Gourmet grilling

Vegetarian Journal, May-June, 2002 by Nancy Berkoff

SINCE HUMANKIND DISCOVERED FIRE, someone's been out in the backyard grilling. We've come a long way from an unkempt pile of lighted wood and food dangling from the end of a sharp stick. Nowadays, there are gas or charcoal grills that cost more than some cars, and that come with attachments and tools for every grilling desire.

Grilled food is not just relegated to burgers and hot dogs anymore either. Tune into the Food Network or cruise the cookbook aisle of your local bookstore and you'll find directions for creating exotic, elegant cuisine using your grill.

It's up to you to decide in which type of grill you'd like to invest. A hibachi on the fire escape or a built-in ceramic-and-stainless steel model can each yield some great food. In other words, it's not the toys, it's the technique. Whatever you decide to buy, just be sure it can contain the flames and the heat of the fire.

Accessories are pretty important. Your grill doesn't have to have a lid or a cover, but you do need some way to enclose the food. A metal colander can be used to cover grilling food in order to create a steaming effect. Whatever you do, don't use a plastic colander! Invest in a metal colander with handles that are safe for holding over high heat.

Different types of wood and quality of fire are highly personal items for the experienced griller. Cherry, mesquite, or maple woods can impart different flavors to foods, so experiment. I'm not going to suggest how to build a fire; you're on your own there. You might want to consult your old Scouting manual. For the grilling neophytes out there, I will tell you that you don't want to start grilling until the flames have died down. Follow the manual that came with your grill.

If you have a large enough grill, there may be several racks in it at different heights. This way you can take advantage of all the time and effort that went into building the fire. You can wrap white or sweet potatoes or corn in foil and place them underneath the coals. You can grill heartier foods, such as eggplant, onions, carrots, or winter squash, on the rack closest to the fire, and more delicate items, such as extra-firm tofu, mushrooms, or asparagus, on the rack farther from the heat. Put together a vegetable stew in a cast-iron Dutch oven (deep pot) with a cover, and place it on a rack far away from the heat to cook slowly (the crock-pot effect). Heat an apple in foil with some spices and margarine (see the Grilled Sweet Peaches recipe on page 10) and place it next to the stew pot. As long as the weather holds up, your oven is going to get mighty lonely.

There are some tricks of the trade. To prevent food from sticking to the grill you can either keep the grill racks greased with vegetable spray (before heating--never spray into the fire) or you can wipe the grill racks with oil before you start cooking. This will not add an appreciable amount of oil to your cooking. If you are going to put a pot on the grill, a hint for preserving pots is to coat the bottoms with liquid soap. Just be sure there won't be any food directly under it.

If you plan on doing different types of cooking on your grill, you'll need a cast-iron pot for stews and a hinged wired basket for grilling veggie burgers, extra firm tofu, or slices of vegetables, seitan, or tempeh. You'll want a sharp knife available to slice into veggies to determine their doneness. Long-handled tongs are easier to use than spatulas for turning food, and they can double as serving utensils. Metal or heat-resistant wood skewers are useful for making veggie or tempeh kabobs that are easily rotated on a grill. Heavy-duty foil is the best type to use for lining grills or for wrapping food to be placed on it. Invest in some long-handled brushes for post-prandial cleaning.

You have several choices when it comes to grilling vegetables or meat alternatives. You can use frozen, unthawed vegetables or sliced, washed fresh vegetables. You can cut up vegetables or cook whole small vegetables, such as tomatoes, baby carrots, or petite sweet onions. If you think your ingredients are too delicate to place directly above the heat, put them in foil packets and let them steam on the grill rack. Heartier ingredients, such as carrots, potatoes, or tempeh, can be placed directly on the grill or under hot coals for 10-15 minutes. Or you can grease a rack above the coals and use thick slices of mushrooms, peppers, and tomatoes. If you want to cover your ingredients, use an upside-down metal colander to seal in some of the juices.

Grilling does take a lot of moisture out of foods, so some people like to utilize marinades, which can also add flavor to grilled items. For an elegant touch, use a wine and tarragon mixture for potatoes, tofu, or tempeh. White wine, oil, garlic, onion, and celery salt make a good marinade, as do beer, oil, garlic, and cloves. Soy yogurt, garlic, pepper, curry, and cardamom can give an Indian or Indonesian flavor to grilled foods, and add a nice spiciness and color. If you prefer not to use wine, then vinegar, soy sauce, oil, sweetener, and ginger can give an Asian flair to your grilled foods.