Photo: Chow.com

Grilled hot dogs are way up there on the can't-screw-it-up scale of outdoor summer cooking: no guest will tell you they want theirs medium-rare; there's no basting or brushing with sauce; and once they look done, they pretty much are done. But there's a way to take this humble food and turn it into a masterpiece that will just about blow everyone's mind at your next barbecue. All you need is a wooden skewer and a knife.

As this Chow.com video demonstrates, making a spiral-cut hot dog is easier than it sounds. First, you thread a skewer straight through the dog (if you mess up, just try again; the tutorial promises hot dogs are forgiving). Then, make a long cut with a knife that winds around and around the stick. Remove the skewer, and you're left with a curlicued tendril of beef, chicken or tofu, ready to cook. The increased surface area results in more caramelization and crunch from the grill. The spiral-cut dog also gives you a row of little crevices where you can tuck extra bits of relish, mustard or ketchup (or not ketchup, depending on where you stand in this debate). And last we checked, no one's ever asked "How'd you do that?" when it came to a grilled burger.

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