The Thrill of the Grill
Cooking with fire is summer’s shortcut to flavor
Issue 18: From Dana
Hello, sunshine! After a long, tiresome winter and a skittish spring that kept dipping back down into freezing temps, finally it’s warm enough to eat—and even better, to cook—outside. So let’s get a fire started!
I’ll take any opportunity to make dinner over a live fire, which is something we’ve never been able to teach our students in class, for practical and safety reasons. It’s too bad because understanding how to grill is one of the more tactile ways to learn that cooking is all about navigating heat. There’s a reason why most people opt for grilling with propane: it’s easy! You can control it as surely as you can the heat on your stovetop. But a live fire, with hot coals and maybe some smoldering hardwood or wood chips, is a different dance that requires a lot more attention and maneuvering…..and results in a ton more flavor.
I’m a full-on BBQ dork: a card-carrying KCBS (Kansas City Barbecue Society) judge who spent years covering the competition barbecue circuit, writing about the pitmasters who tend slow-cooked pork shoulder, ribs, beef brisket and more. But that kind of cooking is a serious commitment, and not what most home cooks (myself included) have in mind when they set out to grill dinner on a summer night with friends.
I grill on a simple Weber kettle set up; I start my lump charcoal in a chimney with burning newspaper underneath and after about 15 minutes, the coals at the top are glowing red and ready to be scattered across the grate. You can put vegetables, like leeks, artichokes and asparagus (three of my favorites to grill this time of year) right over the hot coals and use tongs to turn them as they char. I serve them straight from the grill with punchy sauces like romesco and aioli. But with meats like chicken thighs, steak or pork chops, direct heat would burn the exterior long before the interior cooks, so you want to push the coals over to one side and place the food on the other, then cover the grill (with the vents open on top and bottom) so the hot air can circulate around the kettle, cooking the food evenly. From time to time, you’ll move the food closer to the fire to get a nice char, then shimmy it back before it burns. A real dance!