FIRE UP YOUR GRILL!

Grill 'em all: beef, birds, fish, pork, lamb & veggies~14,000 B.C. ice houses in Mesopotamia~life with a kitchen again and a new fridge~port, marsala, madeira & sherry~yak steak for dinner

Francis Mallmann is thought by some to be one of the world’s King of Grilling

GRILLING: FRANCIS MALLMANN STYLE

When Daylight Savings Time comes each year, it’s a signal to me to empty the early March refrigerator to make one humongous frittata and then reload the refrigerator with goodies to grill. I’m mindful that some of the U.S.—the South—can grill year round and that some of us could be under several feet of snow—the Northeast—which means those folks can’t even find their cars parked on the street let alone their grills. Others of us may be enduring a machine-gun-like hail of atmospheric rivers. Simply the addition of a wee bit more daylight beacons us outside to cook after months of food from our range has become boring. Such is the case with me. I begin thinking about, if not shopping for, lamb chops, baby back ribs, sweet corn and salmon, beer can chicken, about the beginning of DST. That’s not to mention imagining myself mastering the art of cooking over live fire, just like my hero Francis Mallmann pictured above with a symphony of foods roasting over an open fire. Mallmann, says Esquire magazine, is “the most interesting chef in the world.” For someone dead serious about his way of grilling, a midget version of Mallmann grill can be yours for $3,000 at Meathead’s Amazing Ribs.

GRILLING: STEVEN RAICHLEN STYLE

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made Raichlen’s salmon dish since my copy of How to Gril came out in 2001. And that copy is literally now falling apart, my only cookbook in such a condition. Not all pages—just p. 309 to p. 313, which is one lovely recipe for hot-smoked smoked salmon. Note: This recipe can also be used for other fatty, rich, oily fish, such as bluefish, bonito, and Spanish mackerel.

While that salmon may take 4 hours to cure, grilling it takes mere minutes. I’m a dry cure guy, usually one part salt and two parts sugar combo. Wet cure guys sometimes use honey, molasses, or maple syrup, or a mixture of these, in place of sugar. Either way, remove the salmon’s skin, place on a sheet of aluminum foil, bury the salmon, on top and bottom in the fish cure, then put in the refrigerator for 4 hours in a pan. Rinse the cure off, pay dry with paper towels, and let it dry an additional 15 minutes. Grilling with wood is the final touch. Use alder, apple, or cherry. Hickory and mesquite are too strong. Soak four cups of wood chips in cold water for an hour. Cook by indirect heat for 13 minutes, give or take a couple of minutes.

Also from Raichlen is a cedar-planked grilled eggplant parmesan—a tantalizing recipe in his 2021 How to Grill Vegetables. Also, I’m currently big on artichokes and this cookbook has a couple recipes for them. One is stuffed with chopped garlic, fresh mint, and drizzled with peppery olive oil and grilled right on the embers. The other is for direct-grilled on gas grills.

GRILLING CLIFF NOTES FOR BEGINNERS

Unless you’ve got another idea, I recommend starting with an inexpensive and basic charcoal grill from Weber. A 14-inch Smokey Joe will only set you back $57. More elaborate charcoal, electric, gas, wood, and pellet grill recommendations abound: The Spruce, Tom’s Guide, Food & Wine, and Forbes. And Tagwood BBQ has some spectacular, other worldly grills. Next, get grilling accessories. Here are recommendations from Good Housekeeping. The Spruce Eats weighs in on grilling mats. If you’re not inclined to make a college thesis out of getting all set up, don’t. Just get a grill, borrowed or new, grill a hot dog, toast the bun, and let the good times roll right now during March Madness or Lent.

FROM ICE HOUSES TO MY NEW FRIDGE

The ice house was an ancient form of refrigeration. It's origins were in Mesopotamia—14,000 B.C., now Iraq—and in China and Greece. The name is literal: a cold building meant to hold food through warm weather. Ice houses—or ice wells, ice pits, or ice mounds—were usually made from brick, mud, or clay and located at least partially underground near a water source. In the winter, snow and ice would be put in these buildings insulated with straw. As a result, food in ice houses would stay frozen for months and keep perishable foods safe to eat. Such ubiquitous ice houses remained in fashion until the modern refrigerator came onto the scene in the mid 20th century.

For several weeks, I pitied myself for having to go to a cold garage to fetch ingredients for my dinner and for wine. In days long past, I would have had to hike out to the ice house beyond the outhouse. Poor, poor me. Such First World problems are these irritations. Photo: © 2023 - History of Refrigeration

The modern refrigeration started with William Cullen. In 1720, he observed the cooling tendency of the evaporation process. In 1835, Jacob Perkins, the “father of the refrigerator,” was granted the first patent for a vapor compression cycle. Its popularity of commercial refrigeration grew by leaps and bounds, first used by breweries and then by the meat industry. Slowly the refrigerator became essential in households after refrigerators appeared on the scene in the 1920’s when General Electric introduced the very first ones.

My beautiful new Bosch

While I recently purchased a Bosch, Big Chill brand refrigerators caught my eye some time ago. That company has documented fridge history. Big Chill also sells exquisite fridges in appetizing colors: beach or signal blue, cherry red, jadite green, buttercup yellow, turquoise, pink lemonade, wine red, or moss green. I’ve long been tempted to get one just to have those colors and their ole time design just hangin’ in my kitchen. While they’re intriguing, there are numerous other brands of retro and designer fridges are out there. House Beautiful magazine and Retro Renovation website will tell you all about some. And Bob Villa has the low down on high-end fridges.

HELLO SPRING . . . SAY HELLEBORES

Wild flowers may be popping up now around your yards and gardens depending on where you live in the U.S., while some flowering trees may even have come and gone. Lenten roses are among the first of the year’s bloomers. Our particular “Winter Jewel Painted Doubles” Lenten rose bloomed recently, revealing diminutive burgundy speckles on bright-white petals.

White double blooms dappled with rich maroon Lenten roses bloom in early spring.

A Lenten rose is not a rose. It belongs to the buttercup family. The name Lenten “rose” refers to the plant's bloom season, which is around the Christian season of Lent, February 22nd through April 6th this year. It’s cherished rose-like blooms are usually two to three inches in diameter. They originated in the dry climates of Greece and Turkey and sport handsome leathery evergreen foliage, plus dark green leaves with sharply toothed edges. These early blooming beauties are known by many to be aristocrats in a garden.

The handsome hellebores are a varied group of shade-loving perennials admired by gardeners across the U.S., in addition to their attractive foliage, exceptional resistance to deer, rabbits, and snails, plus their bloom period. Hellebores bloom in profusion from winter to spring. They have cuplike, nodding flowers—ranging from single to double. The large nodding flowers come in an exuberant range of colors from snow white to creamy white to a dusky plum to slate black and almost everything in between. Some of the newer hybrids even feature glorious variations in spotting, veining, splashing, or edging in contrasting hues. The blooms on some of the older heirloom varieties are downward facing, but the newer hybrids have upward- and outward-facing blooms. As lovely as they are in the garden, hellebores also make excellent cut flowers and are often additions to winter bouquets.

PORT, MARSALA & SHERRY

Spring may not be the perfect time to sing the praises of port wine unless that’s when you most enjoy rich, nutty, strong cheeses or chocolates. I recently found a new brand that suited my fancy, is highly rated, and priced under $20, indeed, this spring was just the time to crow about it! It is Graham’s “Six Grapes”—according to its web site—is “dark red in color, with a seductive rich perfume of ripe plums and cherries . . . on the palate, complex, with good structure and a long lingering finish.”

A kissing cousin to this Portuguese port is Sicily’s marsala—as both are fortified with alcohol. Wine Folly introduced me to marsala in a recent post. So, you may also be curious about sherry, too. Colombo explains it. Not to be left out is a similar drink from Portugal’s small rock island off Africa, madeira. It’s heated and cooled dozens of times throughout the aging process, a big no-no in wine making. Again, check out Wine Folly.

SICK OF COOKING FOR TWO? TIP #1

Taylor Farms Brand “Caesar Chop Kit”

Cooking for two can get old. Rather than recommend an endless list of recipes to cook at home with portions for two people, here’s another approach to dining ennui. Where to find something you want to eat again and again, whether at a fast-food joint or in a grocery store. Here is TIP #1. Taylor Farms "Caesar Chop Kit," available coast to coast in the U.S. This Caesar is terrific! In addition, they offer many different delicious salads. Look for TIP #2 next issue . . . .

YAK STEAK WITH MORELS FOR DINNER

In Chuxiong, China, the food of the Yi people stretches my imagination. Yi folks “occasionally host a grand banquet in which they cook an entire ram . . . the first set of dishes comprises of up to 30 cold cuts, prepared from the hooves, face, and head, dipped in soybeans with mint.” Says one food adventurer: “I remember an excellent meal of morels stewed in fresh cream served over a yak steak . . . and a hotpot of yak meat accompanied by yak butter tea can be delightful.” Folks there also throw tripe and beef arteries into a dish, then lace the plate with ginger, chilis, garlic, and lemongrass—sharpening the fatty meat with a dazzling edge of flavor. My curiosity piqued, I went hunting—not literally, of course, for yak. I found some in Colorado for me and for you if you’re tempted to prepare yak head for dinner with friends soon. If you’re even more tempted, you can travel to China and eat at the Flying Tigers Cafe in Chuxiong, where praises are sung for its yak burger. Or, maybe you could also venture to Yíng Jiāng Dǎi Wèi Yuán for its bamboo worms. . . .

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