Make Your Own BBQ Sauce From Scratch

UP IN SMOKE
MAKE YOUR OWN BBQ SAUCE
FROM SCRATCHHappy Holidays! We’re in the middle of a snowstorm here in Martha’s Vineyard. (But that won’t prevent us from grilling.) So naturally, our thoughts turn to how to combine our great love of barbecue with holiday gift giving.

Walk down the condiment aisle of any grocery or gourmet store, and you’ll find dozens, if not hundreds, of different barbecue sauces, incorporating everything from watermelon to premium brands of bourbon.

So why would I propose—as I’m doing now—that you set aside an afternoon or evening and make your own barbecue sauce from scratch? Simple. It makes a truly original gift (more on this below), it’s fun, and it’s a badge of honor, as the seasoned grillmeisters on the Barbecue Board can tell you.

Before I reveal my strategies for making great sauces, let me tell you about one afternoon that will go down in BBQ U history.

My friend, Dr. Rich Davis, accepted an invitation to be a “visiting professor” to conduct a sauce seminar at a recent session of BBQ University. If you’ve read BBQ USA (see page 694), you’re familiar with Dr. Davis: He is an icon in the barbecue and business worlds. In 1977, he left the medical profession and founded KC Masterpiece, the most successful premium barbecue sauce in the country. The brand was later sold to the Kingsford division of Clorox.

Dressed in a shirt that plots the American barbecue trail, the genial Dr. Davis had his audience in the palm of his hand from the moment he started discussing the history of barbecue sauce. (According to Rich, the first American barbecue sauce was salt water.) His knowledge of barbecue culture and lore astounded. And the fact that he looks at least a decade younger than his 80 years had everyone in the room wondering if the “Fountain of Youth” might be in Kansas City-style barbecue sauces.

A sauce tasting followed. Then we divided the BBQ U students into teams. We issued butane burners and basic recipes and a pantry of potential ingredients. The assignment? Develop a winning barbecue sauce, creatively named and labeled. First prize? A bottle of KC Masterpiece, symbolically spray-painted gold and autographed by Dr. Davis. And the once in a lifetime opportunity to have their recipe published in my next book, Raichlen on RIBS! (due out next spring). I’ll print a preview of the recipe for “Bunker Blast Barbecue Sauce,” which triumphed in the contest, in a future issue of this newsletter.

The event was educational and very entertaining—and talk about a theme for a party!

If you’re interested in developing your own barbecue sauce, here are Raichlen’s six simple rules for sauce success:

• GET OFF TO A GOOD START: Many barbecue sauces begin with ketchup—the pit master’s equivalent of a blank canvas. Other pit masters start with a basic commercial barbecue sauce and “doctor” it up. Use only the best and freshest ingredients you can buy. Shop for spices where there’s a lot of turnover, and replace them every six months.
• LESS IS MORE: Use restraint when adding strong seasonings such as hot sauce, cumin, Worcestershire sauce, etc. Position a container of disposable tasting spoons near the stovetop and taste your sauce often, making incremental adjustments. If you’re not sure an ingredient will be compatible, ladle a small amount of the master mixture into a cup, add a proportional amount of the new ingredient, and taste. That way, you won’t ruin the entire batch.
• KEEP IT BALANCED: Like wine, the best barbecue sauces have parity between their sweet and acidic elements. Play the sweetness of brown sugar or honey against the tang of vinegar, wine, or lemon juice. Pair the fruitiness of apple cider or marmalade with the pungency of garlic and onion. Use water—yes, plain water—to smooth out the flavors.
• THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX: Some of the best barbecue sauces I’ve tasted contained something completely wacky or unexpected, like coffee, grape jelly, soft drinks, and in one case, cough syrup! An oddball ingredient will give your sauce personality.
• LET THE FLAVORS DEVELOP SLOWLY: Use a heavy pot over low to medium heat. (Sauces with sugar can burn easily.) A pancake turner or spatula used like a spoon maximizes contact with the bottom and sides of a pot, and works well with viscous, easily scorched ingredients. Most barbecue sauces improve with age. Try to give your sauce two or three days, or even a week in the refrigerator, tightly covered.
• KNOW WHEN TO APPLY THE SAUCE: Generally, barbecue sauces should be applied the last 5 to 10 minutes of cooking so the sugars don’t burn. Alternatively, they can be served (warmed or at room temperature, please) on the side.

For more information on making barbecue sauce, see Steven’s Barbecue Bible Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades

As I mentioned earlier, homemade barbecue sauces make unique and appreciated gifts for friends and family. I asked my assistant, Nancy, to suggest some creative packaging ideas which you’ll find below the recipes. (I figured she’d be better in that department than me.)

Use the guidelines above, and you could be the next Barbecue Sauce Mogul. If you prefer to start with a tried and true recipe, my gifts to you this holiday season are two previously unpublished recipes for barbecue sauces from my new book, Raichlen on RIBS! (Workman Publishing).

RUMBULLION BARBECUE SAUCE

Source: Raichlen on Ribs by Steven Raichlen (Workman Publishing, 2006)
Yield: About 2 cups

1/4 cup dark rum
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup ketchup

Place the rum, soy sauce, honey, sugar, lime juice, orange juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a heavy nonreactive saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until syrupy, 3 to 5 minutes.

Stir in the ketchup and 2 to 3 tablespoons water and gently simmer the sauce until thick and flavorful, 6 to 10 minutes. Correct seasoning, adding more soy sauce if salt is desired, more brown sugar if sweetness is desired, more lime juice if tartness is desired, and more rum if you agree with Mark Twain’s claim that “too much” liquor is “just enough.”

Let the sauce cool to room temperature for serving. It can be refrigerated, covered, for several days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

SWEET AND SERIOUSLY HOT BARBECUE SAUCE

Inspired by Diana Fick of “The Princesses of Barbecue” team.
Source: Raichlen on Ribs (Workman Publishing, 2006)
Yield: About 2-1/2 cups

1-1/2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup Jack Daniels or your favorite Tennessee whiskey
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1-1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon pickled jalapeño pepper juice, or more to taste
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 to 3 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder
1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon celery salt

Place the ketchup, Jack Daniels, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, mustard, vinegar, water, pepper juice, brown sugar, cayenne, chili powder, garlic powder, and celery salt in a saucepan and whisk to mix. Place the pan over medium heat and gently simmer until thick and richly flavored, 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often. Cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate if not using immediately.

PACKAGING IDEAS

• Collect cool-looking canning jars. Two good sources are Kitchen Conservatory, which stocks old-fashioned Ball canning jars, and Weck Canning, which sells European jars with clamped lids and rubber gaskets. If using Kerr canning lids, dress them up with circles of fabric or medium-weight art paper; cut circles 2 inches larger than the diameter of the jar lid, shape, and secure around the collar with jute twine, butcher’s string, ribbon, or copper or brass wire. Label the jars—and don’t forget to advise refrigeration. (Manila tags from office supply stores are large enough to write on and/or decorate.) Or design your own label and print it on a peel-off mailing label.
• Suitable containers for your gift includes sturdy boxes, wine totes, plain handled gift bags decorated to order and stuffed with tissue paper, tin pails or lunch boxes, baskets, wooden boxes, pottery mixing bowls filled with excelsior, even an empty six-pack carton, spray painted and lined with tissue (tie a basting brush to the handle with ribbon or raffia). Tie a bandana, hobo-style, around a pint jar and affix it to a long-handled basting brush.
• Combine your sauces with compatible gifts such as basting brushes, skewers, homemade or purchased barbecue rubs or brines, cookbooks, an instant-read thermometer, tongs, a rib rack, apron, insulated barbecue gloves, etc.

TOOLS AND FUELS

Many of you have written in requesting suggestions for barbecue “stocking stuffers.” We checked in with Jeff Wallace, who runs the Barbecue Store for us. Here’s what he recommends:

Extra Long Suede Glove Set: Use these extra-long gloves as Christmas stockings! They’re a full 18 inches long, and will protect your hands and arm from heat all the way up to the elbow. You’ll want to keep an extra pair by the fireplace.

Instant Read Meat Thermometer: Professional pit masters leave nothing to chance. They rely on meat thermometers when grilling or barbecuing. An oversized dial makes this thermometer easy to read.

Insulated Food Gloves: If you’ve ever “pulled” a pile of hot pork with your bare hands or tried to ease a barbecued chicken off a beer can, you’ll appreciate how useful these heavy-duty rubber gloves can be.

All of us at www.barbecuebible.com wish you happy holidays and a healthy, smokin’ 2006.

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen, Grill Master and Editor-in-Chief
Nancy Loseke, Features Editor

Brining for Thanksgiving

UP IN SMOKE
BRINING FOR THANKSGIVINGWelcome to the Thanksgiving issue of Up in Smoke. This time of year, I bet your thoughts are on turkey. To judge from the emails I have received and your postings on the Barbecue Board, Thanksgiving is an anxious time for grill jockeys. After all, it’s the one American holiday that’s all about food. Most of us can forgive a soggy stuffing or lumpy mashed potatoes. But serve a dry, tough, or overdone turkey, and your reputation is, excuse the expression, cooked.

It’s probably not even your fault. Turkey is a difficult bird to roast properly because of the way it’s built. By the time the internal temperature in the thigh reaches the recommended 180 degrees, or the embedded plastic “pop up” deploys, the delicate white meat of the breast is overcooked. To make matters worse, while you let the bird rest and make the gravy, the internal temperature of the meat continues to rise, finally stalling out at the “sawdust” mark on an instant-read thermometer.

There’s a simple solution to the problem—a two-part strategy that involves a little science and a little art. You brine the bird—I promised last month I’d tell you how to do this—then you smoke-roast it on the grill. If you want to bring what could be the best turkey of your life to the table this year, read on.

Scientifically, brining is a complicated process involving diffusion, osmosis, and a restructuring of the turkey proteins.

Practically speaking, it’s a slam-dunk simple way to improve the taste, texture, and juiciness of many foods—especially grill-worthy foods such as turkey and other poultry, leaner cuts of pork, and seafood such as shrimp and salmon.

In its simplest form, brine is nothing more than a saline solution (a mixture of salt and water). Often, other ingredients are added, like sugar, which promotes caramelization, and/or spices and herbs to enhance flavor.

Thanks to a process called osmosis (remember your high school chemistry?), unequal concentrations of liquids and solubles try to achieve equilibrium when a semipermeable membrane separates them. In other words, when you place a turkey in brine, the salt water flows into the meat until equilibrium is established. What this means from a taste perspective is that brined turkey meat will be noticeably more moist and flavorful than unbrined turkey.

My basic formula for brine is 1/4 cup Morton-brand kosher salt and 1/4 cup sugar to 1 quart water. (If using Diamond Crystal-brand kosher salt, increase to 1/2 cup per quart as the two salts measure differently.) Select a container large enough to hold the food for brining. To determine how much brine you’ll need, place the food in it and add enough water to completely cover the food by 3 inches. Pour out and measure the water. Then add salt, sugar, herbs, and spices as desired. Be sure to whisk until all the salt and sugar crystals are dissolved.

Brine small pieces of food, like shrimp, for 1 hour; medium-size pieces of food, like chicken breasts and pork chops for 2 to 4 hours; and larger pieces of foods, like bone-in turkey breasts and whole turkeys, for 12 to 24 hours.

Here are some other useful brining tips:

• We recommend using kosher salt, but if you do use table salt, make sure it’s non-iodized and use only half as much as kosher. Otherwise, do not cut down on the amount of salt used in the brine. It is critical to the osmosis and diffusion. If you or people at your table are salt-sensitive, skip brining altogether.
• The turkey and other foods should be fully defrosted before brining. Do so in the refrigerator.
• Only brine foods that have not been commercially injected or enhanced with flavorings. Otherwise, they may become too salty. This includes Butterball-style turkeys, which are injected with salted chicken stock, and kosher turkeys, which have already been brined to draw out the blood and impurities.
• Use cold water or a mixture of water and ice when making the brine, and promptly refrigerate the turkey. Bacteria love temperatures between 40 and 140 degrees.
• Keep foods submerged in the brine by weighting them with a heavy pot lid or a zip-top type plastic bag filled with cold water.
• Good containers for brining include large bowls and nonreactive stockpots, resealable zip-top type plastic bags, coolers, clean plastic buckets (line with a turkey roasting bag), and food grade containers, such as Tupperware, Rubbermaid, or Cambro from restaurant supply stores. Do not use plastic garbage bags. They are not food-safe, and some have been pretreated with
  insecticides.
• Make sure your container fits in your refrigerator. If using a cooler, replenish the ice or ice packs often.
• Dry spice rubs often contain a lot of salt. Use them sparingly, if at all, on brined foods. Do not combine brining with injecting, or the meat could become mushy or overseasoned.
• The extra moisture the turkey skin picks up from the brine can prevent it from crisping when it’s cooked. But there’s a simple remedy: Drain the bird, pat it with paper towels, and set it on a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet. Refrigerate uncovered, for several hours or overnight to dry the skin. (Nancy, Steven’s assistant, has been known to take a blow-dryer to her turkey to hasten the drying process.)

Those are the basics. If you have other questions about your holiday board, post them on the Barbecue Board, and our knowledgeable moderators (something else to give thanks for this year!) and the rest of the barbecue community there will bend over backwards to help you. We’ve got a thread just for Turkey Day!

There are several advantages to smoke-roasting your bird. The brine keeps the bird moist and flavorful, while the moderate heat of the grill cooks the turkey through without drying it out. The wood smoke adds a haunting flavor reminiscent of what the Thanksgiving-sponsoring Pilgrims and Indians must’ve enjoyed at the first Thanksgiving. Grilling the bird outdoors liberates your oven for the traditional Thanksgiving side dishes. Last, but certainly not least, you get a signed excuse to spend the afternoon outdoors, beer or other drink in hand, bonding with people you like.

For best results, start with a fresh, not frozen turkey. Make sure the bird fits under the cover of your grill. Weber kettle owners can use the collar of their rotisserie units to raise the ceiling, if need be. Line up a container big enough to hold the brine and turkey, and have plenty of ice, charcoal, and wood chips at the ready. Gas grill owners should also have a spare tank of propane on hand. That’s all there is to it.

THE PERFECT THANKSGIVING TURKEY

And now the recipe, adapted from “The Perfect Thanksgiving Turkey” recipe in BBQ USA This one is even easier if you opt to use one of my Best of Barbecue Brining Kits (There are four flavor combinations—American, Asian, Caribbean, and Mediterranean—choose the one that best fits your Thanksgiving.) Of course, you can always make your brine from scratch, following the recipe on page 411 in BBQ USA.

Method: Indirect grilling
Serves: 12 to 14
Advance preparation: 16 hours for brining and air-drying the turkey

1 turkey (10 to 12 pounds), thawed if frozen
2 Best of Barbecue American Brining Kits or brine recipe of your choice
1 cup maple syrup
6 tablespoons butter, melted
Maple Redeye Gravy (recipe follows)

You’ll also need:
3 cups hickory wood chips or chunks (such as Best of Barbecue Poultry Blend) soaked for 1 hour in water to cover, then drained.

Remove the giblets from the neck or body cavity of the turkey and set aside for another use. Remove and discard any excess fat in the cavities. Rinse the turkey, inside and out, under cold running water.

Pour 2 gallons (8 quarts) of ice water into a large nonreactive container and add four packets of brine mix. Stir to dissolve. Add maple syrup and stir. Add the turkey. It should be completely submerged. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the brine, knock off any whole spices, and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Discard brine. Place the turkey on a cooling grate over a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate it, uncovered, for several hours to air-dry the skin. (It will crisp better on the grill if you take the time and trouble to do this.) Cover the wings with aluminum foil.

Set up the grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium (325 to 350 degrees). If using a gas grill, place all of the wood chips or chunks in the smoker box or in a smoker pouch and run the grill on high until you see smoke, then reduce the heat to medium. If using a charcoal grill, place a large drip pan in the center, preheat the grill to medium, then toss 1 cup of the wood chips or chunks on the coals. (Tip for charcoal grillers: When adding fresh coals directly from a chimney starter, protect your bird from flying ash by shielding
it with a rimless baking sheet.)

Place the turkey, breast side up, in the center of the hot grate, over the drip pan and away from the heat. Brush the turkey with some of the butter and cover the grill. Grill the turkey, basting with butter every hour, until cooked through, 2-1/2 to 3 hours. If using a charcoal grill, add fresh coals and wood chips as needed. Insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of a thigh (don’t touch the bone with the tip); the internal temperature should be about 165 degrees. If the wing tips or skin starts to brown too much or too quickly, cover them loosely with aluminum foil. Use heatproof food gloves to lift the bird off the grill (such as the Best of Barbecue Insulated Food Gloves).

Let the turkey rest at least 15 minutes before carving. Serve with Maple Redeye Gravy.

Maple Redeye Gravy

4 tablespoons salted butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup Madeira
1/4 cup brewed coffee
1/4 cup heavy (whipping) cream
2 tablespoons maple syrup
3 to 4 cups turkey or chicken stock (preferably homemade)
Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour and cook until it’s golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. Watch it carefully; start over if it begins to burn.

Remove the pan from the heat and gradually whisk in the Madeira, coffee, cream, maple syrup, and the turkey stock. Return the pan to the heat and bring to a boil over high heat, whisking steadily. Reduce heat to medium and let the sauce simmer until richly flavored and reduced to about 3 cups, 6 to 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Note: Use grill mitts or a grate grabber to lift the grate off the grill. Carefully lift out the drip pan; contents will be very hot.

TOOLS AND FUELS

Now that we’ve gone off Daylight Savings Time, night comes on fast. And you can’t achieve grilling greatness if you can’t see what you’re cooking. Enter the Best of Barbecue Grill Headlight complete with two halogen bulbs in a clip-on base. Be forewarned: Any oncoming traffic will want to be fed.

Every year at this time, a great debate erupts: what’s the best wine to serve with turkey, red or white? (Ever the diplomat, I’m serving both this year—a German Riesling and an Australian Shiraz.) If you love wine, you might want to consider a cool new fuel for smoking: our Wine Barrel Stave Bundles Cut from old red wine barrels, they give you smoke scented with oak and wine.

STUFFED ACORN SQUASH WITH MADEIRA AND MAPLE SYRUP GLAZE

Finally, one of our favorite Thanksgiving side dishes is acorn squash grilled with cornbread stuffing and glazed with maple syrup. Nancy has made a killer variation to my Madeira Grilled Acorn Squash that can be found on page 622 of BBQ USA. For roasting it on the grill, you can’t beat our Best of Barbecue Grill Rings. They come in sets of three and are designed to help you grill whole onions, Jack-Be-Little pumpkins, heads of radicchio, and even apples without tipping.

Method: Indirect grilling
Serves: 6

6 small or 3 large acorn squash
4 tablespoons salted butter, plus 2 tablespoons for dotting the tops of the squash
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup Madeira
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups of your favorite cornbread stuffing, prepared

You’ll also need:
6 Best of Barbecue Grill Rings or 2-1/2 inch rings made from crumpled aluminum foil.

If using small squash, cut the top third off each. If using large ones, cut in half through the stem end. Scrape out and discard the seeds and strings with a metal spoon.

Melt butter in a nonreactive saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the maple syrup, Madeira, and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Boil until syrupy, 3 to 6 minutes.
Position the squash, cut sides up, on the grill rings. Brush the maple syrup glaze over the yellow-orange flesh. Mound 2/3 cup stuffing in each squash and top with a thin slice of butter.

Set up the grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium. Set the grill rings in the center of the grate, and and put the squash on them. Cover the grill and cook until the squash is tender and the stuffing is golden brown, 40 to 60 minutes. When done, the sides of the squash will feel soft when squeezed. Remove from the grill rings, transfer to a plate or platter and serve at once.

MAIL BAG

“What do you really think about brining?” write Tamara Krievins and Bob Peaston from Toronto, Canada. “We have the impression that it enhances the quality of certain food (chicken, pork) . . . but, what to do about the rubs? Should rubs be applied after brining? Should we eliminate the salt and sugar from the rubs? And when are you coming to Toronto??”

This newsletter should make clear my position on brining. I rarely use rubs with brines—it’s overkill. The flavor of the brine is compelling enough. BTW, I love Toronto and will get back as soon as I can. Keep an eye on the “Steven’s Event Schedule” page on the web site.

“Do you think that I can BBQ a turkey using the beer can recipe if I use a really big can of beer?” writes Lori Torres from Orange County, CA.

You sure can, Lori. You’ll need a large (30 ounce) can of Foster’s lager and a 10 to 12 pound turkey. The full recipe can be found on page 169 in the Beer Can Chicken Book.

“Your books are fantastic!” writes Leslie Gordon. “My family loves Beer Can Chicken and we’re hoping to make Beer Can Turkey for Thanksgiving. What kind of can will support a 22-25 pound bird?”

Thanks, Leslie. I’ve never beer canned a 25 pound bird. I’d do two 12 pound birds on Foster’s Ale cans. But maybe someone out there knows of a larger can—why not post a query on the Barbecue Board and find out.

“I am smoking a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner following the Perfect Thanksgiving Turkey recipe in BBQ USA.” Writes Michael Free from Candor, North Carolina. “The only difference is that I want to smoke two bone-in turkey breasts instead of the one whole turkey. Although the total weight may be the same, is there anything different I should do when brining or smoking these two breasts?”

Good choice, Michael. That’s how we’re doing our bird this year. I’d brine the breasts for 12 to 16 hours. Cooking time will be 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours.

Happy T-Day to all.

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen, Grill Master and Editor-in-Chief
Nancy Loseke, Features Editor

Smoking Low and Slow Meals

UP IN SMOKE
SMOKING LOW AND SLOW MEALSSorry for the delay since the last newsletter, folks. Steven has been incredibly busy this summer and into the fall. He has completed a 15-city book tour and finished the next book, tentatively entitled Raichlen on RIBS!

–due out next spring. He has also taught two more sessions of Barbecue University at the Greenbrier, taped Season 4 of the Barbecue University TV show (launching next April on Public Television) and designed 25 new products for the Best of Barbecue grilling accessory line.

Before I turn this month’s newsletter over to Steven, let me respond to those of you who have written or emailed to inquire about next year’s Barbecue University schedule. Dates have now been finalized. But if you or someone you know is interested in attending Barbecue University in 2006, please act quickly: Sessions I and II are already sold out and wait-listed, though there are still openings in Session III (August 31 – September 3) and Session IV (September 10 – 13.) For more information, visit the BBQ U page on our site, call 1-800-228-5049, or email cookingschool@greenbrier.com

And now, back to you Steven!

-Amy Lewis, a.k.a. Info@Workman

NEWS AND VIEWS

In the last issue, we covered “speed” grilling, as it were – how to make the best use of your grill if you have a big hunger for flavor, but precious little time for cooking.

In this issue, I want to cover the very opposite – the long, slow, low-heat cooking technique required to make authentic barbecue: smoking.

Smoking. The very word sparks visions of fragrant clouds of hickory or apple wood smoke. Of big rigs and offset barrel smokers, parked in your driveway or in your backyard, tantalizing the neighbors and making them envious. Of pork shoulders as dark as anthracite but tender enough to pull apart with your fingers. (Hey, that’s why they call it “pulled” pork.) Of glistening, smoke-infused briskets and spare ribs so good they make you want to cry.

If barbecue is a religion, smoking is one of its most sacred rites: to master all its fine points would be the work of a lifetime. So here’s a quick overview to get you started.

First, what smoking is not: It’s not direct grilling, in which food is cooked directly over the fire. Smoking is always indirect – the food cooks next to, not over, the fire.

Smoking is not indirect grilling, although the two are closely related. Indirect grilling is done at a moderate to medium-high heat (325 to 400 degrees). Smoking is done at a low heat (225 to 275 degrees-ideally between 225 and 250 degrees).

Smoking is not something you generally do on a gas grill (although there are gas-fired smokers). You can do it on a charcoal grill (set up the grill for indirect grilling, but use only half as much charcoal). But it’s really best done in a smoker – a device specifically designed to cook low and slow.

There are four basic types of smokers on the market.

The upright water smoker (which resembles the Star Wars’ robot, R2D2), typified by the Weber Smoky Mountain (affectionately nicknamed “the bullet”). The charcoal goes in the bottom; water in a water bowl in the middle; the food on the cooking grate under a lid with vents to keep in the smoke. A new upright that looks really cool to me is the Big Drum Smoker

The offset barrel smoker (typified by the Horizon Classic). This smoker features a horizontal barrel (or box) that serves as the actual smoke chamber and a smaller firebox set at a lower level and welded to one side of the smoke chamber. This design keeps the direct heat away from the meat, so the pork, poultry, beef, or fish cook low and slow, bathed in clouds of wood smoke. Look for the heaviest possible metal construction, so the smoker maintains its heat-even in cold weather.

The electric smoker (typified by Cookshack). It looks like a miniature refrigerator with an electric heating element to do the cooking and hardwood pellets to supply the smoke.

The big rig-the sort of smoker towed behind your 4×4 to barbecue competitions. If you own one, you likely know how to use it, and if you’re in the market for one, a good source of information, including where to purchase them, is the National Barbecue News

Getting started:

Once you’ve got your smoker, fire it up following the manufacturer’s instructions. Put the seasoned meat in the smoke chamber and the wood chips or chunks on the coals. Remember to keep the cooking temperature low: 225 to 250 degrees. Use the vents on the firebox door and the chimney or lid to control the temperature. (Open wide to increase the heat; more or less partially closed to lower the heat.) Replenish the coals and wood chips or chunks every hour. It’s that simple.

A few other tips:

• Soak the wood chips or chunks in enough water to cover them for 1 hour before adding them to the fire. This makes the chips smolder rather than burn, maximizing the smoke output.
• Avoid over-smoking: I generally apply smoke the first half of the cooking time and cook without smoke the second half. With larger cuts of meat, like briskets and spare ribs, I like to wrap them in foil the second half of the cooking time.
• Mop the meat with a mop sauce to keep it moist. Foods can get dried out during the 4 to 12 hours you smoke them. An effective way to keep the foods moist is to apply a mop sauce every hour after the first hour. Unlike barbecue sauces, mop sauces tend to be runny and not at all sweet (see recipe below). So why are they called “mop sauces?” You swab them on with a barbecue mop. In the old days, legend has it that pit masters used cotton floor mops (clean, presumably) to keep huge hunks of ‘cue moist.
• I don’t normally smoke chicken (especially beer can chicken) or small turkeys, preferring instead to cook them at a higher temperature using indirect grilling. The reason is simple: the skin crisps at a higher temperature, but becomes leathery at a lower temperature. Smoking large turkeys is a great way to keep them from drying out.
• Use an instant-read meat thermometer to check the cooking progress and doneness. Smoked meats are always cooked to well-done at 190 degrees. The key to tenderness is to achieve this temperature slowly.
• Remember the adage: patience is a virtue. It takes 4 to 5 hours to smoke ribs, 8 to 10 hours to smoke pork shoulders, and 12 to 16 hours to bring full-size briskets to tender, smoky perfection.

TOOLS AND FUELS

While we’re on the subject of smoking, let me tell you about my favorite woods. I used to use a single variety of wood for smoking – oak for beef, for example, or hickory for pork. Then I started hanging around the competition teams at Memphis in May and the Kansas City Royal, and I quickly observed that many of the big winners use blends of woods – maybe hickory for the first hour, then apple or cherry after that.

That’s the inspiration behind my Best of Barbecue Smoking Woods. Each blend is designed for a different kind of meat. The Beef Blend leans to the robust flavors of mesquite and oak, for example, while the Pork Blend favors hickory and apple. The Poultry Blend combines fruitwoods and maple, while the Seafood and Vegetable Blend contains cherry and alder.

Don’t forget the resource that is your own backyard. Check out the information on the Barbecue Board about wood you may find locally that works great for smoking (as well as which trees to steer clear of!)

Some other useful tools:
Barbecue mop and mop bucket: For mopping those slow smoked briskets and ribs. The head detaches for easy cleaning (my wife Barbara’s idea), and the real galvanized steel bucket (with a food safe plastic liner) continues the mop metaphor. Use with the mop sauce below.

Instant-read meat thermometer: Helps you identify exactly when your smoked meats are cooked. Take smoked turkeys and chickens to 170 degrees. Smoke briskets, pork shoulders, and ribs to 190 degrees. And remember, insert the metal probe deep into the meat, but not touching a bone. (The bone conducts heat and will give you a false reading.)

RECIPES

So now that you’re a smoke master, here’s a recipe from my forthcoming rib book to try out.

LONE STAR BEEF RIBS

Serves 6 to 8

For the Lone Star Rub:

2 tablespoons coarse salt (kosher or sea)
2 tablespoons pure chili powder
1 tablespoon cracked black peppercorns
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Coffee Beer Mop Sauce (recipe follows)

2 racks beef long ribs (5 to 6 pounds)

You’ll also need: 3 cups wood chips or chunks (preferably Best of Barbecue Beef Blend), soaked in water to cover for 1 hour, then drained; Best of Barbecue Mop or a basting brush; Best of Barbecue Rib Rack (optional)

Make the rub. Place the salt, chili powder, peppercorns, garlic powder, oregano, cumin, and cayenne in a small bowl and mix with your fingers, breaking up any lumps in the garlic powder. Set aside 2 tablespoons rub for the mop sauce.

Prepare the ribs. Remove the thin, papery membrane from the back of the ribs: Turn a rack meat side down. Insert a sharp implement, such as the tip of a meat thermometer, under the membrane (the best place to start is right next to the first rib bone). Using a dishcloth, paper towel, or pair of pliers to gain a secure grip, pull off the membrane.

Place the ribs on a baking sheet. Season both sides with about 1 tablespoon rub per side, rubbing it into the meat. Cover the ribs and refrigerate while you set up your smoker.

Set up your smoker following the manufacturer’s instructions and preheat to 225 to 250 degrees. Place the ribs in the smoker and toss 1 cup soaked, drained wood chips on the coals. Note: if smoking on a charcoal kettle-style grill, set up for indirect grilling, using half as much charcoal as normal. Arrange the ribs on the grate over the drip pan away from the heat. If space is tight, stand the ribs upright in a rib rack.

Cook the ribs until dark brown and very tender, 4 to 5 hours. When the ribs are cooked, they’ll be tender enough to pull apart with your fingers and the meat will have shrunk back from the ends of the bones by about 1/4 inch. After 1 hour, start mopping the ribs with mop sauce and mop ever hour. Replenish the coals and wood chips every hour. However, after 3 hours, it will not be necessary to add more wood chips.

Transfer the ribs to a large platter or cutting board and let rest for 3 minutes. Cut the rack in half or into individual ribs. Serve with the barbecue sauce of your choice. (Hate to be too much a booster for the home team, but our Best of Barbecue Chipotle Molasses Barbecue Sauce would be great.)

COFFEE BEER MOP SAUCE

Good for mopping any sort of smoked meat.

Makes 2 cups.

1 bottle Lone Star beer or other lager-style beer
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup brewed coffee
2 tablespoons Lone Star Rub (from above)

Place the beer, vinegar, coffee and 2 tablespoons Lone Star Rub in a nonreactive bowl and whisk to mix.

MAIL BAG

“One of your three tenets of barbecue is to keep the grill grate lubricated (well oiled),” writes Wade Spenader from San Jose, California. “But the literature from my new Weber grill says to lube the food, not the grill. Who’s right?”

We both are, Wade. Many grill jockeys like to brush or spray the food with oil right before it goes on the grate. (Among them, Bobby Flay and Bill Counts, the pit master at the Tadich Grill in San Francisco-you can read more on the latter on page 483 in BBQ USA.) I do this for foods that are particularly prone to stick to the grate, like fish.

But I also recommend brushing and oiling the hot grate itself-no matter what you’re grilling. The oil helps prevent sticking and it gives you better grill marks. So, all together now, repeat after me:

Keep it hot. Keep it clean. Keep it lubricated.

MAIL BAG

“Hi Steven,” writes Larry Greenly from Albuquerque, New Mexico. “Love your cookbooks.” Thanks, Larry.
“There’s an argument raging on the Food Lover’s Discussion Group about gas vs. charcoal grilling, which centers around whether the water given off when methane or propane is burned tends to ‘steam’ the underside of the meat (if you briefly hold a plate over a gas flame, you will see water condense at the rate of approx. 1.5 quarts per hour with a 40,000 BTU grill) unlike charcoal that has no water driven off. One side says gas is, in effect, ‘cooler’ than charcoal. What are your thoughts on the subject?”

I do agree that charcoal produces a dryer, hotter heat, and consequently better searing, but it takes a bit more work to cook on a charcoal grill than gas. So unless you master heat control when using live coals, you can quickly lose the charcoal advantage. Of course, when it comes to smoking, charcoal makes it a lot easier.

The new generation of gas “supergrills” like the Weber Summit, Viking, and Barbeques Galore Grand Turbo do get hot enough to sear steaks and chops the way we like them.

Bottom line: get both.

That’s all for now, folks.

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen, Grill Master and Editor-in-Chief
Nancy Loseke, Features Editor

Some Raichlen Family Quickies

UP IN SMOKE
SOME RAICHLEN FAMILY QUICKIES

It’s been a busy summer, and I’ve been on tour for most of it. The bad news is too many airports (Try clearing security with a set of 20 inch tongs and the ultimate grill brush!) The good news is, I’ve had a chance to meet many of you in person at my various grilling demonstrations and book signings. It’s always a pleasure to put a face with the name of someone you read on the Barbecue Board. And if you haven’t yet been on the board, it’s a great way to get answers to your grilling questions and meet some of the other members of our barbecue community.

NEWS AND VIEWS

This month’s lead story was inspired by our own web mistress, Amy Lewis, better known to you as Info@Workman. “How about some recommendations for the working person who needs to cook and eat in a hurry?” asks Amy. We suspect Amy has an ulterior motive here–not only is she a working person, recently back on the job full-time–she’s also a new mom.

Well, take heart Amy, because grilling, by its very nature, is quick and easy (or “fast and furious” as you write in your email). Mrs. R. and I have grilled lots of meals this summer that took less than 30 minutes from start to finish. Here’s some general advice.

1. Cook the whole meal on the grill. This can be as simple as a piece of grilled tuna or swordfish accompanied by grilled garlic bread as an appetizer, grilled corn as a side dish (using the same garlic parsley oil or butter for basting) and melted butter-brushed, cinnamon sugar-dipped peach halves for dessert. (For the recipes, see below.) This keeps the cooking in one place and outdoors, so you minimize your prep time and clean-up. It also keeps you focused, which is the best way to cook quickly and efficiently.

2. Use rubs for seasoning. The basic barbecue rub is equal parts salt, pepper, paprika, and brown sugar. The basic seasoned salt is 2 parts salt and one part each black pepper, oregano, thyme, and garlic powder or flakes. What we do at home is make up double batches of rubs or marinades, so we always have some on hand for impromptu grill sessions (Barbecue Bible Rubs, Sauces, and Marinades is a great source for recipes). And, of course, now you can buy our Best of Barbecue Rubs (All Purpose Barbecue, Java Rub, Island Spice, and Mediterranean Herb) ready-made. Simply sprinkle some on both sides of that chicken breast, pork chop, or salmon steak, and you’ll have electrifying flavors in minutes.

3. Indirect grill. Beer Can Chicken, from my book Beer Can Chicken, takes about 5 minutes to assemble, and you can assemble it while you’re preheating your grill. True, the cooking time is 1-1/4 hours, but once you have your grill lit and chicken on, there’s virtually nothing to do until it’s done. Ditto for Planked Salmon, which only needs 30 or 40 minutes. Use the waiting time to set the table, open the mail, pay bills, or play with your children. (Or conduct some quality control tests on a bottle of wine or beer.)

4. Grill ahead for tomorrow. While you’re direct grilling your New York strip or tuna steak today, also throw on a couple of bell peppers, green or sweet onions, mushrooms, eggplant slices, or even tofu. They’ll keep for several days in the refrigerator and are great served at room temperature as salads (Simply drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice or balsamic vinegar).

5. Keep it simple. Grilling, by its very nature, adds character and flavor to food–especially when you grill over charcoal or hardwood. You don’t need a lot of elaborate sauces or condiments. Often, I use nothing more than a sprinkle of salt (a good coarse sea salt), some freshly-ground black pepper, and maybe a drizzle of olive oil. Regardless of what you put on, whenever you grill, you feast like a king.

Do you have any tips for keeping it quick, simple, and flavorful on the grill? Let us know on the Barbecue Board. Remember, web mistress Amy is counting on you.

GRILLS, GEAR, AND FUELS

Thanks to all of you who visited our newly designed Barbecue Store last month. Your enthusiasm made June our best month ever. You may be curious to know what our top sellers are. Allow me to introduce another member of the Barbecuebible.com team, Jeff Wallace, who runs the Barbecue Store. According to Jeff, our # 1 seller was the Best of Barbecue University DVD, followed by the Ultimate Tongs, the 30 Inch Ultimate Grill Brush (the bad boy I use on the BBQ U TV show), the All-Purpose Barbecue Rub, and the Marinade Turbo Charger.

The Turbo Charger is a cool tool, consisting of a row of slender stainless steel needles mounted in a plunger handle. You use it to make rows of tiny holes in briskets, tri-tips, pork shoulders, and other roasts to speed up the absorption of the rub or marinade. Please note: this is not a meat tenderizer. (I like to let the low, slow heat of true barbecuing do that.) It’s designed to channel the seasonings inside the meat.

Two other hot sellers are the Java Rub and Wine Barrel Staves–thanks to my grill buddy, Howard Stern. Java rub is a bold flavored coffee and cocoa-based barbecue rub, while the wine barrel staves are a grilling and smoking fuel made from aged California red wine barrels. Howard uses them to make Beer Can Chicken.

Do you have any favorite recipes using Java rub? Post them on the Barbecue Board and we’ll send the creator of the best sounding recipe a free can of rub. (Just be sure to post your recipe by September 1, 2005.)

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

“I don’t own a gas grill (and damn proud of it, too),” writes Victor Campos of Northport, NY. (Come on, Victor, don’t be a snob–you can do some pretty awesome grilling on gas grills, too.) “I do own three 22 1/2 inch Weber kettles. Sometimes, when I try to make a tall beer can chicken or turkey, the lid fits too low in relation to the height of the grate. One day I purchased Weber’s rotisserie ring and a new world of possibilities emerged.”

The rotisserie ring, for those of you not familiar with it, is a sort of metal collar that sits atop the bottom bowl of a kettle grill, raising its height by 6 or so inches. Holes in the side accommodate a rotisserie spit and motor.

What’s interesting here is that Victor uses the ring (without the rotisserie attachments) to raise the height of the lid to accommodate tall beer can birds and other large roasts. One fringe benefit is that the ring keeps the metal lid high above the food, allowing for better smoke and heat circulation and more even cooking. Find out more about the Weber 2290 22-1/2-Inch Charcoal Kettle Rotisserie.

RECIPES
Some Raichlen family quickies.

All serve 4.

Grilled Corn

1) Set up your grill for direct grilling and preheat to high.

2) Strip back the husks of 4 ears of corn, leaving them attached to the bottom, tying them at the bottom to form a handle, as pictured on page 362 in How to Grill.

3) Place about 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in a small bowl and add 2 to 3 cloves minced garlic and 1 to 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro or flatleaf parsley (This makes enough oil for both the corn and the garlic bread below.)

4) Brush and oil the grill grate. Lay the corn on the grate (with an aluminum foil shield beneath the husks to keep them from burning). Lightly brush each ear with garlic oil and season generously with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper.

5) Grill the corn until golden brown on all sides, 8 to 12 minutes in all, turning as needed, brushing with additional garlic oil ( You can certainly substitute garlic parsley butter for the corn.) Note: The Best of Barbecue Basting Brush, with its extra wide head and all natural bristles, works great for basting.

Grilled Garlic Bread

1) Using a serrated knife, cut a loaf of French bread sharply on the diagonal into 1/2 inch thick slices. Lightly brush each slice of bread on both sides with the garlic parsley oil.

2) Brush and oil the grill grate. Grill the bread until darkly toasted on both sides, 1 to 3 minutes per side. Don’t take your eyes off the grill—the difference between grilled garlic bread and burnt garlic bread is a matter of seconds.

Grilled Swordfish

1) Rub 1-1/2 pounds thick swordfish steaks on both sides with extra virgin olive oil and season very generously on both sides with your favorite herb rub (I, of course, am partial to our Best of Barbecue Mediterranean Herb Rub, but any herb blend, like French herbes de provence, will do.)

2) Squeeze a little fresh lemon juice over both sides, patting it and the herb rub into the fish with a fork. Set up your grill for direct grilling and preheat to high. Brush and oil the grill grate.

3) Arrange the steaks on the grate and grill until darkly browned on both sides, 4 to 6 minutes per side, turning with tongs. Rotate each steak a quarter turn after 2 minutes to lay on a crosshatch of grill marks (For really pronounced grill marks, grill the fish on our Best of Barbecue Tuscan Grill).

4) Transfer the swordfish to a platter or plates and drizzle with more olive oil, another squeeze of lemon juice, and a spoonful of drained capers or chopped olives.

Grilled Peaches

1) Set up your grill for direct grilling and preheat to high. Cut 4 ripe peaches in half and remove the stone. Cut 1/4 inch off the founded bottom of each peach half.

2) Brush each peach half on all sides with melted butter, then dredge in a bowl of cinnamon sugar (I like to do the brushing and dredging at grill side.)

3) Brush and oil the grill grate. Grill the peaches (starting cut side down) until caramelized and golden brown on both sides, 2 to 4 minutes per side. Serve the hot peaches over cold vanilla ice cream. I wouldn’t say “no” to a shot of peach schnapps on top.

So if you’ve every wondered what your faithful grill master eats at home on a night off, that’s a pretty typical meal, and the best part about it is you’ll have dinner on the table in 30 minutes or so.

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen, Grill Master and Editor-in-Chief
Nancy Loseke, Features Editor

Grill Marks

UP IN SMOKE
GRILL MARKS

It’s been a cold, wet spring here–not that a little rain or snow ever stopped a truly dedicated grill master. But today, the sun is shining and it’s perfect barbecue weather. So all of us at barbecuebible.com bid you welcome to summer and another great season of grilling.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Over the last few months, many of you have asked about my new line of grilling accessories. Well, after what has seemed like an eternity (at least to me), the Steven Raichlen “Best of Barbecue” line is here. Our Ultimate Tongs (the world’s longest). Our Ultimate Chimney Starter (It’s square, so it holds about 25 percent more charcoal). The Ultimate Grill Brush (“monster” grill brush) you watch me use on the Barbecue University TV show. And speaking of BBQ U, our Greatest Hits of BBQ U DVD is finally ready and in the Barbecue Store, with more than 3 hours of grilling tips and techniques.

My partner in this venture is The Companion Group of California. If you already own quality grilling accessories, chances are they were made by Companion. For the Best of Barbecue line, we created many brand-new tools, like our grill hoe (to help you rake out the coals for 3 zone and indirect grilling) and grill rings (for smoke-roasting artichokes, onions, and apples). We also redesigned existing tools, like our fish spatula (now wide enough to lift and turn a whole trout), and a sauce mop with a screw off head to facilitate washing. (The latter was Mrs. R’s idea.)

Also in the line are cool fuels (like wine barrel staves and smoking wood blends) and a new selection of barbecue sauces, rubs, and brines. To read about the items go to the Barbecue Store. You’ll see we’ve completely redesigned the store and we now carry all the Best of Barbecue products.

GRILLS, GEAR, AND FUELS

“Do stainless steel grates give as good grill marks as cast iron?” writes Tom Devane from Downingtown, PA. “Do stainless steel grates need to be really wide to do so, or can they be thin?”

As far as I’m concerned, the best metal for grill grates is cast iron. It readily absorbs the heat and gives you killer grill marks. The next best material is 1/4 inch wide stainless steel rods or bars. Lower down on the pecking order are porcelainized enamel grates and the thin chromed metal grates sold with inexpensive charcoal grills.

But no matter what sort of grill you have, we’ve got something to make it perform better: the Best of Barbecue Tuscan Grill. It’s made of cast iron and modeled on the fireplace grills used by Italian grill masters. (It even comes with screw-on legs for use in the fireplace in the winter.) This time of year, you’ll want to lay the Tuscan grill flat on your conventional grate. Preheat it for 10 minutes-the cast iron bars lay on tack sharp grill marks every time. Remember: when the cowboys branded cattle, they used cast iron branding irons, not porcelainized enamel.

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

A lot of you (somewhere around 68 percent) will be firing up gas grills this season. Our friends from the Propane Safety Council have several valuable safety tips, and I strongly urge you to follow them.

1. When you hook the propane tank up for the first time, check the connections with detection liquid (equal parts dish soap and water). Brush it on the hoses and couplings–if you see bubbles, you’ve got a leak. Call the manufacturer.

2. Always have the lid open when you light the burners. Failure to do so may result in an explosive gas build up.

3. Always hold your hand a few inches over the burner until you feel heat to make sure the burner is really lit.

4. If you smell gas, shut off the propane cylinder immediately.

5. When you’re finished grilling for the day, shut off the valve at the top of the propane tank.

6. Store propane tanks upright and away from heat sources (such as a lit grill).

By the way, I strongly suggest investing in an extra, full tank of propane. Because there’s nothing worse than running out of gas halfway through cooking.

RECIPES

Since we’re so obsessed with grill marks this month, here are some recipes that let you show your stripes.

Pork Porterhouse with Bourbon Brown Sugar Butter

Method: direct grilling
Serves 4

For the Bourbon Brown Sugar Butter:

3 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
Freshly ground black pepper
A few drops of bourbon

For the Pork:

4 pork “porterhouse” steaks or loin chops (each 1 inch thick and 10 to 12 ounces)
4 teaspoons dry mustard powder
Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper
A few tablespoons bourbon

1. Set up your grill for direct grilling and preheat to high. Ideally, you’ll be using a Tuscan grill grate, so you get killer grill marks. Brush and oil the grill grate.

2. Make the Bourbon Brown Sugar Butter. Place the butter, brown sugar, and mustard in a mixing bowl and whisk to mix. Whisk in pepper and a few drops of bourbon. Taste and add another drop or two of bourbon, if needed.

3. Generously season one side of each poterhouse with 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard and salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with a few drops of bourbon, patting the spices and bourbon onto the meat with a fork or your fingertips. Turn the steaks over and repeat on the second side.

4. Grill the chops until cooked through, about 6 minutes per side, rotating them a quarter turn after 3 minutes to lay on a handsome crosshatch of grill marks.

5. Transfer the chops to a platter or plates and top each with a spoonful of bourbon brown sugar butter.

Failproof Barbecue Chicken

Method: direct grilling
Serves 4

4 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts halves (each 6 to 8 ounces)
2 tablespoons of your favorite barbecue rub, like the Cold Mountain Rub in BBQ USA or our new Best of Barbecue All-Purpose Barbecue Rub (available at the Barbecue Store)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
3/4 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce (two good bets are our new Best of Barbecue Chipotle Molasses Barbecue Sauce or Smoky Mustard Barbecue Sauce)

1. Place the chicken breasts in a large baking dish. Sprinkle the rub over the breasts on both sides, patting it into the meat with a fork or your fingertips. Let cure in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, make the basting mixture. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the liquid smoke.

3. Set up your grill for direct grilling and preheat to high. Ideally, you’ll be using a Tuscan grill grate, so you get killer grill marks. Brush and oil the grill grate.

4. Arrange the chicken breasts on the grill, running diagonal to the bars of the grate. Grill until golden brown on the outside and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Rotate each breast a quarter turn after 1 1/2 minutes to lay on a crosshatch of grill marks. After turning the chicken over, baste with the butter mixture and continue basting abot every minute until the breasts are cooked through. Use the poke test to check for doneness-the chicken should feel firm when pressed with your fingertip.

5. Transfer the chicken to a platter or plates. Brush with any remaining smoky butter and serve with the barbecue sauce of choice.

MAIL BAG: YOUR QUESTIONS AND QUERIES

Every once in a while, you get an email that stops you dead in your tracks. Consider the following from Linda Hunt of Rensselaer, New York.

“You may know that some of us barbecue fanatics happen to be blind. Barbecue provides a multi-sensory experience. Some of the tips and tricks I personally use are a talking thermometer and a set of oven gloves that can withstand high temperatures. I also like grilling baskets I can put the food in, then flip the basket when the food needs to be turned. I’m looking forward to spring here in the Northeast, when I can resume outdoor grilling. I bought some cedar planks and am planning to use them to grill salmon. Now, here’s my question: What tips and tricks and accessories would you recommend if you were barbecuing blindfolded?”

Wow. Now that’s what I call a passion for grilling!

My immediate thoughts are to use a gas grill with at least 3 burners. Set one on high, one on medium, and leave one off to give you a hot zone for searing, a medium zone for cooking, and a cool or safety zone where you can move the food if you get flare-ups. (You probably recognize this as a classic three zone fire.) If your burners run left to right, set the left burner on high, center on medium, and leave the right burner off. If your burners run front to back, set the rear burner on high, the center burner on medium, and leave the front burner off.

Of course, indirect grilling requires less precision timing than direct grilling, so it makes a great option for larger cuts of meat, like whole chickens, pork shoulders, and ribs.

Many of the cues we use at Barbecue University are non-visual. The “Mississippi test” to check the heat of a grill, for example. (Hold your hand about 3 inches above the grate and start counting. Over a hot fire, you’ll get to 2 or 3 Mississippi before the intense heat forces you to move your hand. To “5 or 6 Mississippi” over a medium fire. To “12 Mississippi” over a cool fire. Tap the end of your tongs on the grate so you know where and how high to hold your hand.

Then there’s the “poke test”–used to check the doneness of steaks and chops. You poke the meat with your fingertip–if it feels soft and squishy, it’s rare; gently yielding, medium-rare to medium; and firm and springy, well done. Use the end of your tongs to locate the food to check it.

Use the “Charmin” test to check the doneness of barbecued onions and apples. Squeeze the side between your thumb and index finger–if they feel “squeezably soft,” they’re done.

Learn to line up the food on the grill in neat rows, using the front or side of the grill as a guide. That way you’ll know where to find the food for checking. (Even sighted grillers should do this–it looks more professional and helps the food cook more evenly.)

I’d like to throw this challenge out to the other members of our barbecue community. Do you have some thoughts on how you’d grill if you were blind? Please share them with us on the Barbecue Boardand we’ll be sure to pass them on to Linda.

So until then, don’t forget to check out the newly designed barbecuebible.com and Barbecue Store. And of course, happy grilling.

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen, Grill Master and Editor-in-Chief
Nancy Loseke, Features Editor

Fireplace Grilling

UP IN SMOKE
FIREPLACE GRILLINGMany of you have written regarding the whereabouts of the next newsletter. I’m sorry about the delay, but I have a reasonable excuse. I’m on book tour. (This newsletter is being written at 35,000 feet on the way to Dallas.)

For the last few weeks, I’ve been crisscrossing the country on behalf of Raichlen’s Indoor Grilling. So I thought I’d start this newsletter by telling you a little about what it’s like to be an author on book tour.

A good day starts at 5:30 or 6:00 A.M. Quick trip to the gym, then pick up for my first morning TV appearance. While most people are having breakfast, I’m grilling Muffulettas (the indoor grilled version of New Orleans’ famous sandwich, page 317) or “Victory” Chicken (one of the dishes I used to defeat the Iron Chef in Tokyo, page 182). Other typical demo dishes include Chili-Rubbed Shrimp with Avocado Corn Cocktail (page 46) and Grilled Pound Cake with Pineapple Salsa and Tequila Whipped Cream (page 387).

What makes a good television demonstration dish? It should be colorful, fail-proof, easy to grill anytime, day or night, and made with ingredients you can buy anywhere. And it doesn’t hurt if you can cook the dish on the air from start to finish in 3 or 4 minutes.

The next stop on the tour might be a second TV station or an interview on a drive time radio show, followed by lunch or a photo session with a newspaper food editor. If I’m lucky, I get a few hours in the afternoon for lunch, returning phone calls and emails, or I might pay a courtesy call to a book distributor. If I’m not lucky, well, lunch is a bag of airline pretzels. In the evening, I teach a cooking class or do a book-signing. Then I drag myself to the airport, fly to the next city, and do the same the next day.

Book tours simply wouldn’t be possible without a profession you may not even realize exits: the literary escort. It’s not what you think—this sort of escort prepares the food you demonstrate on television, gets you from point A to point B, and generally helps make life on the road bearable.

Actually, touring is amazingly cool and not one of the smallest pleasures is meeting fellow grilling fanatics. Barbecue Board members in Atlanta, Cleveland, and Seattle (to mention just a few places) have shown up at my book signings, and meeting you all makes me feel at home.

I’ll be continuing to tour this spring, and this summer, when we launch the first ever “Tools and Techniques Tour” with the barbecue bus. Stay tuned and check my Tour Dates for the latest schedule.

GRILLS, GEAR, AND FUELS

It’s still winter in many parts of the country and with Raichlen’s Indoor! Grilling on the brain, I’ve been thinking a lot about fireplace grilling. The fireplace is the world’s oldest indoor grill and to my mind, it’s still the best. The reason is simple: it enables you to grill over that most flavorful fuel, wood.

The only piece of equipment you really need for grilling in your fireplace is a Tuscan grill, a heavy metal grate with four legs to hold it up over the embers. Tuscan grills are available through Spitjack.com andSurlatable.com, and in another month or so, I’ll have one I designed available in The Barbecue Store. But it’s easy to jury-rig a fireplace grill. Simply stand two bricks on their sides, facing one another, about 12 inches apart. Position one of the grates from your outdoor grill on top.

If you really get into fireplace grilling, you may want to purchase another amazingly cool piece of equipment, the Spitjack Fireplace Rotisserie. Modeled on a 19th century Italian fireplace rotisserie, the Spitjack comes with either a win- up or electric mechanism to turn the spit and a drip pan to keep your fireplace clean. Simply stand it in front of the fire and you’re ready to roast.

Finally, a word about fuel. Any hardwood log will do the trick-I’m partial to oak, apple, or cherry. The wood should be split, seasoned, and dry (not green). Never use pine or other soft wood in your fireplace. And just to play it safe, if you plan to do a lot of fireplace grilling, have your chimney professionally swept before you start.

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Grilling in a fireplace is quite similar to using a charcoal grill: you cook over glowing embers, not over a raging fire. Build a big fire (8 to 15 logs and kindling) and let it burn down to glowing embers. Shovel these under the grill to do your grilling.

If you have a large or deep fireplace, the best way to work is to build and feed your fire in the back of the fireplace, or on one side, and place your Tuscan grill in the front. I like to add a fresh log every 15 minutes. Use a fireplace shovel or garden hoe to move the coals.

Another great fireplace grilling technique is to roast vegetables in front of the fire. Place a brick 8 to 12 inches away from the embers. Make doughnut-shaped rings from aluminum foil and stand a medium-size onion upright in each on the brick. Roast the onions in front of the fire, giving a quarter turn every 6 to 10 minutes, until the onions are tender. Wear leather gloves and use the longest tongs you can find to turn the onions. The fireplace can get pretty hot.

Finally, another popular fireplace technique is roasting root vegetables, like potatoes or beets, right in the ashes. Rake out a bed of embers large enough to hold the root vegetables and top with a 1/2 inch thick layer of ash. Arrange the vegetables on the ash, topped by more ash and embers. (The ash acts as insulation, keeping the vegetables skins from scorching.) This is a much slower, gentler cooking method: you’ll need 1 to 1-1/2 hours of roasting.

By the way, for some great reading about fireplace grilling, check out The Magic of Fire: Hearth Cooking by William Rubel.

RECIPES

Here are two great recipes for fireplace grills, but don’t worry if you don’t have a fireplace. They’re also terrific cooked outdoors.

Grilled Fillet Mignons with Chipotle Pepper Jack Cheese Butter

Note: Pepper jack cheese (flavored with minced jalapenos) is available at most supermarkets. If unavailable, use regular jack cheese or sharp cheddar. If you can’t find chipotles (smoked jalapenos), a highly tasty version of this dish can be made with minced fresh jalapenos and an optional drop or two of liquid smoke.

Serves 4.

For the butter:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) salted butter, at room temperature
2 ounces pepper jack cheese or plain jack cheese, finely grated (about 1/2 cup)
1 canned chipotle chili, minced
2 tablespoon minced cilantro (optional)

1-1/2 pound fillet mignon steaks, cut about 1-1/4 inches thick
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground or cracked black peppercorns

1) Make the chipotle cheese butter.

2) Place the butter, cheese, chili, and cilantro (if using) in a bowl and stir to mix. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can roll this mixture in a sheet of plastic wrap into a log, freeze it, and cut it crosswise into neat round slices. Alternatively, leave it in a small serving bowl and simply dollop it on top of the steaks.

3) Set up your grill for fireplace grilling. Shovel a bed of hot embers under the gridiron.

4) Just before grilling, brush or rub the fillet mignons with olive oil and season generously on all sides with salt and pepper. Brush and oil the grill grate. Arrange the tenderloins on the grate and grill until cooked to taste, 4 to 6 minutes per side for medium-rare, rotating each a quarter turn after 2 minutes to lay on a handsome crosshatch of grill marks.

5) Transfer the steaks to a platter or plates and let rest for 2 minutes. Top each with a disk or dollop of chipotle cheese butter and serve at once.

Spit-Roasted Chicken with North African Spices

This recipe is easy to make, but it does require at least 6 hours or as long as overnight to marinate the chicken. You can certainly cook it on an outdoor rotisserie.

For the spice paste:

1 small onion, rough chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and rough chopped
a 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and rough chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or flatleaf parsley
3 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 tablespoon coarse salt (kosher or sea)
2 teaspoons cracked black peppercorns
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup olive oil, or as needed
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 3-1/2 to 4 pound chicken

1) Make the spice paste. Place the onion, garlic, ginger, cilantro, paprika, salt, pepper, coriander, cumin, cardamom, and cayenne in a food processor and process until finely chopped. Work in the oil and lemon juice and process to a paste, adding oil as needed to obtain a smooth, spreadable mixture.

2) Remove the package of giblets from the body cavity of the chicken and set aside for another use. Remove and discard the fat just inside the body and neck cavities. Rinse the chicken, inside and out, under cold running water and then drain and blot dry, inside and out, with paper towels.

3) Spoon about 1/4 of the spice in the front and main cavity of the chicken. Place the bird in a large, heavy-duty, re-sealable plastic bag and slather with the remaining spice paste. Squeeze the bag to coat the chicken with spice paste on all sides. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, or as long as overnight.

4) Build a fire in your fireplace and let it burn down partially, so you have a mix of flaming logs and glowing embers. Set up your rotisserie in front of the fire with a drip pan underneath it.

5) Remove the chicken from the spice paste. Truss it with butchers string or bamboo skewers and place it on the turnspit. When ready to cook, attach the turnspit to the rotisserie.

6)Spit roast the chicken until the skin is crisp and a deep golden brown and the meat is cooked through, 1 to 1 1/4. The internal temperature at the thighs will be 170 degrees. Baste it often with the fat in the drip pan. Transfer the bird to a platter and let rest for 5 minutes, then untruss. Quarter or carve the chicken and serve.
MAILBAG: YOUR QUESTIONS AND QUERIES

From Jack Grubbs:

Hello, Steven: I enjoy your books and style of cooking. I’m looking for a grill to cook steaks and fish on over a wood fire for a restaurant. Any ideas?

Hi, Jack: Two grills come to mind: the CB940 charcoal grill from Charbroil and the Bar-B-Chef Texas Charcoal Grill from Barbeques Galore. Both are front loading, which means you add the fuel through a door in the front, not the top. This makes it a snap to toss logs on the fire both before and during grilling. Both also have cast iron grates (a boon for obtaining killer grill marks) and an adjustable fire pan height to control the heat. I like to build a good bed of glowing charcoal embers first to get the logs burning, then add the wood as needed for flavor and smoke.

From Brian Sylvester in Tucson, Arizona:

Dear Steven: Could you please share with me a good citrus marinade that I can use on chicken or beef? I’ve tried a few on the internet and they just don’t work that well. Most recipes say to marinate chicken a few hours. This does not seem to be enough time for the marinade to get into the meat. Is there one out there to marinate the chicken overnight?

Hi, Brian: Check out “The Only Marinade You’ll Ever Need” from my book Barbecue! Bible Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades , which basically consists of equal parts fresh lemon juice (or lime, orange or other citrus juice, or a mixture of citrus juices) and olive oil-plus fresh herbs, spices, and seasonings to taste. (And of course, plenty of garlic.)

Here’s the basic formula:

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
1 teaspoon coarse salt (sea or kosher)
4 strips fresh lemon zest
3 cloves garlic, crushed with the side of a cleaver or minced
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh herbs, such as a mixture of basil and parsley
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir or whisk to mix. Marinate boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1 to 2 hours, chicken pieces 2 to 4 hours, and whole chickens 6 hours to overnight.

You can customize this by changing the fruit or adding a fruit flavored liqueur, such as Cointreau or limoncello (an Italian lemon liqueur). For a Mexican-style marinade, for example, use lime juice instead of lemon, jalapenos instead of hot pepper flakes, and cilantro as your fresh herb.

From Mike Stanley:

Hi, Steven: I’m looking for a good basting brush to apply barbecue sauce with. Most of the ones I have shed soft bristles onto the meat.

Hi, Mike: Two strategies here. Mrs. Raichlen likes me to buy inexpensive natural bristle paint brushes at our local hardware store (you know, the ones that sell for $.79 to $1 apiece). We use them once or twice, then throw them away.

Option 2: Buy a really good natural bristle basting brush with a removable head (for easy cleaning). In the next month or so, I’ll be selling such a brush in The Barbecue Store as part of my Steven Raichlen Best of Barbecue line. But Mrs. R will still likely use the disposable brushes.

That’s all for this issue. If you have more questions, there’s a great place to get them answered: the Barbecue Board.

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen, Grill Master and Editor-in-Chief
Nancy Loseke, Features Editor

Announcing the Winner of the Lip Smackin’ Rib Recipe Contest

UP IN SMOKE
ANNOUNCING THE WINNER OF
THE LIP SMACKIN’ RIB RECIPE CONTEST

We knew you loved ribs. But even in this community of smoke-obsessed barbecue fanatics, we were blown away by the response to the Barbecuebible.com Rib Contest.

More than 1100! of you submitted recipes (1144 to be exact)-and your unabashed passion for bones embraced everything from pork to beef to lamb ribs. Not surprisingly, baby backs were the most popular, but plenty of you came up with killer ways to cook spare ribs, country-style ribs, rib tips, and beef ribs, long and short.

The seasonings were unbelievably varied, ranging from the familiar to the exotic, to the downright bizarre. The short list of flavorings you proposed includes ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise (sometimes all three in a single recipe); blackberry, kiwi, mango, papaya, cherry preserves, cherry extract, and believe it or not, anchovies; coffee, tea, root beer, cola, and, of course, every imaginable type of beer. Some of you marinated your ribs in bourbon, tequila, rum, or Wild turkey; others used coffee, tea, pickle juice, vanilla (both beans and extract), cocoa powder, chocolate, chocolate syrup, coconut milk, coconut extract, and peanut butter. One aromatic recipe called for 20 cloves of garlic; another called for both Pepsi and Hershey’s Syrup. Nurse, an insulin shot, please!

Many of you favored double, triple, or even quadruple layers of flavor, starting with a marinade or rub (or both), followed by a mop, squirt, spray, or basting sauce, followed by a glaze or barbecue sauce applied at the end.

The cooking methods you used were as varied as the flavorings. Some of you cooked the ribs low and slow in a smoker or on the grill using the indirect method and lots of wood smoke. Others grilled them directly over the fire. Many of you boiled the ribs first, or baked them in the oven or even blasted them in the microwave, giving them a quick sizzle over hot coals just before serving. Some of you preferred your ribs with a little chew to them; others so fall-off-the-bone tender, you could eat them without teeth.

Given such incredible creativity, diversity, and inspiration, you can well imagine selecting a winner wasn’t easy. (Actually, it was pleasurable torture, requiring the judicial acumen of King Solomon and a superhuman effort to not overeat). We tested the winning recipes right here in Miami.

Ultimately, we’re all winners, because everyone has access to the winning entries on this web site. Peruse these recipes and you’ll get ideas you’ll want to try for everyday eating, special occasion showmanship, and everything in between.

And now for the winner. Envelope please.

The winner of the 2004 Barbecuebible.com Lip Smackin’ Rib Recipe Contest is:

Grampa’s Stick to Your Ribs BBQ’d Pastrami’d Short Ribs, submitted by Jasmina Shane of Bayside New York.

Jasmina’s ribs were sufficiently out of the box to feature a pastrami rub (flavored with star anise, no less) and beef short ribs, which were slow-smoked over hickory until tender, but not soft. A cider vinegar ginger ale mop kept them moist, and an apple mustard “barbecue sauce” made a unique accompaniment. A+ for originality and fine execution. Jasmina will receive a Weber® Summit® Silver A gas grill for her victory.

I also want to call your attention to our five runners-up, whose recipes were very nearly as original and excellent. For their efforts, they’ll receive an autographed hardcopy edition of How to Grill.

Middle East BBQ Ribs, submitted by Jacob Esho of Des Plaines, Illinois. Elegant in their simplicity, featuring a slab not often used in America, lamb ribs.

Hearty Ribs with Sweet Bourbon Sauce, submitted by Lillian Julow from Gainsville, Florida. Interesting ale marinade and not-too-sweet bourbon barbecue sauce.

Big Bubba B’s Apple Back Ribs, submitted by Hugh Bernstein of Baltimore, Maryland. Richly flavorful and amazingly tender.

Peanutty Baby Pork Ribs, submitted by Renata Stanko of Lebanon, Oregon-one of more than a half dozen entries to use peanut butter.

Weber Woodbridge Workman Wosemary Wibs, submitted by the Barbecue Board’s own Vincent Brown of Canton, Georgia. A brine, rub, wrap, mop and dipping sauce give these ribs great complexity and depth of flavor.

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t hand out a few honorable mentions (which involve not a prize, but the glory of good recipes):

Loanne Chiu of Fort Worth, Texas, for Tea and Whisky Railroad Ribs

Mary Shivers of Ada, Oklahoma, for Orange Sesame! Baby Back Ribs

Diane Nemitz of Ludington, Michigan, for North Coast Rib Roast, flavored with Michigan cherry concentrate.

Diane Halferty of Corpus Christi, Texas, for Backwoods Bayou Blackberry BBQ-featuring a sauce made with fresh blackberries

Bill Knutson of San Francisco, California, for Baby Back Ribs with Lemongrass Mead Sauce

News and Views

“Indoors-it’s the new outdoors!” With this battle cry, Workman Publishing proudly announces the publication of Steven’s new book, Raichlen’s Indoor Grilling. Two years in the research and writing, the book covers every sort of indoor grilling system, from the fireplace and built-in grills to grill pans and contact grills, like the George Foreman.

Barbecuebible.com’s Info@Workman, aka Amy Lewis, caught up with Steven in Miami to interview him about the new book.

AL: Most people associate you with barbecuing and grilling outdoors. What prompted you to write an indoor grill book?

SR: The short answer is Workman Publishing in New York City. There are literally tens of millions of people who live in apartments or condos in major urban areas. Condo regulations, local fire codes, or simple lack of space prevent them from grilling outdoors. I wanted to write a book that would help apartment dwellers bring those explosive flavors from the outdoors, indoors.

AL: Where does indoor grilling fit in the history of barbecue?

SR: With contact grills and countertop rotisseries, indoor grilling might seem of recent coinage, but in fact, it belongs to a venerable tradition that began with our cave-dwelling forebears. The ancient Romans cooked on indoor hearths, which they called foci. These were so central to human happiness, they gave us our modern words “focus” and “foccacia.” Even for much of American history, most cooking was done in the fireplace.

AL: So how do grilling outdoors and indoors differ?

SR: Outdoor grilling always uses live fire. In general, the cooking temperatures are higher and it’s easy to flavor your food with wood smoke. Some indoor grilling methods, like fireplace grilling or built-in gas grills, use live fire. Others use heated grill grates or plates or electric heating elements to achieve a similar effect.

AL: What sort of grills do you cover?

SR: Every available indoor grill. The short list includes Tuscan and fireplace grills, built-in (range top) grills, grill pans, free-standing grills, contact grills, countertop rotisseries, and stovetop smokers.

AL: Is it hard bringing those “outdoor” flavors indoors?

SR: It depends on the grill. Fireplace grilling is virtually the same as grilling over wood in an outdoor grill. A built-in grill works quite similar to a gas grill. On the other hand, it’s more challenging to indirect grill or smoke foods indoors. In some recipes, I “indirect grill” pork shoulders and ribs in a countertop rotisserie. In others, I’ve created smoke-flavored bastes and marinades to achieve the smoky taste of true ‘que.

AL: Is there anything you can’t do on an indoor grill?

SR: Well, I’ve never barbecued a whole pig indoors. But the book features several spit-and smoke-roasted pork shoulders; smoky baby back ribs, a magnificent spit-roasted rib roast and even a whole Moroccan spiced leg of lamb you roast in the fireplace. And thanks to the advent of indoor smokers, like the Camerons Stovetop Smoker cooker, you can smoke salmon, ribs, briskets, turkeys, and even beer can chickens, indoors.

AL: Is there anything you can grill indoors that you can’t do outdoors?

SR: This is the first book in which I’ve focus

BBQ U

UP IN SMOKE
BBQ U

Lights! Camera! Action! As the morning mist rose over the Old White Golf Course at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia a few weeks ago, early-risers experienced a curious sight. A full outdoor TV studio, complete with klieg lights, a boom camera, and a giant light screen appeared out of nowhere one morning–the set for the taping of Year 3 of BBQ University for PBS.

Which explains why this newsletter is so late–I’ve been completely and totally swamped. Please accept my apologies and thanks for your patience and interest.

So what’s it take to produce a TV show like BBQ University? An unbelievable amount of work on the part of a small army of dedicated people.

The culinary side is headed up by Greenbrier Cooking School Director Eve Cohen and a hard-working staff of four. Each recipe (we did more than 50 during the 6 day shoot) required a complete mise en place (set up-meats prepped and rub and sauce ingredients measured out into glass bowls)-often with a full back-up. Direct grilled dishes, like salmon rosemary kebabs and drunken steaks, were generally cooked right on camera. In the course of the shoot we used:

311 lbs of meat
3 gallons of extra virgin olive oil
200 lbs of charcoal
1 cord of wood

But true barbecue, like the Smoke-la-homa brisket or the brined smoked turkey, actually requires 3 batches-a raw one to show the starting point; a partially cooked dish to give you an idea of what it should look like half way through the cooking process, and a finished dish or “hero” to show the final result. Multiply this by the 7 to 8 dishes we taped each day and you begin to get an idea of the unbelievable amount of work involved in the food prep.

The production side of the shoot was no less daunting. Producer Charlie Pinsky presides over a crew of 10–4 videographers, a lighting guy, a stage manager, and 2 control room operators. Grilling may be simple, but to capture the magic of live fire, we used 4 different cameras-a tripod camera for me to talk to, another for close-ups, a boom camera that gives you those cool moving overhead shots (try talking to that camera while you’re cooking), and the infamous grill cam, which gives you those fantastic “charcoals’ eye” views of the food sizzling away on the grill grate.

Personal note here: It turns out I went to Sudbrook Junior High School in Baltimore, Maryland, with one of the videographers, Marlene Rodman. Any other Sudbrook Jr. High Schoolers out there?

On any given day, we had more than a dozen different grills fired up and smoking away on the set. As we taped, we rotated between charcoal and gas grills and smokers, from the tiny “Que” (Weber’s new portable gas grill) to the mighty Ranch grill we used for smoking whole salmons and 4 dozen bratwurst.

Of course, on the production side of things, the hard part is just beginning. During our week of taping, we shot 265 videotapes-25 tapes for each show! These will be edited down to thirteen 26-minutes shows-a painstaking process that takes 2 to 3 weeks per show. Sound and music have to be edited in and of course, we have to add the cool graphics, like the flaming BBQ U that separates segments.

Barbecue University 3 starts airing on PBS in April or May. I hope it’s in your area (we’re in 90 percent of the PBS markets), but if for some reason we’re not, please write your PBS station and tell them you’d like to see it.

Note: the “textbook” for the new series is BBQ USA. But to keep everyone on his toes, we’ve included some brand new recipes. You’ll find two of those in the Recipe section below.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Speaking of BBQ U–we’ve just set the dates for the 2005 sessions of Barbecue University at the Greenbrier:

May 3-6
May 12-15
June 12-15
September 4-7

A lot of you couldn’t get past the waiting list this year, so we’ve added some extra seats and extra classes. Sign up early to insure a spot, click here for more information.

GRILLS, GEAR, AND FUELS

“Keep it hot. Keep it clean. Keep it lubricated.” These, of course, are Raichlen’s Rules of Great Grilling, and if you start with a hot grill, scrub it conscientiously with a grill brush, and oil it with a folded paper towel dipped in vegetable oil, your food will never stick to the grate. (You’ll also get killer grill marks.)

To judge from sales at our Barbecue Store, a lot of you are taking my advice to heart. The oversized “Monster” Grill Brush I use on BBQ U TV show was our best seller last month. Thanks to all you grill fanatics who have tried it out, and we still have plenty in stock for anyone who needs one. This is simply the biggest, baddest, toughest grill brush on the market. I’m glad you like it.

Check out the monster grill brush and more at the store.

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

“I need your help, please!” writes Brian Van Deusen from New Market, Maryland. “Should a marinade that I also want to use as a table sauce be boiled? How would boiling alter or affect it?”

When reusing a marinade that contained raw meat–either for basting, or serving–you must bring it to a roiling boil for at least 3 minutes to sterilize it. Another and better option is to set aside a portion of the freshly made marinade (before you put meat in it) and use this portion as your sauce. The portion you set aside does not need to be boiled.

Besides this sterilizing effect, boiling the marinade serves several other purposes. It helps blend flavors; mellows the pungency of onion and garlic; blunts the sharpness of acids, like lime juice or vinegar; and can serve to emulsify marinades that contain oil or melted butter.

One the other hand, boiling can destroy the spontaneity of some marinades that contain fresh herbs or diced fresh tomatoes.

Brian goes on to ask about the purpose of boiling barbecue sauces.

Again, it helps blend the various flavors into a harmonious whole, cuts the sharpness of acids, like tomato sauce and vinegar, and concentrates flavors by removing the water. It also sterilizes the sauce for prolonged storage-but you must pack the sauce into a sterile jar to achieve this effect. To sterilize a jar, boil it and the lid in a large pot with water to cover for at least 10 minutes.

Is there ever an instance when you don’t want to boil a sauce or marinade?

Yes. When you boil a marinade, you have to let it cool to room temperature before adding the food-a process that takes time and trouble. If you’re not planning to use part of the marinade as a sauce afterwards, in most instances, boiling is not necessary.

With delicate sauces, like sauce vierge (“virgin sauce,” an uncooked tomato sauce from France-see below), boiling would upset the delicate balance of flavors.

RECIPES

Lemon Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce

Makes 3 cups.

2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (the oil rich outer rind)
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or to taste
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 (one and one half) teaspoons liquid smoke
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and whisk to mix. Gradually bring the sauce to a simmer over medium heat and simmer until thick and flavorful, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl or clean jars and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until serving.

Cinnamon Grilled Plums with Port Sauce

Adapted from Raichlen’s Indoor Grilling
Serves 4

For the red wine sauce:

1 cup red wine from Washington State (pinot noir or merlot)
2 strips lemon zest
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
3 tablespoons sugar (or to tast)
1-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

4 large ripe plums
8 cinnamon sticks
8 strips lemon zest

Vanilla ice cream or yogurt
4 sprigs fresh mint

4 large chilled martini or wine glasses

Make the wine sauce. Place the wine in a heavy saucepan. Stick the cloves in the strips of lemon zest and add them to the port with the cinnamon stick and sugar. Gradually bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Boil the mixture until slightly reduced and just beginning to be syrupy-3 to 5 minutes. Dissolve the cornstarch in the lemon juice and gradually stir it into the port mixture. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes-the sauce will thicken. Strain the sauce into a heatproof bowl and let cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, cut each plum in half to the stone through the crease. Twist the plum halves in opposite directions to separate. Pry out the seeds and discard. Cut each plum half in half again. Using a metal skewer, make a starter hole in the center of each plum quarter (from outside to pit side). Skewer two plum quarters on each cinnamon stick, skin side to cut side, placing a strip of lemon zest between each. The recipe can be prepared several hours ahead to this stage.

Preheat the grill to high. Lightly oil the grill grate. Arrange the plum kebabs on the grate. Grill until the plums are sizzling and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes per side, lightly basting with some of the wine sauce.

Meanwhile, scoop vanilla ice cream into the martini glasses or wine goblets. Place 2 plum kebabs on top and spoon any remaining wine sauce over them. Garnish with mint sprigs and serve at once.

Virgin Sauce (Fresh Tomato Sauce)

from Raichlen’s Indoor Grilling
Makes about 1 cup.

The French call this redolent garlic-basil-tomato condiment sauce vierge (literally “virgin” sauce)–perhaps for the reason that it’s never been cooked. It lives or dies by the quality of the ingredients: verdant leaf basil (fresh, of course); tomatoes so luscious and ripe, they go splat if you drop them; and olive oil of noticeably green color and fragrance and flavor, you can only describe it as fruity.

1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 large ripe, red tomato (6 to 8 ounces), seeded and cut into 1/4 inch dice
12 nicoise olives or 6 pitted black olives cut into 1/4 inch dice (not strictly traditional, but a nice touch)
8 fresh basil leaves, thinly slivered
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
freshly ground black pepper

Place the garlic and salt in the bottom of a bowl and mash to a paste with the back of a spoon. Add the basil, oil, vinegar, and pepper and stir to mix. Add salt and vinegar to taste: the sauce should be highly seasoned.

MAILBAG: YOUR QUESTIONS AND QUERIES

A lot of you have asked me a question posed by reader Paul Haddad: When do I cook with the grill lid opened versus closed.

When indirect grilling or smoking, you always leave the lid closed.

For direct grilling, follow Raichlen’s Rule of Palm:

When grilling any food thinner than the palm of your hand (viewed from the side), such as sates, pizzas, chicken breasts, thin fish fillets, shrimp, asparagus, corn, peach quarters, etc., leave the grill lid open. Ditto for highly flammable foods, like garlic bread. These foods grill quickly and need constant monitoring, so leave the grill lid open.

When grilling foods substantially thicker than the palm of your hand, like porterhouse or T bone steaks, tuna steaks, chicken pieces or quarters, large shish kebabs, etc., close the grill lid. This speeds up the cooking process.

One further question from Paul:

When you say to preheat to high with no further instructions on temperature, does that mean keep it on high?

Yes it does.

Tammy wrote in with a question several of you have asked: Could you please tell me what sweet paprika is and where I can find it?

Sweet paprika is your basic paprika-the stuff sold as paprika on your supermarket or gourmet shop spice shelf. It’s called “sweet” to distinguish it from “hot” paprika-which has more of a bite. So the bottle can be labeled “sweet paprika” or simply “paprika”-the stuff is the same. By the way, the best paprika comes from Hungary and Spain. There are also a wide variety of smoked paprikas from Spain, which are wonderful for seasoning barbecue. One good brand is La Chineta, which can be ordered on line from Tienda.com (www.tienda.com).

Finally, a query from Arthur from Hampton Bay, New York. When using a smoker, do you use charcoal or logs as a heat source? I have been told never cook with logs-even aged hardwood-because they produce too much smoke and creosote that will overpower the meat. Only cook with charcoal or logs you have burned to coals in another fireplace then shoveled into the pit. Do you agree with this or do you use whole logs?

Wow! A simple question with a complicated answer. In my smokers, I personally use lump charcoal for heat source and soaked wood chunks (oak or hickory) for smoke. This is the model followed by a lot of professional pit masters at the big barbecue competitions.

Some people (like half the pit masters in Texas) cook exclusively over logs, but they tend to be working in an open pit. In North Carolina, many pit masters burn the wood in a separate fire pit and shovel the glowing embers under the meat in the cooking pit.

We’re talking about smoking here. When direct grilling, you can cook over a pure wood chunk or log fire. Just let the wood burn down to glowing embers. This is how they grill in Argentina and Tuscany and the results are fantastic. As you might imagine, this works great in a fireplace.

Well, folks, that’s about it for this issue. Again, thanks for your patience–and interest–and as always, happy grilling!

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen, Grill Master and Editor-in-Chief
Nancy Loseke, Features Editor

Planked Fish Techniques

UP IN SMOKE
PLANKED FISH TECHNIQUES

Summer is here, and the living is easy . . .

That’s how the song goes at least, but for many folks, summertime means burnt chickens, tough steaks, and fish that sticks to the grill grate.

You already know how to fix the first problem. (Beer can chicken, anyone?) I’ll address grilling the perfect steak in a future issue. So let’s focus on one of the easiest, most fail proof, delicious, and downright novel ways to grill fish: on a cedar plank.

The procedure is fantastic for at least four reasons. The hot wet cedar perfumes the fish with an amazing wood flavor. Indirect grilling spares you having to turn the delicate fish fillet, which is always a challenge on the grill. And because you’re grilling on a board, you never have to worry about the fish sticking to the grill grate. Best of all the novel presentation has maximum wow power: eyes truly pop and jaws drop when you present your beautiful fish.

You may be familiar with two planked salmon recipes already: the mustard and brown sugar planked salmon in my Beer-Can Chicken book (pages 223-224) and the lemon dill glazed planked salmon in BBQ USA (pages 456-457). (Or if you tuned into the “Today Show” on July 5th, you may have watched me demonstrate planked salmon.)

But that’s just a start. Check the recipe section below for three more planked seafood ideas.

So where do you get those cedar grilling planks? Check out the “Gear” section in our new BBQ Store!

NEWS & VIEWS

And the news is . . . charcoal is back. Recent interviews with executives from the Chlorox Company (makers of Kingsford Charcoal) and the Weber Stephens and Viking grill companies have confirmed what I’ve been observing as I travel across the U.S. with the Barbecue Bus: More and more Americans are rediscovering the primal pleasure of grilling over charcoal.

Charcoal grills have at least three advantages over gas grills:

• they burn hotter
• they work better for smoking
• food cooked on a charcoal grill has a fantastic flavor

Besides, it’s just plain fun to build and play with fire. So even if you’re a diehard gas griller or you own a $5000 gas supergrill, I recommend investing in an inexpensive charcoal grill for smoking.

GRILLS, GEAR, AND FUELS

So what kind of charcoal grill should you get?

Well, it’s hard to beat the foolproof simplicity of the basic kettle grill. The ash catcher, side baskets, and built in thermometer of the Weber One Touch Grill make it the perfect charcoal grill for beginners. Whichever charcoal grill you purchase, just make sure there’s enough room under the lid for a beer can chicken. (In terms of kettle grills, you need one that’s at least 22-1/2 inches across.)

If I could only use one grill for the rest of my life, it would be the Weber Performer, a 22-1/2 inch kettle grill with a propane ignition system set in a stainless steel cart. Light your charcoal with the push of a button (and without petroleum based lighter fluid). The metal cart gives you plenty of work space–always in short supply when grilling.

When it comes to the ultimate charcoal grilling experience, it’s hard to beat the Weber Ranch Grill. Described as a kettle grill on steroids, the Ranch measures 36 inches across (1004 square inches of cooking surface), with a massive, 1/4 inch thick, nickel-plated grill grate. We carry one of these bad boys on the BBQ Bus and it’s large enough to grill 3 briskets, 6 pork shoulders, 8 beer can chickens, or 100 bratwurst at one time.

What about folks with small balconies or terraces? For those who think small is beautiful (a group that includes most of the grill masters in Japan), there’s no better grill than a hibachi. The best one I’ve seen in a long time is made right here in America by the Lodge Manufacturing Co. The 410 Hibachi Iron Sportsman Grill has an adjustable cast iron grate and a nifty coal chute for adding fresh charcoal. Use it for grilling your dinner, or for keeping the food warm on the table.

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Planked salmon originated in the Pacific-Northwest, where an abundance of great salmon and cedar and alder trees made its invention almost inevitable. The singular preparation may have been inspired by the traditional salmon “bakes” of the Northwest Indians, who would roast whole fish on cedar stakes in front of a giant bonfire.

To make planked salmon, you simply lay a salmon fillet on a 6 by 12 inch cedar board that’s been soaked for an hour or so in cold water. (You can also do this on alder or oak planks.) Note: you must use untreated lumber. Set up your grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium-high (about 400 degrees). Place the board with the fish on the grill away from the heat and indirect grill until the fish is cooked, 20 to 30 minutes. I’’s that simple.

RECIPES

OK, so you have your cedar plank. You have your grill. And you have your technique. Here are three quick recipes to put it all together.

Planked trout: Place a whole trout on a cedar plank. Place some capers and lemon slices in the cavity. Generously season the fish inside and out with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Lay strips on smoky bacon on top of and beneath the fish. Indirect grill for 20 to 30 minutes.

Planked scallops: Arrange a dozen or so giant fresh plump sea scallops on the plank. Generously season on both sides with salt and pepper. Place a dollop of garlic parsley butter on top and squeeze a little lemon juice over each. Indirect grill for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the butter is melted and the scallops are just cooked.

Planked bluefish: When bluefish is fresh, there’s no better fish on the planet. Make a simple glaze with 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/3 cup Dijon mustard, and any chopped herb you fancy. (A few drops of lemon juice don’t hurt either.) Arrange a generously salted and peppered bluefish fillet on the soaked cedar plank and spread the glaze on top. Indirect grill over medium-high heat until the glaze is golden brown and the fish is cooked through, 20 to 30 minutes. (To test it, insert a metal skewer in the side and leave it in for 15 seconds—the skewer should come out very hot to the touch.)

Do you have a favorite way of grilling on a wood plank. Let us know on the BBQ Board.

MAILBAG: YOUR QUERIES AND QUESTIONS

This is a long newsletter issue, so we only have space for a few questions. If you have a question, by the way, visit the BBQ Board for an immediate response. We have terrific deputies who can answer most questions and the dialogue on the board is truly stimulating. Finally, when asking a question, please tell us where you’re from.

“First, I love The Barbecue Bible,” writes Alice Hoodenpyle. (Thanks, Alice!) “I am brand new to this style of cooking, so my question is: Do you use a rub & also baste with a sauce? Or do you just marinate or only use a rub?”

Great question, Alice. Rubs and marinades go on before you cook. Bastes go on while you’re grilling. You can certainly use both techniques to create multiple layers of flavor.
By the way, I tend to use rubs with fatty foods, like ribs and briskets, and marinades with leaner foods, like tuna and chicken breasts.

“I got The Barbecue Bible as a wedding present five years ago and have cooked out of it at least once a week ever since,” writes Aaron Dees of Westminster, Colorado. “I wanted to share with you a little idea I had on soaking wood chips for the grill. I am terrible about remembering to soak my chips, so I usually just skip it. One evening I decided to try microwaving the chips. I took a handful of chips and placed them in a microwave safe bowl; I then added enough hot water to cover the chips and nuked ’em for about a minute. When I placed them on my charcoal, they smoked up as though I had soaked them for hours. These turbo-charged chips gave me great wood to smoke with in less than five minutes! Feel free to try it out and share with other grill jockeys.”

Thanks, Aaron. I LOVE this tip. Folks out there–let us know how it works!

That’s all for now folks. (Way more than I intended to write, but once I get started on BBQ, nothing can stop me.)

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen, Grill Master and Editor-in-Chief
Nancy Loseke, Features Editor

Japanese Grilling

UP IN SMOKE
JAPANESE GRILLINGSpring is in the air and grills are coming out of the garage (in the unlikely event you actually stop grilling during the winter). That means it’s time to crank up the BBQ USA bus and hit the road. You’ll find my latest tour schedule at Steven’s Event Schedule on the home page. Please come out and say hello if you have a chance.

If you can’t make one of the events, then try to catch the new season of BBQ University, coming to a public television station near you soon. All of the information about when and where is in the event schedule link above.

So forgive the brevity of this month’s newsletter, because I have to get packed and on the road again! I hope to see you on my travels.

NEWS & VIEWS

The big news this month is that my book has just been translated into Japanese! So my family and I boarded a plane for Tokyo, to bring the gospel of American grilling to Japanese television. It was an amazing week filled with new friends, new flavors, new challenges, and above all the realization that everyone–East and West–loves barbecue.

Of course, we did some major barbecue eating on our own and had some pretty remarkable grilling at yakitori parlors and robatayaki restaurants in Japan. Yakitori literally means “grilled chicken.” Yakitori bars tend to be small, casual, boisterous establishments where you can get every part of the bird grilled–wing, breast, leg, skin, gizzard, hearts, even cartilage. The seasonings are pretty simple: coarse sea salt or a basting of a sweet salty soy and mirin based barbecue sauce called tare. You wash it down with plenty of sake or beer and everyone has a grand time.

Robatayaki restaurants specialize in all manner of grilled fare–from asparagus to king crab to kobe beef to whole fish to ginko nuts. Ro means “hearth” and yaki means “grilled.” These restaurants are very theatrical–the cooks and waiters shout out every order and detail of the cooking. Two great addresses for robatayaki or Inakaya in Tokyo and Agatha in Kyoto. Below you’ll find two of my favorite Japanese barbecue recipes.

GRILLS, GEAR, AND FUELS

The Japanese are very particular about their charcoal. The most prized is a hard oak charcoal called bincho. I bought some at a shop in the Ginza area and actually paid $3 a chunk. The stuff burns very hot and very clean–it’s the Rolls Royce of charcoal. We’re looking into finding a source in the U.S., so stay tuned.

Speaking of charcoal, web site visitors John and Mary Hook inquired about lump charcoal versus briquettes–and in particular, does one burn faster than the other. It’s true: natural lump charcoal burns faster than briquettes–how much faster depends on many factors, including the brand, manufacturing process, and wood from which it’s made.

Lighting time in a chimney starter will be about 15 to 20 minutes, but this may be quicker if the lump charcoal is light and dry. Once spread out, you’ll get about 20 to 30 minutes of grilling time–as opposed to the 40 to 60 minutes with charcoal briquettes. By the way, the beauty of lump charcoal is that you can add fresh charcoal to a fire as needed without the acrid smoke associated with briquettes.

So where do you buy lump charcoal? Try your local grill shop or natural foods supermarket. Two good brands are Royal Oak and Natures Own.

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

A lot of you have been asking about wood and smoking. Wood comes in two forms for smoking: chips and chunks. For a light wood flavor, simply toss unsoaked chips or chunks on the coals (when you’re direct grilling). For a more pronounced smoke flavor, soak the chips or chunks in water (or a mixture of water and beer) for an hour, then drain them before adding them to the fire. The soaking causes the wood to smolder rather than burst into flames, so it generates more smoke.

If you’re cooking on gas, you can get the same effect with a smoking pouch. Just soak your chips as described above, create a pouch of heavy-duty aluminum foil, fold it over the chips and form a pouch. Poke a few holes in the top to let the smoke escape, and place under the grate over one of the burners. Preheat on high until you see the smoke rising, then lower the temperature (if you need to) and proceed with the recipe.

However, let me say, that even the worst charcoal grill generally does a better job of smoking than the best gas grill. If you’re at all serious about smoking–even if you’re a diehard gas griller–invest in an inexpensive charcoal grill for smoking.

By varying the wood, you can subtly vary the flavor of the food. Like the various spices, certain woods are better suited to some meats than others. Heavy woods, such as mesquite and pecan, have a stronger smoke flavor than fruit woods, like apple and cherry. The best all-purpose woods for smoking are hickory, oak, cherry, and apple.

Never attempt to smoke with softwoods, which put out an unpleasant sooty smoke, or pressure-treated lumber, which contains noxious chemicals.

What are your favorite wood/food pairings? Visit the BBQ Board and tell us what you think.

RECIPES

While we were in Japan, we had some terrific grilled vegetables. Here’s how they make grilled asparagus at the restaurant Inakaya.

Sesame Grilled Asparagus

This recipe contains only 4 ingredients (two of them are salt and pepper), but you’ll be amazed how they’re utterly transformed by the searing heat of the grill. This may well be the best asparagus I’ve ever tasted.

Serves 4.

1 pound asparagus (the stalks shouldn’t be too thin)
1 to 2 tablespoon Asian (dark) sesame oil
coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper

Special equipment: large toothpicks or slender bamboo skewers

Set up your grill for direct grilling and preheat to high.

Snap the fibrous ends off the asparagus stalks and discard. Lay 3 or 4 stalks side by side to form a sort of raft and skewer crosswise in 2 places with toothpicks or bamboo skewers. This makes it easier to turn the grilled asparagus and it looks cool as all get out. Lightly brush each raft on both sides with sesame oil and season generously with salt and pepper.

Place the asparagus rafts on the grate and grill until nicely browned on both sides, 2 to 4 minutes per side. Serve at once–reminding each eater to remove the skewer.

Chicken and Scallion Yakitori

A classic at the thousands of yakitori parlors found under and near train stations in Tokyo, Note: like most of the world’s barbecue buffs, the Japanese prefer grilled dark meat chicken to white.

Serves 6 to 8 as an appetizer; 4 as a main course

1-1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts
1 bunch scallions, trimmed

For the sauce:

1 cup soy sauce (one good brand Kikomann)
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
3 tablespoons sake (Japanese rice wine
2 strips lemon zest (1/2 by 2 inches )

Special equipment: slender bamboo skewers (each about 6 inches long); a piece of aluminum foil folded several times into a rectangle the size of a business letter envelope to make a foil shield.

Cut the chicken across the grain into 1-1/2 by 1/2 by 1/2 inch strips. Cut the scallions into 1-1/2 inch pieces. Make tiny kebabs, alternating chicken and scallion pieces. Refrigerate until grilling.

Prepare the yakitori sauce. Place the soy sauce, sugar, mirin, sake, and lemon zest in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer the sauce until thick and syrupy, 5 to 8 minutes, stirring often to prevent scorching. Strain the sauce into a bowl and cool to room temperature. The recipe can be prepared ahead to this stage.

3. Set up your grill or hibachi for direct grilling and preheat to high. Brush and oil the grill grate. Place the foil shield on the grill at the front. Arrange the yakitori on the grill so that the exposed parts of the skewers are on the foil to keep them from burning. Grill the yakitori until the chicken is cooked, 3 to 4 minutes per side, basting with the sauce after a minute or so on each side. Alternatively, have the sauce in a shallow dish. When partially cooked, dip the yakitoris in the sauce and continue grilling. The sauce should cook to a shiny glaze. Serve at once.

MAILBAG: YOUR QUERIES AND QUESTIONS

“This weekend we’re planning on having a few couples over and I have to cook for 6 to 8 people,” writes Michael Schaefer. “If I make burgers, dogs, and chicken pieces, I know I’m in safe territory. My question is, how would you suggest I prepare if I decide to go with ribs? I can only fit so many racks of ribs on my grill. Could I bake the ribs in the oven the night before and then just finish them on the grill with a little hickory smoke? Or grill them 2 racks at a time and keep them warm in the oven? Or is it simply not practical to make ribs for 8 with my setup?”

It’s eminently possible, Mike, and you don’t need to resort to baking the ribs in the oven. Simply invest in a rib rack–a nifty device that enables you to cook 4 racks of ribs in a vertical position, taking up about the same amount of space that one rack would take lying down. You can cook the ribs ahead. Simply direct grill them to reheat–brushed with a little barbecue sauce if you desire.

“Your books and web site have helped me tremendously,” writes Joe Knittel. “I have wrecked a lot of food in the past. Anyway here is my question: what is a non-reactive bowl or saucepan and why should I use one?”

A non-reactive bowl or saucepan is one made from stainless steel, anodized aluminum, glass, or porcelain. These materials remain inert when exposed to acids, like lemon juice, wine, or yogurt. In contrast to these materials, cast iron and aluminum tend to react when exposed to acidic foods and should be avoided for many recipes.

David has a question about the chicken under a brick in How to Grill and on the Barbecue University TV show. “After you flip the chicken, you put the brick back on. Doesn’t this risk cross-contamination since the brick had been resting on raw chicken and then placed on the cooked side of the chicken?”

The brick gets hot enough (thanks to contact with cooked side) to kill any bacteria. (I worried about that myself at first.) I’ve made the recipe hundreds of times and never had a problem.

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen, Grill Master and Editor-in-Chief
Nancy Loseke, Features Editor

The Rite of Spring

UP IN SMOKE
THE RITE OF SPRINGWhen the composer, Igor Stravinsky, unveiled the Rite of Spring in Paris in 1913, it sparked a revolution. As this very cold long winter comes to an end (it’s even been colder than normal down here in Miami), I’ve been thinking about the barbecue rites of spring.

The first, for those of our Frost Belt brethren who put their grills in hibernation over the winter, is to haul your grill out of of the garage and get it ready for a new season. (That’s assuming you’re not one of the growing legions of “Winter Warriors,” who grill all year long.)

If you have a charcoal grill, first scrape any caked-on debris out of the firebox with a small garden shovel. (You should have done this at the end of the summer, but do it now if you didn’t.) Oil the vent covers so they open and close freely. If the grate is rusted, build a hot fire under it, then scrape it well with a wire grill brush. (This is a lot easier and faster than trying to remove the rust from a cold grate with steel wool.) Dip a tightly folded paper towel in oil and rub it across the bars of the hot grate to season it. Repeat as needed. That’s all there is to it.

For a gas grill, first, remove any spider webs or other unexpected creatures or debris from the burners and manifolds. Check the tiny holes in the gas tubes-if any are blocked, open with a straight pin. Hook up the gas tank and make sure there are no leaks. To do so, make a half and half mixture of dish soap and water. Brush it on the hoses and connections: giant bubbles will form if there are any gas leaks. Check the igniters-if they fail to spark, replace the batteries. Then clean and oil the grates as described above.

GRILLS, GEAR, AND FUELS

“I am about to purchase a new grill and I want to get exactly what you use on your BBQ University TV show,” writes Aaron. “What brands do you recommend?

Good question, Aaron. I have a policy of not recommending specific grill models, but I can tell you about some of the grills we use BBQ U. The gas grill on the show is a 6 burner Weber Summit; the charcoal grill is a Weber Performer. The giant charcoal grill I use for cooking whole salmons and small whole hogs is the Weber Ranch grill (it looks like a kettle grill on steroids). The smoker is a Brinkmann; the ceramic Kamado-style cooker is a Big Green Egg; the hibachi is a Lodge.

Of course, at the actual BBQ University school at the Greenbrier, we have more than 30 different grills, ranging from a Tuscan grill in a fireplace to a super hot-burning infrared TEC grill to a trailer towed smoker large enough to accommodate several whole hogs.

But more important than what I actually use in a particular show is what I look for when buying a grill. First ask yourself three questions:

• What are your usage patterns?
• Are you a charcoal or gas grill person?
• What’s your budget?

If you’re just grilling for yourself and your spouse one or two nights a week, an inexpensive 2 or 3 gas grill will do fine. If you’re out there several nights a week and every weekend and you do a lot of entertaining, you’ll want to go with a large grill-at least 3, preferably 4 to 6 burners.

If you love wood smoke and true barbecue, a charcoal grill is a must (even if you already own a gas grill). Ditto if you’re into the sheer sport of grilling-building and messing with fire and waltzing food from hot spots to cold spots. In fact, if you’re at all serious about live fire cooking, I suggest you own both a gas and charcoal grill.

Finally, re budget. You can buy a decent charcoal grill for around $100. (Buy a grill that’s at least 22 inches in diameter with a lid high enough to accommodate a beer can chicken.) There are two strategies for buying gas grills—the first is to buy an inexpensive grill (under $200) and plan to replace it once every couple years. The second is to invest in a mid to upper range gas grill ($400 to $500 for a mid-range; $800 to $3000 for a stainless steel gas “super” grill) and plan to own it for the next decade. By the way, I personally own both sorts of grills and follow both of strategies.

Some other things to look for:

• Sturdy construction and stable legs
• A good warrantee (Remember, this is outdoor cookware. You want to make sure it lasts.)
• Side tables (You can never have enough work space)
• Hinged grates for charcoal grill grates (for adding coals for indirect grilling)
• Built in thermometer
• Built in gas gauge for a gas grill
• Easy to use and clean drip pan for a gas grill
• A rotisserie with a dedicated burner

By the way, my favorite material for grill grates is cast iron.

Finally, if at all possible, go to a barbecue store and “test drive” a few models before you buy one. Everyone’s taste is different and every grill performs differently. And there are some very expensive but very poorly designed grills out there. So it’s best to try what you’re buying before you plunk down your money.

An Electrifying Experience

“Ohmigosh, do I have a big problem!” writes John Hookey. “I have moved into an apartment complex that is absolutely unyielding in its opposition to both charcoal and gas grills. So I have been forced to switch to an electric grill. Alas, all the grilling literature ignores us poor grillers who are forced, not by choice, but by fiat, to use electric grills. Is there any hope for us? ”

Yes, this is a problem, but it’s not the end of the world. I’ve used the Charbroil electric grill (on the Regis Show no less). There’s even a picture of an electric grill in How to Grill. It’s okay for direct grilling, but it takes some manuevering for indirect.

Bottom line is any recipe in any of my books that’s direct grilled on charcoal or gas can be grilled on an electric grill (with the possible exception of really thick steaks, like a porterhouse). Preheat the grill well and keep it covered to hold in the heat.

If you must indirect grill on an electric grill, place a metal pie pan or cake pan open side up in the center of the grill and place another pie pan open side down on top of it. Place the food to be indirect grilled on top. (The pie pans create an air space that insulates the food from the heat.)

Finally, if you like the smoky flavor of true barbecue, invest in an electric smoker, like a Cookshack or Lure Jensen. I don’t think the condo commandos will bust you for that.

Incidentally, my next book focuses on indoor grills and grilling, so stay tuned!

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

“I was wondering how to start a charcoal grill,” writes Jesse Towry. “I noticed that on the show that you use a steel cylinder. Can you tell me what it is and where I can find one?”

Sure thing, Jesse. The steel cylinder is a chimney starter and you can find one at any grill shop or hardware store. Buy the largest one you can. It consists of an upright metal cylinder with a wire partition in the center. You put the charcoal in the top and a crumpled piece of newspaper (or better yet, a paraffin fire starter-also available at grill shops and hardware stores-in the bottom. Simply place the chimney starter in the grill (on the lower grate) and light the paper or paraffin starter. In 20 minutes or so, you’ll have perfectly and evenly lit coals. By the way, don’t use a chimney starter to light Match-Light charcoal.

There are at least 3 advantages to using a chimney starter:

1. It’s ecologically correct: You don’t need petroleum-based lighter fluid.
2. It lights the coals quickly, efficiently, evenly and uniformly.
3. It’s easy to dump out the coals into two mounds for indirect grilling or to build a 3 zone fire for direct grilling.

“I’m an avid griller and find your program very informative,” writes Bill Cohen. “The other day I saw your show on rotisserie chicken. I noticed the knot you tied when trussing. Looked very useful. Is it described or illustrated anywhere?

It’s a butcher’s slip knot, Bill, and it’s fully illustrated on page 204 in How to Grill.

RECIPES

Since this is the spring issue of Up in Smoke, let’s focus on the quintessential meat for springtime grilling: lamb. Lamb plays a central role in springtime holidays of three of the world’s great religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). For that matter, on any given day, probably more pit masters are cooking lamb than any other meat. (The barbecued lamb zone begins in West Africa and extends continuously across the Mediterranean to the Middle East, Central Asia, India, China, and as far east as Indonesia.)

There’s a simple reason for the popularity of lamb this time of year: in traditional agricultural societies, lamb born in the winter reached eating size in the spring.

Here are two recipes from my forthcoming book on indoor grilling. In honor of spring, both have been adapted for outdoor gas or charcoal grills.

Rosemary Grilled Lamb Chops in the Style of Friuli, Italy

Serves 4

12 lamb rib chops (about 2 pounds)
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary, plus 1 long sprig of fresh rosemary to use as a basting brush

Generously season the lamb on both sides with salt and pepper. Drizzle a drop of oil on each chop on both sides and rub it into the meat. (You should use up about 1-1/2 tablespoons in all for the 12 chops.) Sprinkle the chops on both sides with garlic and rosemary, patting them into the meat. Let marinate for 20 minutes while you build your fire.

Set up your grill for direct grilling and preheat to high. Under the best of circumstances you’ll be grilling over oak embers or charcoal (but gas will give you fine results, too).

Brush and oil the grill grate. Arrange the chops on the grate all going the same way. Grill until cooked to taste, 3 to 5 minutes per side for medium rare. Lightly baste each chop on both sides with the remaining olive oil, using the rosemary sprig as a basting brush. Serve at once. No sauce or garnish are needed.

Rotisserie Leg of Lamb with Lemon Mint Wet Rub

Serves 6

For the garlic-mint wet rub:

3 cloves garlic, rough chopped
2 strips lemon zest (finely chopped)
1 bunch mint, washed, shaken dried and stemmed (about 1 cup leaves)
1 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea)
1/2 teaspoon cracked or coarsely ground black peppercorns
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 butterflied leg of lamb, tied into a cylindrical roast or the loin end of a whole leg (3 to 3 1/2 pounds)

You’ll also need: Butcher’s string; a grill with a rotisserie attachment

Make the wet rub. Place the garlic, lemon zest, mint leaves, salt, and pepper in a food processor and process to finely chop. Add the olive oil and lemon juice and process to a smooth paste.

Using the tip of a paring knife, make small holes in the roast on all sides about 1-1/2 inches apart. Using the tip of your index finger, widen the hole. Place a tiny spoonful of mint mixture in each hole, forcing it in with your finger. Spread the remaining mixture over the roast on all sides. Note: you can cook the lamb right away, but it will have even more flavor if you let it marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours.

Set up your grill for rotisserie grilling and preheat to high. Place a drip pan under the spit. Skewer the lamb lengthwise on the turnspit. Place the spit and roast in the rotisserie. Cook until the roast is crusty and darkly brown on all sides and cooked to the degree of doneness you desire, about 1-1/4 hours for medium-rare, 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 hours for medium. Use a meat thermometer to test for doneness. (Don’t let the thermometer touch the skewer.) Medium-rare lamb will have an internal temperature of 145 degrees; medium, about 160 degrees.

Transfer the roast to a platter or cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes, removing the spit. Cut off and discard the string. Thinly slice the roast crosswise for serving.

Basic Barbecue Rub

“Could you please post the basic barbecue rub recipe on the web site again?” writes Robert Browning.

My pleasure, Robert. Here’s the Basic Barbecue Rub from my Sauces book. If you want to invent your own, combine equal parts kosher salt, sweet paprika, and brown sugar. Add as much pepper as you can bear up to an equal part. Then customize the rub by adding any of the following ingredients to taste:

Garlic powder
Onion powder
Celery seed
Cumin
Coriander

MAILBAG: YOUR QUERIES AND QUESTIONS

“Your books and web site have helped me tremendously,” writes Joe Knittel. “I have wrecked a lot of food in the past. My question is what is a non-reactive bowl or saucepan and why should I use one?

A non-reactive bowl or saucepan is one made from stainless steel, anodized aluminum, glass, or porcelain. These materials remain inert when exposed to acids, like lemon juice, wine, or yogurt.

In contrast to these materials, cast iron and aluminum tend to react when exposed to acidic foods and should be avoided for many recipes.

· “I’ve only been barbecuing for a few years now and I have found your books and TV programs very helpful,” writes John Heishman. “My neighbor, who’s from Alabama, and I have talked about competing in barbecue cook-offs. Do you have any suggestions on how we could get started?”

The best way to enter the wacky and exhilarating world of competition barbecue is to find some local contests in your area. Contact the organizers of the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (www.memphisinmay.org) or the Kansas City BBQ Society (http://www.rbjb.com/rbjb/kcbs.htm). Ask them for a list of sanctioned regional contests. The National BBQ News is another good source. You can contact them via: www.barbecuenews.com. Let us know how it works out. We’re rooting for you!

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen, Grill Master and Editor-in-Chief
Nancy Loseke, Features Editor

Greetings From the Grilling Guru

UP IN SMOKE
GREETINGS FROM THE GRILLING GURUGreetings, grill jockeys, pit masters and mistresses, and smok-a-holics! Welcome to the third issue of Up In Smoke. And, of course, happy holidays to all! Winter is upon us. Down here in Miami, that means a dip in the temperature to 55 degrees. (Poor us!) In other words, perfect grilling weather.

Elsewhere in the country, winter is the true test of a grill master’s mettle—and commitment. As one barbecue fanatic in Minnesota put it, “When it snows, what do you shovel first: a path to your car or the path to your grill?!” (Tell us where you stand on this issue by voting at the BBQ Board Newsletter Poll.)

I got a taste of true winter grilling recently in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where I went to teach a series of grilling classes for The Cookbook Co. It was only late October, but a sudden storm dumped 3 inches of snow the night of my first class and 6 inches in total. The show must go on, so I borrowed a parka and, yes, I shoveled a path to the grills. I guess if it snowed in Miami, my car would sit under a snowdrift.

Obviously, you need to increase the cooking time in extreme cold. My beer can chickens took almost twice as long to cook in snowy Calgary as they would in Miami. I set up an extra charcoal grill and used it solely for stockpiling lit charcoal. I shoveled hot coals into the other grills every 15 minutes to keep the temperature up. The wood chips I had soaking in a bucket froze, so I had to move them next to the grill. We also had a large gas grill, and the trick here was to keep the lid down—even when grilling quick cooking foods, like shrimp.

Far different weather awaited me on my next trip—a long weekend in Buenos Aires. Winter in the U.S. means summer in South America, and when we got to this beautiful city—rightly hailed as the Paris of Latin America—the weather was perfect for grilling and dining outdoors in your shirtsleeves.

If you think Americans are grill maniacs, you should visit Argentina. Almost very street corner has its parilla, grill restaurant, with a massive stone hearth in the front window or right the dining room, where every imaginable cut of beef is charred to smoky perfection over blazing charcoal for all to see.

So what’d I learn? Well first of all, I experienced some new meat cuts, including a tira de asado (a long, slender rib steak made by cutting lower portion of the beef ribs crosswise instead of lengthwise (as is done in the U.S.) Ojo de bife (“eye of beef,” literally) is the leanest, meatiest portion of a rib roast, which is cut and cooked as a steak. Then, of course, there are animal parts most Americans don’t grill, but are really delicious, such as mojecas (sweetbreads), rinones (kidneys), and chinchulines (lamb chitterlings).

Argentinean beef is grass fed, not grain fed, and hormone free. As a result, it’s milder in flavor than American beef, and a bit tougher. Not that that’s a problem, as in Argentina, beef is always served with a tangy duet of condiments—chimichurri and salsa criolla. The former is a sort of vinaigrette made with oregano, garlic, olive oil, and wine vinegar. The latter is a sort of salsa made with diced tomato, red bell pepper, and onion. If Buenos Aires is in your travel plans (and it should be—it’s an excellent value these days), here are some good places to try Argentinean barbecue.

La Cabana (Rodriguez Pena, 1967): A high style remake of a Buenos Aires landmark. (The original closed in the 1990s after a half century of service). Located in the tony Recoleta district and operated by the Orient Express company.

La Cabana Las Lilas (Alicia Moreau de Justo, 516): A classic Buenos Aires chop house with scenic outdoor seating on a canal.

La Brigada (Estados Unidos, 465): Oozing with atmosphere in the colorful San Telmo district (although some of the meat here is a trifle tough).

Have you been anywhere interesting on the world barbecue trail?
Let us know on the Barbecue Board—especially if you’ve found some interesting dishes or restaurants.

NEWS AND VIEWS

It’s been an incredible year for your faithful grill master, an incredibly busy year, starting with the launch of my latest book, BBQ USA. As many of you know, I set out on a book tour across America in a brightly painted barbecue bus. (Our slogan: “Honk if you love BBQ.”) We started in Philadelphia and finished in Seattle, and our 8000 mile journey took us to more than 20 American cities.

Highlights of this amazing journey are almost too numerous to list, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention:

• A Johnsonville bratwurst barbecue at our presenting station, Maryland Public Television, in Owings Mills, Maryland to celebrate the launch of the BBQ U TV show.
• Smoky, tender ribs at City Barbecque in Columbus, Ohio, where we stopped in for a book-signing. Pork shoulder at Super Smokers in St. Louis for another book signing. (We also managed to find time to eat some St. Louis fried ravioli.)
• Lunch at Goode & Co. in Houston, during a four city swing through Texas. While in the Dallas area, magician, insurance mogul, and bbq fanatic Norman Beck brought us some smoked brisket from his favorite barbecue joint, Carter’s BBQ (on Martin Luther King between Malcolm X and Main St.).
• In Santa Fe, New Mexico, we feasted on carnitas (grilled beef sandwiches) prepared at the pushcart of the legendary Roque’s in the Plaza Real. In Seattle, we chowed down at the Northwest Barbecue Festival (sponsored by the Seattle Post Intelligencer) and feasted on terrific grilled and smoked salmon at the Dalhia Lounge. I even got to chat with Kevin Costner about buffalo in Aspen, Colorado—site of the Food & Wine Classic, where I teach an annual barbecue class.

The most unexpected celebrity barbecue encounter was with Howard Stern—who turns out to be a grilling fanatic, running his oversized Viking grill like a race car at the Indy 500. Yes, I appeared on his show, and yes, I taught a private barbecue class for the Howard last summer. Below you’ll find a recipe we jointly developed for scallops grilled in smoked salmon.

In July, Japanese TV chef Kumahachi Moreno chef and a film crew came to visit with our family for a traditional American 4th of July BBQ in Martha’s Vineyard. (The menu included grilled lobster, smoked brisket, and cinnamon grilled peaches for dessert.) The following month, I was invited to Tokyo, Japan, to do BBQ battle with Iron Chef Roksbura Michiba.

The week leading up to contest was nerve-wracking, to say the least, but I had my step-son, Jake (chef of Pulse at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan) with me as back up. Chef Michiba prepared an incredibly theatrical dish of lobster and abalone grilled in a mountain of seaweed, but in the end it was no match for our downhome barbecued chicken and ribs!

Finally, in October, we returned to the Greenbrier resort in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, to tape year two of Barbecue University TV. Look for our stunning new “campus” at the Howard’s Creek Lodge, with its outdoor fireplace and spectacular backdrop of a golf course and the Allegheny Mountains behind it. Back this year is grill cam (a heatproof camera position in the firebox) and we’ve added time-lapse photography to give you a charcoal’s eye view of the action. The show launches on April 3, 2004. Contact your local PBS station for details (and to make sure they’re planning to air the show).

Finally, come April, 2004, the barbecue bus will be back on the road. Check the web site for more details as they become available.

GRILLS, GEAR, AND FUELS

Have a question about grills, tools, or fuel? In this issue of Up in Smoke we launch a new column to address your questions and comments about the tools of the trade. I’ll also be reviewing some of my favorite products from time to time.

“I searched high and low for the flat metal skewers Steven calls for to make ground lamb kebabs,” writes Edward Jaro from Raeford, North Carolina, ” I finally wound up going to a local metal fabrication shop that supports a local poultry plant. I bought 6 flat stainless steel skewers, each 18 inches long and 3/8 inch wide for $8! Was it worth it—the lamb kebabs turned out great. Thanks for making me a better grill master!”

If you don’t have a metal fabricator near you, you can order flat metal skewers for making Near East and Indian ground meat kebabs from Yekta Supermarket, tel. 301-984-1190.

Scott Hill from Charlotte, North Carolina, wants to know where to buy alder wood for smoking salmon.

Two good sources: BBQR’S Delight (www.bbbqrsdelighht.com): alder and other compressed wood pellets. And Nature’s Own/ Peoples Woods (www.peopleswoods.com).

Eric Palander from Seattle wants to know where we get the lump charcoal we use at BBQ U.

Lump charcoal is made by burning whole logs or other solid pieces of wood in a kiln without oxygen. It’s a pure and natural product, unlike charcoal briquettes, which often contain borax, coal dust, and petroleum binders. Look for natural lump charcoal at grill shops and natural foods supermarkets.

Emily Marchetti wants to know where to buy the rib racks I used on the Rib Show on BBQ U (and that I call for in the various books).

Three good sources are: www.webergrills.com, www.charcoalcompanion.com, and www.barbequesgalore.com.

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Also new this issue is a column on grilling tips and techniques.
I’ll get the ball rolling with a cool technique I picked up in Argentina. Please share your tips for upcoming newsletters on the Barbecue Board.

Like grill master everywhere, Argentineans are obsessive about cooking on a clean grill grate. They scrub the grill with a long handled stiff wire brush. The twist is they dip the brush in a bucket of salt water before scrubbing. The salt is supposed to clean and sterilize the grate and add a subtle flavor to the meat.
I’ve started dipping my grill brush in salt water, too.

“After reading your book, we were inspired to buy a smoker,” write Eric and Barbara Michaelson of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “We prepared spareribs following your Kansas City Sweet and Smoky Rib recipe, however, we couldn’t get the split logs to stay lit. They went out and the smoker never got above 150 degrees. What did we do wrong?”

Most home size smokers are designed to be fueled with charcoal.
Wood chunks or even small logs are added to produce a smoke flavor, but the heat comes from the charcoal. The next time, build a good, thick, hot bed of embers with natural lump charcoal. Toss the logs or soaked wood chunks or chips on the embers and replenish once an hour. This should give you both smoke and the requisite heat.

RECIPES

“You have a great show,” writes Pat Meier of Peoria, Illinois (a self-proclaimed charcoal fanatic). “I’ve always wanted to cook a large prime rib roast on my charcoal grill, but I worry tremendously about overcooking it. How can I make a prime rib and know exactly when to remove I, so that it’s medium-rare?”

Thanks, Pat. Timely question. I’m going to ring in 2004 with a smoke-roasted prime rib. Here’s my plan of attack.

New Year’s Eve Prime Rib

Prime rib is what I call a “millionaire” dish—a very little work and a not overly excessive capital investment make you look like a million bucks.

To season the mighty roast, make a paste of garlic (say 6 cloves), a handful each parsley, rosemary, and sage leaves, a tablespoon each salt, and cracked black peppercorns. Puree these ingredients in a food processor, adding enough olive oil or bacon fat to make a thick paste.

Now using the tip of a paring knife, make a series of 1/2 inch deep slits in the roast on all sides and force a little of the garlic-herb paste in each. Spread the remainder over the roast on all sides with a spatula.

Now for the smoke-roasting. If you’re working on a charcoal grill, set it up for indirect grilling, placing a large drip pan in the center. Toss a handful of soaked hickory chips on each mound of coals. If you’re working on a gas grill, place the chips in the smoker box or wrap in foil to make a smoker pouch (poke some holes in the top to release the smoke), and place under the grate over one of the burners. Preheat on high until you see smoke, then reduce the heat to medium.

Place the roast over the drip pan. Indirect grill at around 350 degrees for 2 to 2-1/2 hours. The roast will be a perfect medium-rare when an instant read thermometer registers 140 degrees. (You’re actually looking for 145 degrees—but remember, the roast will continue cooking even off the heat.)

Serve it right away? Not on your life. Remember, roasts need to rest for 10 minutes or so to allow the meat to “relax.” Tent it with foil to keep it warm. Then cut the meat off the bones, thinly slice crosswise, and get ready for some of the best prime rib in your life.

So what do you serve with this regal prime rib? For starters, how about a horseradish sauce, made by mixing equal parts mayonnaise, sour cream, and freshly grated or prepared grated white horseradish?

Scallops a la Howard

Radio talk show czar Howard Stern is a huge grill buff, not to mention a great supporter of my books. This summer, I gave him a private grilling class. I wanted to show him how to make the Rosemary and Proscuitto-Grilled Scallops in How to Grill (page 343), but the Howard doesn’t eat red meat. He did have some smoked salmon in the refrigerator—the inspiration of these “Scallops a la Howard.”

1-1/2 pounds large sea scallops
28 to 32 fresh rosemary sprigs (each 3 to 4 inches long)
12 ounces very thinly sliced smoked salmon
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 lemon
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pull off and discard the small crescent-shaped muscle from the side of any scallop that has one. Strip the bottom leaves off the rosemary skewers to expose 2 inches of stem. Cut the smoked salmon into strips just large enough to wrap around the scallops (about 3/4 by 3-1/2 to 4 inches).

Lay a scallop flat on your work surface. Wrap a piece of smoked salmon around it and skewer through the side with a rosemary sprig. The idea is to pin the salmon to the scallop with the rosemary. Repeat with the remaining scallops.

Arrange the scallops on a plate or in a non-reactive baking dish.
Place the oil in a small bowl. Finely grate the zest (the oil rich outer rind) into the oil. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice and stir with a fork. Brush the resulting lemon oil on the scallops on both sides. Let marinate for 15 minutes while you light the grill.

Set up the grill for direct grilling and preheat to high.

When ready to cook, brush and oil the grill grate. Arrange the skewered scallops on the grate, placing a sheet of folded foil under the exposed part of the rosemary stalks to keep them from burning.

Grill the scallops until just cooked, 2 to 3 minutes per side. The scallops are done when they turn white and feel firm (but just barely; they shouldn’t feel hard). Serve at once.

MAILBAG: YOUR QUERIES AND QUESTIONS

Lots of mail this fall. And lots of great questions about grilling.

“What’s the proper way to wash basting brushes,” writes Scott from Federal Way, Washington.

First, soak the brush in a bowl of hot soapy water for 24 hours, changing the water several times. (Plunge it up and down like a plumbers’ helper to loosen any deeply imbedded debris.) Then place it in the dishwasher. Clean barbecue mops the same way.

Speaking of cleaning, “what’s the best way to clean a porcelainize grill grate?” writes Arnie from Michigan.

Preheat the grate as hot as it will go (this loosens the burnt on debris), then brush it vigorously a stiff wire brush. Normally, the enamel on grate is harder than brass brush bristles and preheating helps remove the debris. Of course, in the long run, you’re best off finding a cast iron grate for your grill.

Branden Rasmussen wants to know what “sweet” paprika is and where to find it.

It’s the same thing as regular paprika (“sweet” distinguishes it from “hot” paprika) and it’s available just about everywhere. The best paprika comes from Hungary and Spain.

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen, Grill Master and Editor-in-Chief
Nancy Loseke, Features Editor