Rush-hour traffic has progressed from unusually heavy to virtually unbearable.

Patience shrinks swiftly as the snarl grows. The frantic and frustrated have no use for the dawdling and distracted.

The Marquette Interchange at 4:55 p.m. on Friday?

Good guess.

But, we're talking about carts, not cars. The traffic jam in question is at the butcher counter at your local grocery store.

The warm, pleasant weather marks the unofficial start of the outdoor grilling season in Wisconsin. Butchers, bakers, cart wranglers and checkout clerks at stores throughout the area are bracing themselves for big crowds over the next four days.

In anticipation of the big feast, we asked a few local experts to compile a few critical tips for a successful backyard barbecue experience. The first one is both obvious and a blatant rip-off from the Boy Scouts of America:

Be prepared.

It's a good idea to make a detailed list and do your shopping a day in advance. The last thing you want to do just as your guests are arriving is sprint down to the store for beer, soda, ice, coleslaw, chips, salsa, ketchup or mustard. Make sure the grill is working and ready to roll. If your grill is gas, make sure that the propane tank is full (it helps to have a backup on hand). If you and your grill are "old school," make sure that you have charcoal and starter fluid.

With the basics covered, it's time to get specific. For that, we consulted a panel of experts that included Brewers TV announcer Bill Schroeder, local restaurateur Steve "Saz" Sazama and the vice presidents for sales / marketing of the two Milwaukee sausage companies: John Gabe (Usinger's Famous Sausage) and Dan Lipke (Klement's).

When he's not in the broadcast booth at Miller Park or in his boat, Bill Schroeder can usually be found standing in front of a Weber gas grill on his backyard deck. Last year, he parlayed his passion into a popular pre-game segment on Fox Sports North called "Bill's Grill."

"I take a lot of pride in my grilling," said Schroeder, who demonstrated his method for cooking steaks, burgers, brats, corn on the cob, shrimp on a skewer and even unconventional things like Cuban sandwiches (steak, shaved ham and cheese) and even pizza on his grill.

"I'm out there year round and I love it."

When asked to impart some of his best tips, Schroeder -- who spent eight years as a big-league catcher -- called for the heat.

"You've got to preheat the grill," he said. "If you're using charcoal, you have to let the coals burn long enough to get hot. Even if you're using gas, you don't just fire the grill up and put the meat on right away. You want those grates to be hot."

Like all outdoor cooking aficionados, Schroeder knows that having meat thawed to roughly room temperature before putting it on the flame promotes even cooking.

"I love doing chicken," he said. "I like to butterfly a whole chicken, take the backbone out, marinate it and then flatten it out and stick it on the grill with a brick on top of it. That cuts down the cooking time."

Barbecue sauce is a potential pitfall, Schroeder said. "A lot of people put barbecue sauce on their chicken before it is done and it just burns," he said. "I always wait until just before I take the chicken off to put that on.

"Another thing is that helps is to cook chicken with indirect heat. If you have coals, you pile them in the middle and put the chicken on the edges of the grate. If you use gas, put the chicken on low heat on one side of the grill, turn the gas up high on the other side and close the lid. That gives you the indirect heat and makes for more even cooking."

That method also works for ribs, which Schroeder can be tough to master on the grill. Sazama, who has been selling ribs at his restaurant, Saz's State House, for 30 years, said the key is to bake or slow-cook the ribs before putting them on the grill over low heat with the bone side down.