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June 2008 - In this Issue: |
Marinades & Rubs |
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It’s hard to compete with cooking over an open fire in the outdoors. After all, it’s part of our not so distant past. With fire as the unique ingredient, seasonings applied to the food add their magic, enhancing and exciting the food to our benefit and delight. Imbuing flavor into grilled meats and vegetables is where grilling becomes an art form. Flavor combinations are often closely guarded formulas, or even family secrets passed carefully from one generation to the next. One thing is true; there is plenty of passion when it comes to flavoring grilled foods! In this issue we’ll explore the magic of marinades and rubs, discuss the latest in grilling gear, and offer a couple of recipes to try at your next grilling event.
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Whether vinegar, citrus juice or wine, the marinade’s acidic ingredient starts the process of changing the food. The marinade’s action, which produces a more tender result, is particularly useful for tougher cuts of meat such as a skirt or flank steak.
The mild acidity of yogurt and buttermilk create a delicate marinade particularly suited to fish and seafood. These dairy products are known to remove any hint of “fishy-ness” that might be present.
The size and cut of the meat impact the marinating process. Marinade a large cut of meat overnight, a medium cut for 8 hours, and small cuts (steaks, chicken breasts), for 2-4 hours. When marinating any type of food, use a non-reactive container such as glass or stainless steel. Periodically turn the meat in the marinade, or baste with excess marinade. For smaller cuts of meat, it’s hard to beat a zipper-type plastic bag; it’s easy to turn the contents within the liquid, requires less marinade and cleans up is easily. When your in a hurry, decrease your marinating time, by using a vacuum marinader . The results are fast and amazing.
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Marinades are a great method for introducing flavor into meat, poultry, seafood and vegetables. Liquid in nature, marinades have an acidic component, oil and added spices. The acids in the marinades begin the process of breaking down the proteins in the meat. In addition, the liquid is absorbed at the cellular level, “plumping up” the food before grilling. 
The marinade’s oil component keeps the marinated foods from drying out. As the acid breaks down the proteins, the meat soaks up some of the oil helping to preserve the food’s natural moisture. Most marinades have 20 - 25% oil; too much oil will prevent the absorption of the other flavors. Using an oil with a higher smoke point, (canola, safflower, or grape seed oil), will prevent excess smoking when grilling.
Fish and other seafood protein structures are delicate and require no more than 15-20 minutes of marinating; beyond this timeframe the fish will become mushy and unusable. Always refrigerate foods while marinating.
A rub combination is sprinkled on the meat, poultry or seafood and massaged into the surfaces with fingertips. A rub applied just before grilling adds flavor, but a rub added several hours earlier to meat or poultry greatly deepens the flavors and adds a bit of curing action to the process.
Toasting the spices prior to adding the salt and sugar will activate the spices’ aromatic oils and allow the flavors to bloom and transfer into the meat. To toast spices, begin with whole spices placed in a skillet over medium heat with no added oil or liquid. Let the spices heat while stirring frequently or tossing often.
Grind the toasted, whole spices in a spice mill, impact grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Once mixed, most rubs may be stored in an airtight container for several months. While rubs are generally thought of as a combination of dry ingredients, wet rubs incorporate small amounts of liquid or wet ingredients, such as vinegar, mustards or lemon juice. Paste-like in consistency, a wet rub differs from a marinade in the quantity of liquid used. To try another form of wet rub, apply a very light coating of oil or mustard on the meat just prior to applying a dry rub mixture.
Kitchen Window has developed and bottled their own signature dry rub. Kitchen Window's Grillmaster's Dry Rub is perfect for pork, beef and chicken. Looking for a great recipe to get started with? Try our Grillmaster's Pork Ribs with Drunken Lime BBQ Sauce this flavorful rib recipe was featured on the cover of our Summer Cooking Class Catalog. These ribs make a tasty addition to any outdoor barbeque.
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Rubs are another favored method for adding flavor to grilled foods. A rub influences the surface of the food by providing a flavorful, crusty complement to the food’s interior. By definition, rubs are comprised of salt, sugar and spices. From this basic formula, the combinations of spices and herbs are nearly endless in generating flavors that span the globe.
Once fragrant, remove from heat and immediately transfer the spices from the skillet to a suitable bowl or plate for cooling. Take care to only lightly toast the spices, avoiding any burnt or bitter tastes that might result from excess heat.
The spices in a rub impart a huge amount of intense flavor to the finished food. The salt inspires a taste intensity, and the sugar’s caramelization brings a flavor complexity and a delicious brown crust.
If there’s one thing that grilling inspires, its innovation! The aficionado in all of us motivates a perpetual quest to perfect our technique and a continual pursuit of our outdoor cooking enjoyment. Our fellow experts have been busy perfecting their craft and bringing their ideas to the rest of us. Here are a few of our favorite additions to grilling gear: Wood – For better depth of flavor when grilling, use chunked smoking woods. Use wood chunk that has been soaked in water, for a longer burn and greater smoke. Some of the best woods are apple, cherry, hickory, cedar, birch, and maple.
Thermometers – The most common grilling error is overcooking meat. A thermometer provides confidence that the proper temperatures have been reached – no need to give it an extra minute. Instant-read, remote, digital read – there’s a solution for everyone. One of our favorites this season is the RediChek Remote Single Probe Thermometer. Baskets – Variations on grilling baskets only get better and better. Baskets and grill mats allow for the grilling of delicate foods with all of the smoky pleasures imbued, but without the loss of any food between the grates. An interesting variation on the grill basket is the grill wok – stir-fry meets the outdoors.
Tongs – If you’re not adept at using tongs in your cooking routine, grilling is a great time to start the habit. Tongs allow a firm grip of the food for turning, moving, and removing foods without the piercing and subsequent moisture loss that a fork might cause. Tongs with covered “claws” resist heat transfer, ensuring a cool grip. Use one pair of tongs for handling raw foods, another for cooked foods. Grill Safety – Be safe around the grill – use long-handled forks, spatulas, brushes and tongs for placing, turning and removing foods. Long silicone mitts reduce the possibility of a traditional mitt or hot pad catching fire. And that’s not all! You’ll find flavor injectors, propane tank fuel indicators, wire brushes for cleaning, magnetic lights for after-dark grilling, steak knives, carving boards, burger presses and loads of ready-to-go marinades and rubs.
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1. When grilling use a probe thermometer to accurately measure temperature. A dual probe is best—one to measure the grill temperature and one to measure the temperature of the meat. 2. Be sure to adjust your cooking time/temperature for heat gain. When food comes off of the grill it will continue to increase in temperature. Plan ahead and pull it early. Then let it rest. Most food will increase in temperature 5-10 degrees. The bigger the cut of meat, the greater the increase in temperature. This will avoid over cooking your food. 3. Remove the chill before you grill. Before you fire up the grill, take the steak out of the refrigerator for 30-45 minutes depending on size and if there is a bone. This will allow your steak to cook more quickly and evenly. 4. For charcoal grills use only a premium Natural charcoal, like Green Egg. A well processed premium charcoal will burn consistently, have little ash, and will provide great flavor. 5. When grilling kabobs, put all of the same food on the skewer. Different meat and vegetables cook at different rates. This will prevent part of your skewers from being over cooked. 6. Use silicone basing brushes for all your basting sauces and mops. It keeps all of the bristles out of your food and makes clean up a breeze. 7. For grilling fish and vegetables, use a porcelain coated grill topper or basket. This will keep the smaller and more delicate food from falling through the grates and provide better release from the grill. 8. When grilling, don’t try to move your food too quickly, the natural sugars in the meat need to caramelize before the food will release from the grill. 9. When grilling pizza, use a pizza stone on your grill. The pizza stone will provide a barrier between the flames and the pizza plus it will allow you to use a greater variety of crust types and still allow the smoky flavor to come through. 10. When grilling whole chickens, put the seasoning under the skin. This will season the meat instead of just the skin.
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A: Both words are often used broadly and interchangeably to mean cooking outdoors with a fire. However, their culinary meanings are distinct. Grilling refers to fast, direct cooking over medium to high heat, while barbecuing implies slow, indirect cooking. Q: How do I use wood chips to flavor my grill? A: Aromatic wood chips add wonderful flavor to any type of grilled food. Choose a smoking hardwood, (pecan, cherry, cedar, hickory, peach, apple, or several other types), and soak submerged in water for about an hour. Q: Can I use the leftover marinade to baste the meat, or as a sauce component? A: No. Since the leftover marinade has been in contact with raw meat, it is unsafe to use as a basting liquid, or as a sauce. However, if the marinade is heated to a boil for several minutes, it may be used. (Not all marinades handle being boiled, however). Take care to use a clean basting brush rather than one with raw meat contamination.
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Q: What’s the difference between grilling and barbecuing?
Place the chips in your grill’s smoke box, or on a piece of aluminum foil, wrapped and pinched closed. Pierce a few holes in the top of the aluminum pouch, and place in your grill directly on the charcoal or lava rock.
How to Grill, the Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques by Steven Raichlen. Photography by Greg Schneider. Workman Publishing, New York, NY. Copyright 2001. If you’re looking to gain some confidence at the grill, this book will leapfrog your knowledge and abilities. If you’re a grilling expert, you’ll expand your repertoire of skills with a season’s worth of new ideas. A winner of the coveted International Association of Culinary Professional’s Cookbook Award, this book takes its mission of “How To” seriously. The book is organized by type of meat, poultry, fish or vegetable. Within each of these major categories, individual chapters feature step-by-step instructions on “How to Grill a T-bone Steak,” How to Make Jerk Pork,” “How to Smoke Fish,” “How to Grill Oysters,” “How to Grill Lettuce,” or more than a hundred other topics. Each chapter is lavishly illustrated with full-color photos of key steps and final presentation ideas. Informative sidebars populate nearly every page with a host of tips, tricks and great grilling ideas.
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Mojo-Marinated Pork Tenderloin This recipe did wonders to the pork tenderloin that we experimented on. The freshness of the citrus and cilantro pairs perfectly with the already tender pork. There’s a lot of garlic in this sauce, but sliced and heated in the olive oil it is nicely tamed. Use half the marinade to marinate the meat, reserve the other half as a sauce when served. We thought the grilled onions with the Mojo Marinade were particularly worthy. This marinade works equally well on pork chops, steak, chicken breasts, fish fillets, or shrimp. |
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Java Rub As Steven Raichlen writes, “Coffee may seem like an odd ingredient for a rub, but competition ‘que heads use it and win big with it. The bittersweet flavor of the coffee rub goes great on beef (especially brisket) and pork.” He’s absolutely correct! We tried it on a couple of T-bone steaks and pronounced the rub as a “keeper.” This recipe makes enough for several steaks, or to share with a friend.
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