And, since football season is officially underway (the Patriots kick off their quest for the Lombardi trophy tonight and my other favorite team, the Colts, will begin their quest next year - get well soon, Peyton), the Wannabe Foodie culinary adventures can begin. I can't really explain why, but there is something about football that really makes me want to get in the kitchen and cook big, hearty meals.
Don't get me wrong - I did cook this summer. My poor husband didn't starve. We primarily took advantage of our new grill, with the occasional rainy day pasta boil. I love, love, love cooking on the grill - tender and juicy meat, seasoned perfectly, and with the right amount of char. Hmm... I'm going to have a hard time using the oven after that.
But, cooking on the grill can get kind of boring. Or at least, I got kind of boring. I opted for lazy straightforward meals (meat, salad and baked potato or corn on the cob), and didn't try anything new. But, there were a few highlights, a few questions, a few missed opportunities, and a few lessons learned. Here's a brief rundown:
The new grill has a rotisserie burner, and the rotisserie accessory is one of our new favorite toys. Rotisserie chicken cooked on the grill is perhaps the best way to cook a bird. (Sorry, Ultimate Chicken Roaster, I had to say it.) This will be our method of choice for a whole chicken all year round - even if that means that B has to stand outside in a blizzard. It's just that good.
Why does everyone always talk about preventing flare ups? All the cooking shows and cookbooks are always telling you how to cook things without flare ups. Flare ups are my favorite part. Flare ups improve the char. Char is good. Therefore flare ups are good.
The grill also has a sear burner, which does a nice job of searing a steak before it goes on the grill to finish cooking. Only problem is that the rotisserie attachment blocks the lid of the burner from opening, and then we can't use it. Hopefully B realizes that I removed this part of the rotisserie before he next goes to use it.
Yesterday I made buffalo wings. And I did them the right way - I cooked the wings and then tossed them in the buffalo sauce. But they didn't come out so good. I was disappointed - the wings were perfectly seasoned too, with fresh ground pepper, kosher salt, onion powder and garlic powder. They didn't get a lot of char (again, my favorite part) and the sauce didn't stick so well. Next time, I'm going to toss them in the sauce first, which I'm hoping will increase the char and caramelization (seriously - no idea how to spell that), and then toss them in the sauce again. I'll keep you posted... I have not given up yet.
Our big missed opportunity was beer can chicken. We have this every summer, down at the beach in North Carolina. It's a specialty of a family friend, and it is delicious. According to B, the dark meat (aka the part of the bird that is closest to the can of beer) really takes on the beer flavor, and the white meat (obviously, further away from the beer can) not so much - still absolutely moist, tender and delicious, but not so beery. We had the idea to inject the white meat with some beer prior to cooking, and ran out to buy a beer can chicken roaster once we got home from vacation (one of those cheapo, $3 contraptions, not the high-fallutin' Williams Sonoma variety). Sadly, we never got around to using it. But, fear not, there is still time. Consider this a delayed opportunity, not one missed quite yet. And yes, I realize this flies in the face of my proclamation to only ever use the rotisserie to cook a whole chicken.
So that's about it for now. I've got a lot of great things on the menu this month, along with a decent amount of time on my hands, so you can expect some interesting reads in the next few weeks.
What's been going on with you guys? Cook anything good this summer? What were your grilling highlights and lowlights? How do you feel about char? And flare ups?
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