Living in an apartment, we don’t get to do much barbecuing, but we do have a little travel grill and thankfully, we got to use it once before the summer ended.
Grilled Corn, Bratwurst, and Grilled Peaches:
A great tool for barbecuing is the chimney starter. Using this chimney eliminates the need for lighter fluid, and allows you to get the charcoal heated evenly. Just fill the chimney with enough charcoal to create a single layer in the barbecue, stuff some newspaper in the underside, and light the newspaper with a match. I did this on the grill. The coals should ignite pretty easily, so just allow them to burn for 10-15 minutes, or until the fire goes out and the charcoal is glowing red. Then just pour the charcoal into the grill and you’re ready to go.
The meal from here is pretty simple grill fair, nothing fancy. I learned a great trick to grilling corn from Bobby Flay a while back: pull the husks down, remove the silks, and then pull the husks back up. Then soak the corn in a bowl of cold water for about 30 minutes, and shake it out before grilling. This makes it so that the corn steams while on the grill. I cooked the corn first, cause it takes the longest, and left it on for about 30 minutes.
The bratwurst was precooked, so I just scored it with a knife and grilled it for about 5 minutes, turning it once. There’s really no reason not to grill the buns for a couple of minutes, it makes all the difference.
Whole grain mustard and saurkraut finish the dogs. Add a side of baked beans and you’ve got summer comfort.
Grilled peaches for dessert. Just halve the peaches, pull out the pits, and sit them face down on the grill for about 15 minutes, turning 90 degrees once to get nice grill marks (ours didn’t mark for some mysterious reason). Serve them in a bowl with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The warm soft peaches with the cold creamy ice cream, divine!
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One Comment
Love your blog.
Some people dream of cooking – and some actually cook!
Another trick with the corn is, after the soaking and just before you recover the corn, you can rub some spice, such as chili powder, on the kernels. A drop of oil or butter can also be used at that step.
JB