Shaun Smith is a writer, journalist and former chef in Toronto. He is the author of the young adult novel Snakes & Ladders. Nothing announces the arrival of summer quite like the smell of a barbecue wafting over a neighbourhood. Of course, that smell also means that Father's Day is coming, and since there's no better time to fire up the grill, I talked to three chefs with new barbecue cookbooks to get some recipes that dads can use to impress the family on their big day.
For my own recipe, I've prepared a succulent dry rub that combines mildly spicy heat, tartness, smokiness and subtle floral flavours. I like to use it on flank steak, an inexpensive, lean and delicious cut of beef (please note that if overcooked, flank becomes tough, so it should be served more to the rare side to maintain tenderness).
Also, for this recipe you will need a very sharp carving knife. If your kitchen knives are dull, barbecue season is the perfect reason to get them sharpened.
A dry rub is a combination of dry spices rubbed into meat as a marinade. Just before rubbing it in, I like to add a small amount of olive oil, mustard and fresh garlic to the mixture for added flavour and ease of spreading. Among other spices, the rub I've prepared below features sumac, a Mediterranean spice with a delicious floral tartness. Available at Greek markets, specialty shops and health food stores, it is well worth the effort to find this wonderful spice.
Rare-grilled flank steak with sumac dry rub
Ingredients:
- 1 kg flank steak
Rub Mixture
- 1 tsp. sumac
- 1/2 tsp. each: chipotle powder, ancho chili powder, cinnamon, coriander powder, paprika
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 15 turns of the black pepper mill
- 1 large clove garlic, finely minced
- 1 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
In a small bowl, mix the rub ingredients together into a paste with a spoon.
Lay out the flank steak on a cutting board and spoon half of the rub mixture onto one side of the steak. Using the back of the spoon, or your fingers, spread the rub evenly over the surface of the steak, rubbing it into all the crevices. Lay a piece of cling film over the steak, then flip the steak over. Coat the second side with the rest of the rub and then seal the steak with more cling film. Put the covered steak in the fridge to marinate for at least two hours or up to 24 hours.
Remove the steak from the fridge one hour before grilling. This steak cooks very fast, so make sure everything else for your meal is ready before you start. Heat your grill on high for 10 minutes. When ready to grill, dab some vegetable oil on a clean cloth and rub it on the grill. Remove the cling film from the meat and lay the flank steak on the hot grill. Close the lid and reduce heat to medium-high. Grill for five minutes, rotating the meat about 30 C at the halfway point, to create crossed searing marks. Flip the steak over after five minutes and repeat above grilling process for another five minutes.
When done, move the steak to a large cutting board and let it rest for five minutes.
Carving the flank steak
Lay the side of your knife blade flat across the grain of the meat. Hold the steak with a fork at one end and start slicing the meat from the other end as thin as you can across the grain, as though whittling a big piece of wood. The meat will be less rare at the flat ends of the steak and more bloody as you get closer to the thicker middle. (Leftovers make great sandwiches the next day.)
Arrange the slices of meat on a platter and sprinkle with sea salt. Serve with a green salad and corn on the cob. Serves four to six people.
Ted Reader's Great Canadian cedar wrap
From Napoleon's Everyday Gourmet Plank Grilling, by Ted Reader (Key Porter Books)
BBQ chef and author Ted Reader. Ted Reader takes his barbecue very seriously. "I have 105 grills and smokers in my backyard," he tells me over the phone from his home in the west-end Toronto district of Etobicoke.
Reader, who previously hosted the TV cooking show King of the Q, has teamed up with Canadian barbecue manufacturer Napoleon's for his new book Everyday Gourmet Plank Grilling.
What's plank grilling?
"Cooking on planks originated in the Pacific Northwest," says Reader. "It was a common practice of the native Haida people of the region."
The method, he elaborates, entails soaking a plank (usually cedar) in water, to keep it fire-resistant, then placing it right on the grill with your food on top.
"It is a hot, fast way of infusing your food with delicious smoky flavour," says Reader. "There's no turning or poking or flipping, so it makes the whole barbecue process very low-maintenance."
For Father's Day, Reader recommends his Great Canadian Cedar Wrap recipe.
"Wraps are very thin sheets of wood that you soak and wrap around the food," says Reader. "They're very impressive when you serve them, because you cut them open on the plate and the food is smoking and has taken on the flavour of the cedar."
Kids can even get in on the act, helping Dad roll up and tie off the wrap bundles before grilling.
"Cooking should be a family affair," says Reader, who has two children, Layla, 3, and Jordan, 2, with his wife, Pamela. "Any recipe you prepare together with your family is a fun thing."
[SAFETY NOTE: Ted Reader says, "Always have a squeeze bottle of water close at hand when grilling with planks or wood wraps. If the wood catches fire, turn the heat down or off and spray the wood with water to put out the flames immediately. Then move the plank or wrap to a cooler part of the grill and continue grilling. If you're doing a whole bunch of wraps, a grill basket is a handy method to use."]
Recipe: Great Canadian Cedar Wrap
Ingredients:
- Four 8-inch (20 cm) long x 6-inch (15 cm) wide cedar wood wraps, soaked in water
- Eight 6-inch (15 cm) pieces of butcher's twine, soaked in water
- Fresh cut cedar bows, soaked in water (optional)
- Four boneless, skinless fillets of Atlantic salmon, about 4 oz. (125 g) each
- 2 Tbsp. (30 ml) Seafood Plank Seasoning (see recipe below)
- Two green onions, minced 1/4 cup (60 ml) thinly sliced red onion
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) thinly sliced yellow pepper
- 1 Tbsp (15 ml) chopped fresh dill
- 1 Tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
- 1 Tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice
- 1 cup (250 ml) cooked lobster meat (if using frozen lobster meat, be sure to squeeze out excess moisture)
- 2 Tbsp (30 ml) melted butter
Wraps are a new trend in barbecue cooking. Thin sheets of wood are soaked and then wrapped around fish and other meats. Soak it. Roll it. Grill it.
Season salmon fillets all over with Seafood Plank Seasoning, rubbing the seasoning into the meat; set aside. In a bowl, combine green onions, red onion, yellow pepper, dill, olive oil and lemon juice; set aside. In a separate bowl, combine lobster meat and melted butter, mix well to coat the lobster with the butter; set aside.
Remove cedar wrap from water and pat dry with paper towel. Look at the wrap and see which way the grain of the wood goes. Place the salmon fillet on the cedar wrap. Top with a quarter of the onion mixture and a quarter of the lobster mixture. Following the grain of the wood, roll salmon tightly in wrap to make a cigar-shaped roll; tie in two places with the wet twine. Note: You may need someone to assist you with this part. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
Preheat grill to medium to medium-low heat. Place soaked cedar bows on the grill (if using). Place wrapped salmon bundles on top of the cedar bows. Close grill lid and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until the fish is just cooked through. (Check grill periodically to ensure the cedar bows and wraps have not caught fire.)
Remove from grill. Cut twine and fold back the wrap. Serve on wrap. Serves four.
Tips:
- It is necessary to roll the wraps with the grain of the wood so that the wraps do not split. Make sure the wraps have been soaked long enough to prevent splitting.
- Soaking the string prevents it from burning.
Recipe: Seafood Plank Seasoning
This seasoning spice blend is all you need when plank grilling, whether it is salmon, cheese, steak, tuna, breakfast, dessert, or a burger. It features a blend of sugar and spice that really makes everything nice.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup light brown sugar (125 ml) 1/4 cup coarsely ground fresh black pepper (60 ml) 1/4 cup kosher salt or coarsely ground sea salt (60 ml) 3 Tbsp granulated onion (45 ml) 2 Tbsp mustard seeds, cracked (30 ml) 1 Tbsp dried dill weed (15 ml) 1 Tbsp dill seed (15 ml) 1 Tbsp coriander seed (15 ml) 1 Tbsp lemon pepper seasoning (15 ml) 2 tsp granulated garlic (10 ml)
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together. Transfer to a tightly sealed container and store in a cool, dry place for up to six months. Makes approximately 1.5 cups (375 ml).
From: Napoleon's Everyday Gourmet Plank Grilling. Copyright В©2009 Napoleon Appliance Corp. and Ted Reader. Reprinted by permission of Key Porter Books. All rights reserved.
Bob Sloan's Barbecued game hens "under the brick"
From Dad's Awesome Grilling Book by Bob Sloan (Chronicle Books).
Cookbook author Bob Sloan. "When I die, I hope to be buried with my grill tongs," jokes Bob Sloan, whose new cookbook, Dad's Awesome Grilling Book, not only provides a collection of excellent barbecue recipes, but also humorously surveys the culture of dads and grilling.
"The barbecue is a real oasis for dad," says Sloan. "It is the place where he can really feel like it's his domain, like he's a squire."
Sloan is a chef, school teacher and crime novelist who lives in Manhattan. He likes to do his grilling in the summer at his family's cottage in northern Michigan.
"We go up there for three months each year," he says, adding that on Father's Day, Dad's rightful place is at the barbecue.
"It is a place of great peace," he says. "Everyone else can do all the other work, but Dad's place is at the grill."
He and his wife, Randi, have two sons вЂ" Leo, 19, and Nate, 23 вЂ" who Sloan lovingly refers to as The Progeny. What's his only wish from them on Father's Day? "The Progeny have to laugh at all my jokes," he says, "They are obliged to, and that's opposed to their usual expressions of disdain when I try to be funny, like, 'Oh, get me out of here,' or, 'When my friends come over, please don't talk, Dad.'"
Of course, serving something great off the grill is another way to impress the family. This year, Sloan recommends cooking Tuscan-style game hens "under the brick," a method he learned from celebrity chef Mario Batali, who has a cottage in the same community as Sloan's.
"It's a fun recipe and it gives the hens a fantastic, crispy skin," Sloan says. "I like to have one of The Progeny on hand to do the ceremonial laying on of the bricks."
Recipe: Barbecued game hens "under the brick"
This is the traditional way of cooking small chickens in Tuscany (though of course the bricks they use in the recipe are metric).
Having the weight of the bricks on the hens while they grill makes the skin extra crispy and really amps up the flavour.
Have one of The Progeny on hand in the vicinity of the grill to perform the ceremonial laying on of the bricks.
Recipe serves four.
Ingredients:
- One bunch of fresh basil
- Вј cup dried rosemary
- Two tablespoons paprika
- Вј cup freshly ground black pepper
- Вј cup salt
- Вј to ВЅ cup extra virgin olive oil
- Four Rock Cornish game hens or baby chickens (called poussins), backbones removed (have your butcher do this, if possible)
- Four standard bricks wrapped in foil
- Two lemons, cut into wedges, for garnish
Place the basil, rosemary, paprika, black pepper, salt, and Вј cup of the olive oil in the container of a food processor or blender and pulse several times, until it becomes a smooth paste. Add more oil, a tablespoon at a time, if necessary. Rub both sides of the birds with the basil mixture and let them sit in the refrigerator for least two hours and up to 12 hours.
When you are ready to cook the birds, prepare enough coals for a two-tiered fire, hot on one side, medium on the other, or preheat your gas grill on medium-high on one side and medium on the other for 10 minutes with the lid closed.
When the coals are ready or the gas grill is hot, arrange the hens, skin-side down, on the hot side of the grill and place a foil-wrapped brick on top of each one. Do not move them for eight minutes. If a flareup occurs, cover the grill briefly until it goes out.
Turn the hens over, place the bricks on top, and cook for eight minutes more on the hot side of the grill.
Transfer the hens to the medium side of the grill and cook, skin-side up, for 10 more minutes. Turn and cook for another 10 to 12 minutes, until the hens are just cooked through and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 170 F (77 C).
Transfer the hens to a platter and serve immediately with the lemon wedges.
From Dad's Awesome Grilling Book. Copyright В©2009 Bob Sloan, Reprinted by permission of Chronicle Books LLC. All rights reserved.
Thomas Feller's Leg of Lamb With Herbs
From Barbecue by Thomas Feller (Hamlyn Books).
Author Thomas Feller. One doesn't immediately think of France when one thinks of barbecue. But Parisian chef Thomas Feller, whose new book Barbecue collects over 80 grilling recipes, informs me that not only is barbecue immensely popular throughout his homeland, but the word "barbecue" itself may well be of French origin.
"We have the word 'barbaq,' an old slang word for meat," Feller tells me over the phone from Paris. "It is said that the word was taken to North America by French butchers and has now returned to France as barbecue."
Feller has written more than two-dozen cookbooks and owns the catering company Thomas In My Kitchen. He does most of his al fresco grilling in Provence, where he frequently travels with his wife, Emmanuelle, and their two daughters, Suzanne, 3, and Louise, 1, to visit his parents in Uzes. This Father's Day, he feels a perfect family treat would be to grill a whole leg of lamb with herbs.
"This is a very traditional kind of dish," he says, "but normally we make it in the oven. On the barbecue, it gives wonderful results."
As seen below, part of the recipe's secret is the trick of using a bunch of fresh thyme as a basting brush.
"I learned that method as an apprentice in Strasbourg," he says. "When you are cooking, it is the fat that gives the smell and the taste, so it is good to baste the meat with some infused oil. When you brush on the oil with the thyme, the meat takes the delicious flavour of the herb."
Recipe: Leg of lamb with herbs
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Marinating Time: Two hours
Cooking time: 1 Вј hours, serves six
Ingredients:
- One small leg of lamb about 3 lb (1.5 kg)
- One standard pack fresh thyme for brushing meat
For the marinade:
- 10 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
- 10 sprigs cilantro
- Three sprigs sage
- Three sprigs rosemary
- Вѕ cup olive oil
- Six to seven tablespoons of dry white wine
- Three cloves of garlic, chopped
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Strip the leaves from all the herbs and coarsely chop them. Pour the olive oil and the wine into a large dish, then add the herbs and garlic, salt and pepper. Thoroughly mix all the ingredients together.
Put the leg of lamb into this marinade, coating it well with herbs. Leave for two hours at room temperature, turning it often. Refrigerate if preferred, but remove and allow to return to room temperature before cooking.
Light the barbecue, place the grill to heat over the flames, and when you have nice hot embers place the leg of lamb in the centre of the heat source. Brown it on all sides, using the bunch of thyme to brush it frequently with marinade.
After about 1Вј hours cooking, wrap the lamb in aluminum foil, check with a meat thermometer for doneness and leave to rest for 15 minutes on a corner of the barbecue. Carve it into slices and serve immediately.
Hot tip: Be careful not to place the lamb too near the embers as the skin is very fatty and might catch fire and flare up. Serve the lamb with a salad and a caper sauce with tomato or onion marmalade.
From Barbecue. Copyright В©2008 Hachette Livre. Reprinted by permission of Octopus Books USA. All rights reserved.
