SLCC "Tips and Tricks" Volume 2
Grilling
Summer air brings "barbecue fever." Everyone is anxious to barbecue and get the full use of their barbecue grills that have been frozen in time for the past 6-months. Here are a few tips and tricks that might be useful and fun…
1. Use Banana leafs:
This is an old south east Asian trick to ensure perfect barbecue, and allows you to put the "meat" directly on the coals; hence, great for campfire cooking. It also imparts a nice flavor from the oils in the banana leaf. Simply use banana leafs as you would aluminum foil. You can purchase the banana leafs frozen at any Asian Market. Or if you are one of the lucky ones that have a banana tree in your garden, just pull and clean one. If purchased frozen, simply defrost and rinse them. Marinate your meat, fowl, or fish with your favorite sauce or a nice Thai Curry (can purchase at any Asian market), preferably overnight. If using Thai curry, you can tone down the spiciness by adding a little bit of coconut milk. Place the barbecue item on a 10 by 10 inch banana leaf. Fold it in as you would a package. Cut some banana leafs into ¼ inch strips long enough so you can secure the packages. Simply use the strips as string, and tie it around the package with a secure knot.
Once done, you can put it directly on the coal or on the grill with high fire. The banana leafs will turn dark, but don’t be alarm it should. As you would any barbecue item, feel it for doneness, or use a thermometer probe.
Serve the individual banana leaf filled pockets as is, and let your guest open the leaf for a delicious surprise. Yum-yum…
2. Ribs:
There are a zillion ways to prepare and barbecue ribs. Unless, you have a slow barbecue smoker/grill and have the time to slow cook them for 8 plus hours, here’s a trick that may reduce the time and effort and still have delicious "falling off the bone" ribs.
I recommend removing the "silver" skin from the back of the rib slab. Use your nail to loose the skin from the bone, and with a paper towel, simply peel back and away that silver skin.
Once completed, use your favorite dry rub. I used a dry rub from Alton Brown’s cookbook but altered it by adding a teaspoon of liquid smoke (this is optional). It seems to work really well and gives a nice glaze, but any of the premix one’s work well (e.g., Montreal meat spices). Here’s Alton’s that you may want to try:
Dry Rub:
8 tablespoons light brown sugar, tightly packed
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon jalapeno seasoning
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon rubbed thyme1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)
Simply combine all the ingredients and rub it on the pork ribs. Marinate over night for best results. The next day, place the ribs in aluminum foil, ensuring that it is covered and sealed properly. Before sealing the end, place about 1-cup of red wine (any rich wine e.g., cabernet). Seal and bake in oven at 225 degrees for 2 ½ to 3 hours. Once completed, put the ribs on the pre-heated barbecue grill to caramelize/glaze the sugars and to allow it to give a nice smoky flavor, and serve.
If you’d like to try an Asian flavor, use 5-spice powder, and eliminate the Jalapeno, Old Bay, and Thyme.
If you’d like to add barbecue sauce, simply use the marinate. Bring to a boil in a saucepan and reduce by l/2. Spread over barbecue before taking it off the grill.
3. Grilling Vegetables
If you don’t already have one, purchase a "barbecue wok." They’re inexpensive worth the money. Looks like a wok with lots of holes. Using your favorite vegetables, e.g. string beans, prepare by adding olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. DO NOT use fresh garlic for this, ‘cause it burns quickly on the grill and gets very bitter. Toss the vegetables in the oil etc., and with the barbecue wok already on the grill, simply stir-fry in the grill wok until "al-dente." Do not overcook; once the vegetables are taken off the grill keep in mind they continue to cook. The flavors are incredible. Vegetables have natural sugars that caramelize nicely over a grill.
4. Grilling Fish
This can be quite tricky. Fish is much more delicate than meat. Hence, a few tricks that might be helpful. I strongly recommend for medium size fishes to use a whole fish (e.g., Tilapia, trout). Once it is clean, simply score the backbone on either side. Cut ¼ inch from the bottom of the neck to the tail, on either side of the backbone. This will facilitate removing the meat and boning it later when it’s cooked. I personally don’t like to add any spices, preferring to use "dipping" sauces once cooked. However, if you would like to add spices, than please do so. FYI…, most Asians use ginger for fish, since it is believed to cut the smell.
If you don’t have already have one, use a fish grill that you can purchase at any cooking store. It’s shaped like a fish that you can open up, place the fish, lock it into position, and you can grill on both sides without having to worry how you’re going to flip it over. Grill about 4-5 minutes on either side, remove from fish griller and serve with some great sauces such as a Thai Nam Prik sauce. This following recipe is from my cousin who lives in Bangkok. It’s very easy.
¼ cup fish sauce
¼ cup lime juice
2 heaping tbsp brown sugar
Diced Chilies(dried red or fresh e.g., habeneros or jalapeno) as much as you’d like, you can control the heat.A few chopped up cilantro leaves
A few drops of sesame oil
Diced fresh ginger (optional)The above can be modified depending on your taste. You can add more or less any of the ingredients. It should have a nice bite to it. This is also a nice base for adding creating a mango, jicama or papaya salad. Simply add Julienne unripened mango, papaya or jicama.
When you serve the whole fish. The area where you scored, simply take a knife or spatula and from the back of the spine fold fish meat to the other side. Remove, the spine bone, and gently remove the whole skeleton. This makes it easier for your guest to eat it without having to worry about the bones.
Also, if you do want to grill a filet (e.g., salmon) keep it on the skin, and use the skin as a seal. If you don’t want to chance loosing the shape of the fish or concerned about it crumbling, simply place it on non-stick aluminum foil, or use banana leafs as mentioned above.
5. Grilling Chicken
Chicken can burn easily ‘cause of the fatty skin and taste like charcoal if not careful. I recommend marinating your chicken in your favorite marinate or dry rub. Adding salt to the marinate, acts like a "brine" which prevents the meat from drying out, since the salt captures the liquid. Or you can just brine the chicken, and rinse before cooking. Simply have different temperatures on the grill. Have a hot zone, medium and cool zone. Move the chicken around the grill until it’s cook. Doing this will allow you to control the doneness as well as prevent it from charring. Also start with grilling it with the skin down first, this prevents the chicken from drying.
6. Grilled Pizza
A few tricks I’ve learned: Use indirect heat, and keep the lid on. If you want a crispier pizza, quickly par-cook on the grill the side where the filling will be placed. Flip it over, and put the filling on the par-cooked side. Add cheese first, since it will prevent it from getting soggy. You can cheat, and use the pre-made pizza dough. They work really well, and you get a nice brick oven taste without the brick oven.
7. Grilling Shrimp
A trick many Asian chefs employ, DO NOT remove the shell. And, unless you get really grossed out, leave the head on. Grilling the shrimp with the shell on ensures a moist tender shrimp. You can facilitate the eating and peeling by simply scoring the top back of the shrimp with scissors or a very sharp knife. This scoring will also allow you to de-vein the shrimp. Once done, simply put a bamboo or thin metal skewer through the shrimp. Shrimp naturally curls when you grill it, some people like the look of a straight grilled shrimp. If this is desired, simply skewer head to tail.
Happy Grilling
(Randy Diaz, SLCC 6/10/03)