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Steven Raichlen’s Ultimate July 4th Menu!

UP IN SMOKE
Steven Raichlen’s Ultimate July 4th Menu!
Plus, Enter to Win a Sweepstakes

June 25th, 2013
Roasted Berry Crisp

Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

No, your eyes haven’t deceived you: You’re staring at a Smoke-Roasted Berry Crisp (pictured, above). It’s just one of the sweet yet smoky surprises we have for you this Independence Day. In honor of the Fourth of July, we’re also offering you the chance to win a sweepstakes with a grand prize (pictured, below) that includes my Best of Barbecue® spices, grilling tools, an eBook set of my books Best Ribs Ever; How to Grill; Barbecue! Bible: Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades; BBQ USA; and Secrets of the World’s Best Grilling (only available for the iPad), and much more. Click here to enter the BarbecueBible.com Sweepstakes now!

Sweepstakes
We had to do something special for Independence Day, the busiest day of the year for firing up the grill. If you want to keep step with tradition, try my three twists on America’s three most popular July 4th foods—burgers (try The Great American Hamburger), hot dogs (try these “Hot” Dogs), and steaks (try these Tucson T-Bones). And let’s not forget our primal hunger for ribs, ribs, ribs, prepared in a number of regional-specific ways across the U.S. With this First-Timer’s Ribs recipe and these 22 expert tips, you’ll always make perfect ribs.

But what you may not realize is how long our country has been celebrating July 4th with barbecue or how diverse the “traditional” July 4th menu really is.

History buffs know that our modern word “barbecue” comes from barbacoa, the Taino Indian word for a wooden frame built over a fire for smoke-roasting game and seafood. By the 17th century, barbecues were so popular in colonial Virginia, laws were passed to prevent the reckless discharge of firearms at pig roasts. (Even back then, we Americans had a dual obsession with guns and smoked meat.) Here’s how Englishman Isaac Weld described a Virginia barbecue in the late 1700s:

“It consists in a large party meeting together, either under some trees, or in a house, to partake of a sturgeon or pig roasted in the open air, on a sort of hurdle over a slow fire … it generally ends in intoxications.”

In fact, George Washington was no slouch when it came to “barbicue,” attending as many as he could. (His diary records one particularly memorable grill session in Alexandria, Virginia, that lasted three full days.) Decades later, when the triumphant general accepted the surrender of British General Cornwallis at Yorktown, spontaneous barbecues were staged all over the country to celebrate America’s independence.

Here at the Raichlen home on Martha’s Vineyard, my July 4th barbecue has deep personal significance. I’m always on tour during May and June, so it’s the first time in weeks I get to spend time with my family. We build most of our menu around local and seasonal foods: clams dug in Cape Pogue Bay that morning; organic chicken from The Farm Institute, in Edgartown, Massachusetts; asparagus from Morning Glory Farm, also in Edgartown; and blueberries picked from the bushes that line our driveway.

There’s one dish you might be surprised to find on our menu: planked salmon. July was once prime salmon season in New England during the Colonial period, and July remains prime time for the gorgeous wild Sockeye, Copper River, and King salmon of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

So here’s the Raichlen family menu for July 4th, 2013!

Clams
We hope it inspires your family’s menu. In the meantime, we wish everyone a star-spangled—and safe—Independence Day.

Grilled Littleneck Clams with Linguiça

Planked Salmon with Maple-Mustard Glaze

Barbecued Chicken

Lemon-Sesame Asparagus Rafts

Smoke-Roasted Berry Crisp

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen

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