Summer Kickoff

After a rather long and accidental recess, I'll begin to make regular posts.  Having arrived from Argentina last Friday and now having access to a full, and well-stocked kitchen, I'm ready to begin the summer cooking season.  Now, whether or not you believe in Global Warming, the fact is that it's been pretty hot, at least here in the North East.  Of course, when the sun starts to shine and the sunset pushes a little past its limit each night, men and women everywhere bust out the cooler and dust off the grill.  Now, before you decide to sink a t-bone in Bull's Eye before throwing it on the grill and apathetically prodding it with a long, dirty grilling fork, don't forget that you can put more than a 16 0z slab of beef on your Weber.

Oh, you skeptics'll say, "But, Mark, my grill was made for meat!"  And, yes, perhaps it was.  But times have changed and we're smarter now.  You can grill pretty much anything, but you must go about it in the right manner. 

First, know your grill, your hot-spots, and your cool spots.  Whether you use charcoal, propane, napalm, or a mix, realize that different spots of your grill are different temperatures.

Second, know what you're grilling.  The thinner, the faster it cooks.  The thicker, the opposite.  If you raise the temperature of your grill to the heat of a sunspot, it'll char the crap out of the outside, but the inside could still be raw, so make sure you know the safe eating temperatures of you food of choice.  You can usually get a meat thermometer at a local supermarket.

Third, when cooking meat, remember that it continues to cook even when it's off the grill because of the residual heat, so take it off just before it's the way you want it and LET IT SIT to redistribute the juices.  When you grill meat, the heat contracts some of the proteins which forces the juices towards the center.  By letting the meat sit, you allow the juices to spread out more evenly throughout the hunk of meat and it allows for a juicer mouthful.  For more on that check out Molecular Gastronomy by Herve This.  Also, Jamie Oliver likes to constantly flip a piece of meat while grilling because he believes it keeps more juice in, but I'm not entirely convinced by this hypothesis.

When it comes to vegetables, of course, it's more up in the air.  Always wash your veggies before eating, but you can cook them as much, or as little as you want.  I usually paint my vegetables with olive oil mixed with whichever herbs or spices I feel like adding.

Grilled Asparagus

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 thingy of asparagus

2 glugs olive oil

1 spray of PAM

1)  Set grill to medium/high

2)  Sauté garlic in pan with olive oil

3)  Wash and trim asparagus and put in greased baking tray/rimmed sheet

4)  Drizzle sautéed  garlic with olive oil over asparagus

5)  Place tray in grill and close, turning occasionally, until crisped.  Usually 10-15 minutes.

-Mark Potkewitz

Stamford, CT