Outdoor cooking is now much more than hotdogs and hamburgers. These four club chefs show how to make BBQ anything but boring.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire—fueled by the creative spark many club and resort chefs now use to turn the great outdoors into an exciting culinary arena. Some prefer the “slow and low” approach of traditional barbeque, bathing meats in smoke for hours, or even days, to encourage deep permeation of flavor and natural tenderization. Others prefer to make their mark with sizzling stripes that can only come from direct contact with a hot grill.
When it comes to smoking, some like it hot, and others cold. “Hot smoking” requires exposing the meat to a direct heat source for several hours at temperatures of between 130 and 180 degrees Fahrenheit (55 to 80 degrees Celsius). “Cold smoking” is an hours- or days-long smoke bath with no direct heat source, at temperatures of around 60 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (15 to 25 degrees Celsius), or even lower.To preserve moisture and add flavor, meats are usually soaked—or “cured”—in a brine solution prior to smoking. Imparting Flavor
Michael Fiske, Executive Chef at the Roaring Fork Club in Basalt, Colo., likes to cold-smoke delicate fish and seafood selections such as salmon, trout and scallops. A big believer in brining, he creates a solution of sugar, salt, cilantro and black pepper, to kick up the flavor factor.
A three-day soak in a brine of cinnamon, anise, garlic and pickling spice “adds a ton of flavor” to pork, he says. And even the simplest of salt brines gives a tasty tang to fresh chicken.
Coconut milk makes a versatile brine base for Bob Burns, Executive Chef at the Columbus Country Club in Ohio. Flavored with lemongrass and brown sugar, it gives a Thai twist to quail. (Burns also uses coconut milk as a base for an international array of marinades, including a Vietnamese version that’s tinted yellow with turmeric.)
Starting with a simple sugar-salt-water solution, Terry Boston, Executive Chef at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club in Iowa, can take members’ and guests’ taste buds on a global gourmet tour with the addition of a few choice herbs and spices. For a Latin lilt, he adds lime and coriander; for Southeast Asian, lemongrass, lime leaf, ginger and chili peppers. Smoked chilies and fresh jalapenos give the brine a tingle reminiscent of the American Southwest.
Brown sugar is a key ingredient in the turkey brine favored by Steven Greenhoe, Executive Chef at the Hendersonville Country Club in North Carolina.
“That little bit of sweetness adds a lot of appeal,” Greenhoe notes.
To speed the marinating and brining processes, chefs such as Burns and Boston often brine and marinate meats in vacuum-sealed pouches.
“Under vacuum, the marinating or brining process takes only about half the usual time,” says Boston.
For large cuts such as pork butts and fresh hams, Boston injects the brine directly into the meat.
Instead of liquid brines, Burns also uses dry rubs, such as adobo—a Mexicanstyle mixture of salt, pepper, brown sugar, garlic, cumin seed and oregano leaves—to cure meats before smoking. He also makes his own achiote paste—another Mexican classic with olive oil, Seville (sour) orange juice, lime and the achiote or annatto seeds that give this spice mix its characteristic yellow color.
While marinades are nothing new to veteran grillers, many of the combinations created by club and resort chefs certainly are. Fiske, for example, marinates black cod in a salty-sweet mixture of soybean-based miso and mirin rice wine. For salmon, he combines orange juice and tequila.
Regional Tastes
In some regions of the country, barbeque is more than a style of cooking; it’s a source of cultural identity. Baby-back ribs, for example, may be easy-going, fun fare to eat—but preparing them for members and guests at his North Carolina club’s popular summer Sunday night cookouts is a serious business, says Greenhoe.
Greenhoe first slow-cooks the ribs without any seasoning or rub, then marinates them in a house-made, Western Carolina-style barbecue sauce. What makes this sauce “Western” is the addition of tomato to the state’s signature, highly spiced vinegar base. Right before serving, Greenhoe finishes off the pre-cooked, marinated ribs on the grill, “to set the sauce and add some more color.”
Burns smokes up to 30 pounds of ribs at a time in his club’s cook shack, then bags and freezes them to use as needed. A light saucing and finish on the grill makes the final cooking quick and easy.
“Last year, we served about 300 pounds of ribs over the Fourth of July weekend,” Burns explains. “And with this method, we can keep them on the menu all summer.”
In addition to more familiar cuts of meat such as pork ribs, Burns also grills up more exotic fare to perk up summertime appetites at his club. A marinade of apricot nectar, pomegranate molasses and olive oil with a kick of cayenne and curry powder, followed by a dredging in Tabil (a Tunisian blend of spices, including coriander, caraway seeds, curry powder and garlic), gives veal chuck eye chops—which Burns describes as “underutilized”—a Mediterranean mystique.
Created from his studies of southern Mediterranean regional cuisines, Burns says that while the flavor profiles are unusual, they’ve still proved to be a big hit with even the most conservative among the club’s members. Even better, this upscale dish commands the same menu price as center-cut veal loin, which costs “dollars more per portion,” he notes.
Whether smoking or grilling, Boston uses various types of woods to create different flavors. Alder, for example, imparts a mild flavor to salmon. Stronger-flavored oak is better for beef. Boston considers hickory to be “one of the best all-round woods that works well with just about everything, except for delicate fish.” Fruitwoods, such as apple or cherry, add a distinctive sweet accent to pork and chicken.
Woods can also be mixed and matched to achieve an infinite number of flavor variations. A little hickory can tone down oak, Boston says—or, mixed with alder, grills up some great scallops.
Taking a tip from the Chinese, Burns smokes certain Asian-influenced selections over black tea. Tea can also be used to make a great grilling crust for fish, says Fiske, who uses the green variety to prepare a popular ahi tuna dish.
The Secret’s in the Sauce
With smoked and grilled meats, sauces are strictly a side offering for Boston. “The meats should be flavorful enough to stand on their own,” he says.
To enhance, rather than mask, the flavors of the meats, Boston often uses cilantro-infused oil and a variety of vinegars as bases for his sauces. Rice vinegar, for example, can impart an Asian influence, while raspberry vinegar complements pork dishes with its subtle sweetness, he says.
A light sauce of tamari (more mellow than traditional soy sauce) and sesame oil enlivened with a splash of citric yuzu juice is one of Fiske’s favorites for grilled fish.With spiced brined pork tenderloin cooked on the grill, he serves an ancho chili mole that, he says, “would blow you away.”
At his club’s annual “Finfish and Shellfish Grill Out” on Labor Day weekend, Fiske puts out a variety of sauces, chutneys and compotes, along with filets, scallops and shrimp, so diners can design their own seafood specialties.
“It’s interesting and educational to see some of the combinations they come up with, and they have a lot of fun being a part of the creative process,” he says.
Lamb T-bones get a big boost from a little Jamaican jerk spice, Fiske says. But while exotic can definitely be exciting
, he points out, “you still can’t beat Kosher salt, coarsely ground black pepper and a little herb oil” when it comes to adding flavor to grilled steaks.
“Simple can be amazing, too,” he stresses.
On the Side
Outdoor meal accompaniments must also have their own stand-out personalities, to stand up to the assertive flavors of smoked or grilled meats and fish. Down-home delicacies such as tomatoes and okra, corn pudding and collard greens are summer staples for Greenhoe. Fiske insists that nothing can beat “a really fresh ear of corn boiled in salted water in a pot sitting on the side of the grill.”
For a white tablecloth-worthy presentation, Burns pipes white Cuban sweet potatoes onto the plate with grilled duck breast. A glamorous go-with for his veal chop is a grilled peanutcrusted potato cake, topped with caramelized onions.Whipped taro becomes the perfect plate partner for black tea-smoked chicken, and a sweet corn tamale accompanies achiote-spiced pork tenderloin.
At the Des Moines Golf and Country Club, where there’s smoke, there might also very well be potatoes. Boston steam-cooks potatoes three quarters of the way, then seasons them with olive oil mixed with peppercorns and salt, and places them on the high rack in the smoker at high temperature for about an hour.
After the potatoes are chilled, he mixes them with mayonnaise, blue cheese, green onions, and more salt and pepper, for a smoky salad that has become a signature summer side.
Summing It Up
• Brines are more than a utilitarian way to preserve moisture. They’re also a great way to impart additional flavor.
• Brining and marinading can be done in half the time under vacuum.
• Just because techniques are traditional, that doesn’t mean the flavor profiles have to be. Smoking and grilling can accommodate more exotic ingredients.
• Think of sauces as a complement to the meat. They shouldn’t drown out the meat’s natural flavors.
• Side dishes shouldn’t be an afterthought.
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