Posts Tagged ‘spain’
Planet Barbecue
Sizzling and Sexy: Grilling with a Plancha
What do South Carolina’s oyster roasts have in common with Colombia’s arepas and Japan’s teppan yaki feasts? All are cooked on a flat piece of metal analogous to a griddle, often over an open fire. In fact, nearly every cooking culture on Planet Barbecue has a historical relationship with this simple form of food preparation, none more than Spain. In Spain, the term plancha (literally, “plate”) refers both to the device itself and...
Read more →Gazpacho Hits the Grill
Photo by Richard Dallett. Triple digit heat across the Midwest and Europe. Drought in California. Wildfires throughout the West. 2015 is shaping up to be one of the most torrid summers on record, and that’s before you factor in the heat of the grill. For years, I’ve relied on a simple remedy from the garden to beat the heat—a sort of a cross between a cold soup and salad. The Spanish call it gazpacho. I call it the most refreshing...
Read more →Sweet Corn Around the World: 10 Globally Inspired Recipes
I grew up in Iowa where we harbored rather provincial ideas about sweet corn. As far as we were concerned, there was just one way to do it: fill a speckled enamel pot with water and a spoonful of sugar, put the pot over a quick flame, then trot out to the garden to pick and husk the corn. We’d boil the ears for three minutes, then remove them to a platter with tongs. At the table, we’d jab the ends of the ears with twin-pronged corn holders, impale a cube of cold butter on the end of a fork, and run it over the steaming, tightly packed kernels. A sprinkle of table salt and black pepper, and you were...
Read more →Showstoppers to Heart-Stoppers: 12 Killer Steak Recipes from Around the World
If eating meat is a crime, then vegetarians have a high rate of recidivism. According to a new study by the Humane Research Council, 84 percent of American vegetarians eventually return to eating meat, a third within three months. Five out of six “find their way back to a nice juicy steak,” reports the New York Daily News. No surprise here. Steak is the emblem of carnivores everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. Below are 12 of the best grilled steaks you’ll find across Planet Barbecue (with links to recipes). “Caveman” T-Bone Steak with Hellfire Hot Sauce (USA)...
Read more →“Secreto”: The Best Kept Secret in Barbecue
There’s an old saying: “Even a blind pig finds an acorn every once in a while.” It came to mind when I chanced upon something unexpected while searching for duck at my local supermarket recently. It was an appropriate metaphor given that my find was a package of pork labeled “Secreto Ibérico de Bellota”—the “secret” cut from one of Spain’s acorn-fattened pigs. (Bellota means acorn in Spanish.) I first heard about secreto when Steven blogged about eating (make that devouring) it at the Imperial restaurant in Portland, Oregon. Chef-owner Vitaly...
Read more →Planet Barbecue
The Barbecue Sauces of Europe
A sauce has the power to transform the simplest grilled seafood or chicken into an event. You now know about regional American barbecue sauces and the sauces of South America. Today, we look at some of the best grilling condiments you may have never heard of: the barbecue sauces of Europe. Salsa Verde (Italy): Don’t confuse this one with Mexico’s tomatillo-based sauce of the same name. Italy’s venerable salsa verde (“green sauce”) includes all the components of a good vinaigrette, and more: freshly chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley; olive oil (the best and freshest...
Read more →
