Last Chance for Grilling
As Labor Day has quickly come and gone, grilling season isn’t quite over, but it’s getting there. A recent piece in Cooking Light magazine interviewed “grill guru” Tom Douglas to get his tips on producing drool-inducing food.
It’s quite simple really, and boils down to two major points: selecting quality meat and marinating. Once you get past that, the sky’s the limit in the world of grilling.
Most kitchens have the basic ingredients to make a flavorful marinade, thereby skipping the need to buy expensive marinades from the store.
“A few fresh herbs, a drizzle of olive oil, and a squeeze or zest of citrus is all you need,” Douglas says. “The goal is to accent the natural flavors of the food, not overwhelm them.”What is your ‘go-to’ marinade? For beef, chicken, or fish, I like to blend a little garlic, rosemary and a tablespoon of olive oil and some lemon zest - just enough to bring it into a paste. You could also try a mix of mustard, shallot and rosemary. But remember, when you grill rosemary and garlic, you lose 80 percent of their flavor. Resfreshing the meat with some herbs and spices toward the end of cooking brightens the flavor.”
As the author of many, many cookbooks, he knows what he’s talking about. Happy grilling!
*Picture courtesy of Tom Douglas’ website.
