Mores and Grilled Banana Splits.

Nestled between the recipes are over 120 color photographs, 50 how-to illustrations and grilling guides, which provide preparation methods and grilling times and techniques.

“Mastering the Grill” is for everyone who loves to grill, whether you’re a novice or a self-proclaimed expert — and is the perfect tool to help attain the coveted title of certified grill master.

A well known writer and food industry consultant, Schloss is author of 10 cookbooks, past president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and owner of more grills than any one man needs.

Joachim has authored, edited or collaborated on more than 25 cookbooks, including the award-winning “Food Substitutions Bible” and “A Man, A Can” series, which has sold more than one million copies.

“Extreme Barbecue: Smokin’ Rigs and Real Good Recipes” (Chronicle Books, $18.95),” by Dan Huntley and Lisa Grace Lednicer, is a tribute to the derring-do behind the craziest grilling contraptions in the country.

Through in-depth profiles, outrageous photographs and nearly 100 personal recipes, this quirky cookbook reveals the creative men and women and their crazy homemade grilling apparatuses.

Each example of junkyard serendipity is as unique as the mind of its creator, from the zenlike simplicity of a tin can on two heated flat stones to the awesome sight of a two-story mobile smoker complete with winding staircase. And how about grilling 20 whole chickens on a rig that looks like a cast iron satellite dish?

From Rhode Island clambakes to Kansas City where a front-end loader serves as an excellent grill, to the 4,500 pound mobile bread baker in Portland, Ore., “Extreme Barbecue” is the P.T. Barnum of grilling.

A staff writer for the Oregonian newspaper, Lednicer is a Kansas City Barbecue Society judge and has officiated at barbecue contests throughout the Pacific Northwest.

A columnist with the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina, Huntley is also a Kansas City Barbecue Society judge. In addition, he bottles and markets his own barbecue sauce.