HOUSEWARE AND FOOD FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM.

TOP-OF-THE-LINE TAILGATING

* All season long, the best football teams, pro and college, have been battling to make it to, respectively, the playoffs or a bowl game. At the same time, tailgaters have been perfecting their act, warming up for their Super Bowl of parking lot extravaganzas. While these wizards of the grill all jealously guard their culinary secrets of success, the maxim of top chefs remains constant. Top-flight preparation requires top-flight equipment. The Coleman Co., Wichita, Kan., long-time manufacturers of high-quality camping ware, provides just that with the ultimate tailgating weapon--the Coleman Camp Kitchen.

This ingenious device comes folded in a zippered nylon storage case that is carried like a suitcase. Once uncovered and unfolded, it offers six feet of countertop for food preparation; a removable plastic sink (with a stopper and drain) for rinsing ingredients, as well as cleaning up dishes, storage containers, etc.; shelves to hold the necessary ingredients until you're ready for them; and a swing-up lid with an abundance of built-in hooks (for cups and utensils), shelves (for spices and condiments), and a paper-towel holder.

The Camp Kitchen can be found at sporting goods stores at a suggested $219.99. For an additional $109.99, the Powermax Grill Stove makes the perfect complement. Butane-powered, it features a grilling unit for steaks, burgers, hot dogs, sausages, or what have you and a burner for sauteing, frying, or heating up items like baked beans or chili. A griddle can be substituted for the grill for eggs, bacon, sausages, or pancakes. A removable grease drip tray under the grill permits easy cleanup. The Grill Stove fits perfectly on a swing-out shelf of the Camp Kitchen.

These two rugged items, when combined with a master touch with ingredients, could make you the undisputed king (or queen) of the pre-game tailgate set.

SAVORY SAUSAGES AND SALAMIS

Your tailgate party's ready to go. The grill is fired up, but what to throw on it that'll satisfy ravenous pregame appetites? We vote for sausages over more mundane burgers and hot dogs, primarily for the wide variety of flavors to suit any taste.

The ingeniously descriptive name of Chicken That Looks Like Sausage says it all when talking about the delectable dozen from HRH/Casual Gourmet Foods, Clearwater, Fla. Opting for healthier chicken over traditional pork does nothing to take away from the flavor. If anything, the range is all-encompassing: Roman (red peppers and basil), Venetian (broccoli and mozzarella), Sicilian (parsley, wine, and Romano), Neapolitan (green peppers and onions), Mild Italian (fennel and Italian spices), Cordon Bleu (smoked ham and Swiss cheese), French Bistro (mushrooms and sherry), Southwestern Fiesta (spicy salsa and cheddar), and Country Brunch (apple, raisin, and cinnamon) are outstanding, but we were utterly captivated by a novel trio--the sweet Caribbean (island fruit and mild spices) and a pair of redhot, palate-challenging beauties, Cajun (cayenne, garlic, and onion) and Jamaican Jerk (fiery island peppers and spices). Just make sure the cooler is well-stocked with drinks before venturing forth to meet this culinary challenge!

More chicken sausages come from Gerhard's Napa Valley Sausage, Napa, Calif. Made without artificial fillers, MSG, or nitrates, they are plump and delicious, with a wide international range that includes Thai chicken with ginger, East Indian curry chicken, chicken Provencal with fresh leek, and, for lovers of Mexican food, chicken with habanero chiles and tequila, guaranteed to have steam shooting out of your nostrils. Home-grown flavors crop up in the chicken with wild mushroom and sun-dried tomatoes and our particular favorite, chicken-apple with its sweet, fresh taste.

To get thoroughly into the mood for tailgating, turn to the unique salamis from Held Meat Service, Kaukauna, Wis. Unlike the normal torpedo-shaped salamis hanging in delicatessens across the country or nestled in supermarket cold cut sections, Heid's are designed for special occasions. In this case, the choice is obvious--the football- and beer bottle-shaped salamis are the crowning touch for your pregame repast.

TERRIFIC TOOLS

* The statement that a workman is only as good as his tools applies equally well to the kitchen. Professional chefs are well aware of this, but the average household kitchen often winds up with a drawer full of miscellaneous and mismatched implements collected over the years, leading many homebound cooks to use whatever is at hand, rather than the right utensil for its task.

Why put up with this situation any longer? The All-Professional Tools set from All-Clad Metalcrafters, Canonsburg, Pa., consists of five well-crafted, long-handled, stainless steel kitchen utensils nestled in a matching cylindrical caddy that looks great on the counter or table. Two spoons (one solid, the other perforated for draining vegetables and other foods as they are removed from a pot), a spatula, a two-pronged fork, and a ladle are sufficient to suit most cooking purposes. While they may not make you a better cook, they will make kitchen work more organized, and they are an attractive alternative to the above-mentioned hodgepodge. The set runs a suggested $99.99 at kitchen supply outlets.

Along a similar vein, baking--especially cookies--is often a hassle on cheaply made bakeware with hot spots that can cause the bottoms of your Toll House chocolate morsels or oatmeal raisin drops to scorch. All-Clad's Bonded Bakeware, with its stick-resistant surface bonded to a layer of stainless steel, is guaranteed never to chip, flake, or interact with ingredients. The 10" x 14" petite cookie sheet ($50) we tried produced perfect chocolate chip cookies, then washed pristinely clean--all we could have asked for. Bonded Bakeware also comes in round, rectangular, and square cake pans; larger cookie sheets; and jelly roll and loaf pans, ranging from $70 to $110.

FOR SUCCULENT BIRDS

The turkey baster has been in kitchens for years, an invaluable tool for keeping the outside of birds moist while cooking. But what about the inside? Alas, interiors have been left to fend for themselves, getting drier and drier as the cooking goes on.

Now, though, there is new hope for the inner bird. The Turkey Baster Kit from Metro Marketing, Gardena, Calif., adds an injector needle that snaps onto the stainless steel baster and allows cooks to shoot juices inside the bird as well. All that is required is to pierce the skin and inject the pan drippings.

This device works equally as well with chicken, duck, squab, and other fowl. Moreover, it can be used with marinades and other flavoring ingredients in addition to juices and drippings. The kit ($12.99) comes with a bristly brush to clean the baster with a minimum of fuss. Look for this handy product wherever kitchen gadgets are sold.

ALL IT'S QUACKED UP TO BE

One of the last things we imagined ordering over the phone was duck. Thanks to modern wonders of overnight delivery and gel packs (which have replaced the more cumbersome and messy dry ice), however, it's possible to have this alternative fowl delivered right to your door almost before the quack has died out.

Duck is usually hard to find in supermarkets in other than frozen form, a solid, rock-like bird that leaves little choice but to roast it whole--unless you want to go through the difficult, and often messy, chore of thawing and cutting it up. Most people tend to skip the bother and get their duck fix in restaurants, rather than cooking it at home. That's a pity, because chicken and turkey pale by comparison as far as taste goes. Forget the oftcited idea that ducks are gamy. They don't fall into the category of goose, squab, and/or pheasant and, if stronger in taste than the usual bird on the table, it's a rewarding difference. Now, with the convenience of direct ordering, is the ideal time to take a chance.

Grimaud Farms of California, Stockton (1-800-466-9955), specializes in Muscovy ducks, barn-raised without steroids, antibiotics, or growth hormones. They can be purchased whole or just the parts you desire--breasts or legs, with the bone in or bone out. You can even choose between a hen (about four pounds) or the larger drake (around eight pounds). This gives the opportunity to broil, grill or sautee the duck instead of the traditional roasting.

Culver Duck Farms Inc., Middlebury, Ind. (1-800-825-9225), goes the whole or parts route as well, with a couple of refinements. It is possible to purchase breasts already prepared and packaged, ready for heating and serving. Honey orange or teriyaki breasts are a particular delight.

FISH STORY

Equally as unlikely a product to be ordered over the phone is salmon, but it is making the trip from stream to kitchen in record time. Not only that, a single order can bring an assortment of forms of this noble fish that...