The summer is upon us, and grills and smokers all over the DMV are heating up as well. For the series 鈥淔ired Up with Jake and John,鈥� 草莓传媒鈥檚 Mike Jakaitis and John Domen talk with some of the region鈥檚 best pit masters about their methods, with the goal of helping you level up your barbecue game.
All summer long, we have talked meat, meat, meat, and more meat.
This week, we are doing a 180 and appealing to vegans and others who love their veggies. Cooking vegetables on the stove is as exciting as spreading mulch in the yard. But add a little fire and some smoke and I’m all in. Farmer鈥檚 markets are stocked with fresh corn, peppers, zucchini and many other delicious vegetables right now, and they come out great on the grill or in the smoker.
Steven Raichlen has been a grill master for a long time. He is the author of many books on barbecue, including 鈥淗ow to Grill鈥� and 鈥淭he Barbecue Bible.鈥� He鈥檚 written chapter and verse about ribs, brisket, steaks and chicken, but he flipped the script in his latest book, 鈥淗ow to Grill Vegetables: The New Bible for Barbecuing Vegetables over Live Fire.鈥�
“I think every vegetable tastes better over live fire,” he said.
Raichlen grills a lot of his vegetables using the same method he uses to grill a big juicy steak: 鈥淚t’s the oldest, the most primal, the most primitive style of grilling,鈥� he said.
It’s called caveman style: The vegetables are grilled directly on the charcoal embers. Nope 鈥� no grill grate.
鈥淚 do eggplants caveman style; bell peppers are amazing. Salsa ingredients — your tomatoes, your peppers, your onions.鈥�
Even corn on the cob 鈥淛ust lay it right on the embers [without foil]. You get a smoke flavor; it’s off-the-charts delicious.”
A lot of us 鈥� not including my podcast partner John Domen 鈥� love potatoes. Raichlen said they鈥檙e excellent on the grill, and there are many ways to grill them. If you’re grilling potatoes for the first time he suggests a simple method: 鈥淏rush it with melted butter, olive oil — or why not even bacon fat — salt and pepper and indirect grill it.鈥�
(Sorry, vegans; I couldn’t resist the temptation to mention meat.)
You can even grill peas! Raichlen warns it can be very time consuming to grill such a little vegetable, but he did it on his PBS show 鈥淧roject Fire鈥� a couple of years ago.
“I wanted to put peas in the paella, so somebody in our field kitchen actually skewered individual peas on very slender bamboo skewers.”
Vegetables already have a lot of great natural flavor, he said, but he鈥檚 gotten a lot of seasoning inspiration from other cultures where vegetables are a primary food source, such as Armenia, Southeast Asia and South America. He also has a piece of advice when adding herbs to vegetables: “Take an extra bunch and toss it on the coals; you’ll be cooking in this wonderful fragrant herb smoke.”
And Raichlen said vegetables are a great way for first-time grillers to get their feet wet — because it’s really hard to mess up.
“We are in the realm of foods you can burn and it still tastes great,鈥� he said; “You can burn a bell pepper; you can burn an eggplant, and it will taste all that much better.”
You know, Meatless Mondays may become a thing in our household.
to the 鈥淔ired Up with Jake and John鈥� podcast on Podcast One.
