Last week at this time, What's For Dinner member zenbassoon wrote "Up in Smoke", all about smoking. This week, we're into grilling. Memorial Day has come and gone, it's June, and it's time to fire up the grill!
Update: Just added the segment on pork ribs at the end of the diary.
Update: And the segment on dessert.
If you're like many of us, you enjoy cooking outdoors. You might have one of those things on your patio or deck called a "barbecue". And you may or may not know that there are 3 essential categories of cooking on such a device. There are lots of crossover points between the equipment, the ingredients, and the techniques, but cooking on a "barbecue" can be thought of in 3 basic categories: grilling, barbecue, and smoking.
Grilling usually means cooking at a relatively high temperature, often over direct heat, though indirect heat comes into play here too. Barbecue involves lower temperatures, over a longer period of time. The term "low and slow" is often applied here. Smoking adds the flavors of wood (or sometimes charcoal) smoke to your food, either as the main source of cooking heat or as an add-on.
The distinction between grilling and barbecue is a little more clear than the distinction between barbecue and smoking; these latter two overlap considerably, especially since the smoky flavor is considered by many to be a must for good barbecue.
With that in mind, today we are going to focus on grilling, with its higher temperatures and faster cooking times.
The Hardware
Your cooking fuel for grilling can be solid, or gas. Different hardware is sold for each type of fuel, and each has its advantages and disadvantages. Follow the link here for a picture of my setup at home.
On the left, there's a single standalone burner attached to a propane tank. This is not used for grilling; there is a very large wok (not pictured) that sits on that burner for Asian style cooking outdoors. The liquid propane (LP) tank is the same kind that most people with a gas barbecue will be familiar with. The obvious disadvantage to the tank system is that you have to keep track of when it is getting empty, and be sure to get a refill (or have a backup tank to swap in) to prevent running out of fuel when you are in the middle of entertaining.
In the middle, sits my Weber natural gas grill. You can see the hose connected to the house natural gas supply at the far right edge of the picture. It's the same gas that runs our home heating system, and the kitchen stove. The gas company seems to have an endless supply that they are willing to keep flowing to the house, along with regular monthly billing. Unless your house already has the connection installed, you will need a certified natural gas installer to set this up. It's not a do-it-yourself job without the proper qualifications.
This big Weber has 6 main burners, a center infrared searing burner, and a rear infrared rotisserie burner. On the left side, there's a popup module with a rotisserie motor, and on the right a separate burner suitable for a sautee pan or a small pot. With the main burners cranked up to full power, the chamber heats up to about 700F inside. That's a lot of heat. The cooking surface measures 32" by 19", which is big and roomy. Also inside the chamber is a smoker box with its own low-power burner, where you can add wood chips for smoking.
Do you really need a cooking surface that big? And all those BTUs from all those burners? No. But it sure is nice to have. It gives you options. Of course if you're entertaining for a group the big space comes in handy. But also, even if not cooking enough food to cover the whole surface, there is good reason to have that big space: temperature zones. Having a hot side and a relatively cooler side makes it convenient to move food back and forth if necessary. And often, you might want to cook over indirect heat. With a big space, the burners on one side can supply all the heat you need, but the food can be cooked over on the other side, using the heat within the chamber but not sitting directly over the heat.
Similar units are available for use with liquid propane. You can't switch back and forth between LP and natural gas; the burners and connectors are different. (Yes, there are conversion kits, but that's a long story and we won't go into that...the bottom line is that the fuel source is decided at the time of purchasing the hardware, and that's that).
To the right, is a Weber kettle grill. These are very popular. I think they breed and multiply like rabbits on the shelves at Home Depot. These kettles are designed for burning hard fuels like natural wood charcoal, or briquettes.
Between the kettle itself and the lid, there is an extension ring. This is a separately sold option. It is advertised as being support for a rotisserie, and has a bracket for the motor, and grooves for the spit to sit in. Thus, you could cook a whole chicken on the spit on this setup. I actually use it for a different purpose, which is to simply raise the lid higher. This comes in handy when cooking a whole chicken beer-can style, in which the chicken sits up tall. Or, racks of ribs sitting upright in a holder instead of laying flat on the grill. The add-on ring just keeps the lid up and out of the way of touching the food.
When using this type of grill, air flow is important. Fire needs oxygen. This kettle has air vents in the bottom (you can sort of make out the tip of the handle for opening and closing the bottom air vents in the picture) as well as in the lid. By adjusting the vents, top and bottom, you can control to some extent the interior heat for cooking. Wide open, with good air flow, encourages the fire to burn and create lots of heat. Closing down the air flow throttles the fire down somewhat. And of course, when you are done cooking your food, close the vents completely to smother the fire and let the ashes cool down.
Also in the picture: at the foreground is a cast iron patio cart with 2 glass surfaces and wheels. I move this around depending on what equipment and food I'm working with.
Below the left "wing" of the big grill in the center, is a cast iron potted plant holder. No, I'm not growing plants by the heat of the grill. I actually have 3 of these (the other two are in the background behind the kettle grill). They are great for holding hot items. The lighting chimney, the kettle grill lid, pizza racks hot off the grill...there is always something hot you are moving about, and need somewhere to set it temporarily. The plant holders perform an admirable service in this regard.
Over and above the whole setup is a canopy. We saw it one day as we walked into Home Depot and went "oh yeah, gimme one of those!". It provides just enough cover in a light rain so that you can continue cooking outdoors. And in the winter, it keeps (most of) the snow off the equipment. Plus, with the side shelves and the overhead rack and hooks, there are plenty of places to set things your working with, hang up your tongs, etc.
All the cooking equipment you see here has its own cover. I'm very fussy about putting the covers back on each piece when cooking is done and it has cooled down. But I don't leave any cooking utensils outside. As tempting as it may seem to hang stuff from the canopy rail, everything that isn't nailed down solidly goes back inside the house at the end of the session.
Lighting Up
With a gas grill, you just need to turn on the gas source, and spark it to get going. Many gas grills, especially the natural gas ones, have built-in lighters for each burner. Otherwise, barbecue lighters that do the job nicely are available everywhere grills are sold.
For solid fuel grills, I recommend a chimney starter. The one pictured here is made by Weber. It has a small chamber in the bottom where you put a couple of sheets of crumpled up newspaper. A wire grid above this holds the solid fuel, which you pour in at the top. Use the barbecue lighter to ignite the newspaper, and let the chimney do its thing. It can take anywhere from 20 minutes to a half hour for the coals to be ready to use, depending on the outside temperature, wind, and so on. When the coals at the top of the chimney are covered in white ash, you are ready to cook. In the picture, we're almost there. You can see the glowing heat down below, and the top layer is starting to whiten over.
Carefully pour the chimney contents onto the holding grate below. If you are cooking over indirect heat, you can spread the coals out in an even layer. More often than not, I use indirect heat; pile the coals up on one side, and when you put the cooking grate over top, cook the food on the opposite side. Or move back and forth over direct heat and indirect heat, as needed. Remember those potted plant holders I mentioned? At this point I make sure there's one ready nearby to set the red-hot chimney on after dumping out the coals.
Charcoal, or briquettes?
Charcoal is, basically, charred wood. It's produced by a controlled burn of wood, limiting the oxygen supply so that it smolders rather than burning up completely. Cooking over charcoal vs. cooking over natural wood results in a hotter fire, with a faster starting time.
Briquettes typically start out as charcoal, but are pulverized, then molded into uniform shapes with various additives. They don't burn quite as hot as charcoal, but are more convenient to work with, and a bit less dusty, though both forms are still quite messy. Some brands of briquettes are held together with natural starches as the binding agent. Other brands may have a cocktail of chemicals added, and you might never know exactly what's in the mix to hold it all together. Avoid the ones labeled "self-starting" or "fast-starting". They probably have nasty chemicals that, while in theory they burn off, ... well just remember your food is going to be sitting over or very close to them.
I'm starvin'!!! Are you gonna cook something, or just yammer all day?
Wow, tough crowd.
OK let's get busy. You know, you can do an entire meal from soup to nuts (well maybe soup on the side burner, and nuts can be roasted) on the grill. Let's start with the bread course.
Whole-wheat Naan
3 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1. Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix with a wooden spoon until the flour is well incorporated. With the paddle attachment, mix on slow speed for about 4 minutes.
2. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, knead briefly until the dough is soft and tacky, but not sticky. Put into a bowl sprayed with cooking spray (such as PAM), cover with plastic, and refrigerate overnight.
3. The next day, divide into 4 pieces, shape into balls, and cover each piece loosely with plastic. Let rise for about an hour, until not quite doubled in bulk.
4. Heat the grill on the highest heat you have, with a perforated pizza pan heating up inside.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece of dough to a rough circle, to about 1/4" thickness. Transfer each piece to parchment paper.
6. Quickly invert one piece of dough onto the heated pizza pan in one motion to keep it flat, and quickly peel off the parchment which will now be on top.
7. Depending on the heat, the bread may brown in a minute, or a few minutes. When nicely browned (slightly blackened in spots will be OK), flip the bread over with tongs and brown the second side.
8. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.
9. As each piece is finished cooking, brush with melted butter.
If you've got really high heat, i.e. burners that put out lots of BTUs, this is the time to use it. Naan is traditionally cooked in a tandoor, which reaches temperatures of 1000F or so. My big Weber can crank out 700F on a good day, and does a good job with naan. Of course, on lower heat you can also get good results, but it will take a little longer. I've also had good success indoors, with a pizza stone in the oven and cranked up as high as the oven will go (most home ovens top out at 500F or so).
Naan can be eaten as is, breaking off pieces and eating them, but is also very good with hummus.
Grilled Romaine Salad
1 head of romaine per person
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 small shallot, finely minced
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1. Combine all ingredients except the romaine in a small bowl, and whisk or blend.
2. Slide the head of romaine vertically, keeping the stem intact. You now have two halves.
3. Preheat the grill to high temperature.
4. Lay each half of romaine cut side down on the hot grill. Watch carefully, and as soon as grill marks are starting to appear, flip each half over. Do the same on the other side.
5. Lay the grilled romaine halves cut side up on a service plate, and drizzle the dressing over top.
This is the simplest of all grilled salads. We are not trying to cook the lettuce here. We are giving it a brief exposure on high heat to produce some light caramelization, which adds flavor and gives a nice appearance.
There are endless variations on the dressing; this is just one suggestion. I really don't bother measuring anything when I cook like this. Add a bit of this and a touch of that, whatever flavors you like. Roasted garlic instead of raw is a very nice touch.
In this picture, the leaves were separated and grilled individually rather than as halves of a head. But the end result is the same, just layed out differently:
Grilled romaine served up here
Grilled Tomato
1 ripe tomato per serving
dressing as for grilled romaine above
1. Slice each tomato in half.
2. Preheat the grill to high temperature.
3. Grill each tomato half, cut side down. When grill marks begin to appear, rotate each half 90 degrees and continue for a moment or two longer.
4. Turn each half cut side up. Drizzle the dressing over the lightly charred top of each tomato. Grill for a couple of minutes longer. Remove to serving plate.
Be careful once you put the dressing on the flipped up tomato halves. As the oil drips down to the hot coals or burners, it can flare up and burn pretty quickly. Stay close by, as this only takes a few moments anyway.
So we've had some bread, some salad, time for an appetizer.
Grilled Flanken Beef Ribs
6 flanken beef strips
1 cup soy sauce
6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1. Steep the smashed garlic in the soy sauce for a few minutes. Add the flanken strips, and marinate for one hour.
2. Preheat the grill to high heat.
3. Sear each strip on the grill. When grill marks appear, rotate each piece 90 degrees, and cook for the same time. Then flip each strip over, and repeat until grill marks formed on both sides.
4. Serve each strip as a single serving, or cut between the bones and serve individual pieces, finger-food style.
Flanken ribs refers to beef rib meat that is cut in strips, cross-ways across several bones. They are commonly found in Asian markets, though you may be able to ask your butcher to cut some in your local supermarket. The ones in the picture you will see coming up were cut about 3/8" thick; often they are precut and packaged slightly thinner.
You don't want to over-cook these. They are best eaten rare or at most medium-rare, which is why we flash sear them to get grill marks, and then they are ready to eat. They will disappear quickly once the eating begins! They make excellent finger food.
Feel free to use low-sodium soy salt, as regular soy salt will result in fairly salty beef after marinating. It depends on your love of sodium. I use fresh garlic here, and smash it rather than mince it. Minced garlic would tend to stick to the ribs are you are putting them on the grill, and then burn. Smashed garlic can be easily picked out after it has contributed its flavor, and then you don't have to worry about it burning. Or, you could substitute a teaspoon or so of powdered garlic (not garlic salt, the mix is salty enough already).
Flanken strips on the grill right here.
Grilled Pizza
Dough
2 cups bread flour
2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast (one packet)
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
5 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 3/4 cup room temperature water
1. Lightly sautee the minced garlic in the olive oil. Stop just short of browning.
2. Combine the garlic oil with the water in a 2-cup measure.
3. Combine the remaining ingredients in a food processor. Pulse quickly a couple of times. With the processor running, add the garlic oil and water mixture through the feeding tube. Hold back the last couple of tablespoons to see if it is needed. The dough should come together and form a ball inside the processor.
4. Continue to mix for about 30 seconds.
5. Turn out the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and tacky but not sticky.
6. Put the dough into a bowl lightly coated with cooking spray, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1 and a half hours. Or, refrigerate overnight.
7. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Use immediately, or wrap tighly in plastic wrap, and freeze.
Pizza
1/4 dough recipe
1/4 cup your favorate tomato sauce
2 1/2 oz. goat cheese
1 oz freshly grated parmesan cheese
5 slices proscuitto or similar ham
1 roasted red pepper, sliced
6 cloves roasted garlic, halved
1. Preheat the grill to high, along with a perforated pizza pan.
2. Roll out the dough to about 12" diameter. Transfer it to a piece of parchment paper.
3. (Optional) drizzle a small amount of extra virgin olive oil onto the dough and spread around evenly.
4. Spread the tomato sauce evenly over the dough.
5. Top with poscuitto, roasted red pepper, roasted garlic, goat cheese, and parmesan.
6. Slide the pizza, parchment and all, onto the hot pizza pan on the grill.
7. When the parchment begins to brown, quickly tug it out from under the pizza, and dispose.
8. Cook pizza until golden brown on the bottom. Cut and serve.
There are endless variations on this recipe. If you're not a whole wheat fan, you can use all bread flour instead of the 50/50 mixture specified here. You can also leave out the garlic from the dough, but leave the olive oil in. Toppings: well, the sky's the limit, use whatever you like. Just be sure that raw meats are pre-cooked before putting them on this pizza. The cooking time is fast, and the heat is all from below, so you need to have everything cooked (left-over chicken is great here) and ready to be reheated with the pizza.
A word about the use of parchment paper: Many cookbooks suggest putting cornmeal on a pizza peel, then the dough on top of that, so the dough slides easily. I much prefer the parchment technique. You have to be very careful because with high heat, the parchment is going to burn. Don't go away, watch it carefully, and yank it out as it starts to turn brown. By this time, the dough will have started to set and cook, so it will be firm enough to yank the paper out from under it. Kind of like the magician's trick of pulling a table cloth from under a set table.
Also: this is not a pizza for putting directly onto the grill grates. This is a very soft dough. There are other techniques for pizza directly on the grill. The dough is usually less soft, and you pre-cook the dough before putting toppings on.
Pizza ready to cook here
Pizza on the grill here, just about to pull the parchment
Did you forget ribs?
Nope, not forgotten. Everybody likes ribs, right? But what kind? Terminology varies by region, as does cooking style. In Texas, when you say ribs, you're talking beef. I've touched on beef flanken ribs earlier. That's not what they mean down south though. They are talking about a big rack of ribs, succulently grilled or smoked or barbecued or ...
Well maybe we'll come back to Texas ribs another time. For now, let's have some pork ribs.
Baby back ribs, back ribs, side ribs, spare ribs, ... These are all cut from the pig, and you can use them pretty much interchangably, though some might argue in favor of one or the other. Get a rack or two (or three or ...) of your favorite pork ribs. Peel off the membrane that's attached to the bony side, as it is tough and chewy, and prevents the marinade from getting in. It's easy to do: with a paring knife, lift up the membrane right off the bone. Take a paper towel in hand, grab that ragged edge you've just created, and slowly pull. It may come off in a clean sheet, or in segments. Just keep at it, until the membrane is cleared off, and dispose of it.
Aside: in Texas, they say, the membrane on beef ribs is called "candy", and a real Texan never removes the "candy". I actually follow that advice. When I cook beef ribs I do leave it on, but for pork ribs...it comes off.
Parboil? No.
There are some who like to parboil their ribs, which is to say simmer or boil it in water until partly cooked. If you like that, have at it. But I won't be over for dinner when you do that. I don't like my ribs boiled. Period.
Grilled Pork Ribs
2 racks of your favorite pork ribs, washed, membranes removed
1/4 cup pureed chipotle in adobo
1 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup oyster sauce
2 tbsp canola or other light oil
3 tbsp honey
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely minced
1 small head garlic, peeled and finely minced
zest of 1 orange, finely grated
1. Combine the marinade ingredients, and pour about half over the ribs. Cover well and marinate at least one hour, or overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat the grill for indirect heat. If using gas, light one side. If using charcoal, pile the white coals on one side.
3. Lay the ribs on the cool side of the grill. Or use a rib rack to hold them upright, which keeps them further away from direct heat. Internal temperature of the grill chamber should be about 325F to 350F.
4. Cook for about an hour and a half, basting occasionally with the remaining marinade, starting about half way through the cooking time.
5. Cut between the bones into individual ribs for serving.
Here are ribs on the grill
In the picture above, there are 2 racks of ribs, each cut in half. I normally leave them intact, but cutting in half made them better fit the tub I was using for the overnight marinade. The coals are on the opposite side, and the ribs are not directly over the heat. There are 3 corn on the cob here, individually wrapped in foil, while the ribs are in the latter stage of cooking.
Dessert
Finish off your meal with a little sweet something. How about some peaches and ice cream? Peaches are not in peak season yet, at least not where I live (peak season here means whenever the truck gets here from a thousand miles away). File this away for later:
Grilled Peaches and Ice Cream
4 peaches, sliced in half, pitts removed
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp honey
1. Combine the brown sugar, butter, and honey in a small saucepan. Heat to just the boiling point, then add the peach halves. Simmer about 5 minutes.
2. Remove peaches, and place flat side down on a medium grill. Cook 2 or 3 minutes, until some grill marks appear.
3. Put peaches on a serving plates, flat side up, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream next to each.
If you've been cooking all day with on the kettle grill, this is the perfect way to use those coals while they still have just enough heat to give a little char to the peaches. If you're using gas, well it's pretty easy to just keep the fire going, or start it up again. You're probably going to be eating the peaches after a little delay from the main meal. Relax and enjoy the summer with friends and some drinks!