Pleasures of summer - Brief Article

Sunset, July, 2000

* What could be more Western than preparing and enjoying a meal outdoors in the summertime? This issue is packed with great ideas: a season's worth of delicious meals to prepare over the coals from the winners of our barbecue cook-off, and an array of outdoor dining areas, including a romantic "room" you can set up in your garden (page 96).

In response to our call for barbecue contest entries last April, hundreds of readers submitted their favorite recipes in five categories: steaks, ribs, and chops; burgers; seafood; poultry; and wild cards. The Sunset food staff winnowed the 75 most promising. Their selections ran the gamut--good versions of classics, inventive sauces, and a few real surprises, like prime rib and Yorkshire pudding prepared simultaneously on the grill.

Judges were Jerry Anne Di Vecchio, Sunset's senior editor for food and entertaining; Christine Keff, executive chef for Flying Fish Restaurant in Seattle; Robin Kline, assistant vice president of the National Pork Producers Council; Marty Meitus, food editor for the Denver Rocky Mountain News; and Randy Waidner, executive chef for the Weber Grill Restaurants in Wheeling and Lombard, Illinois.

"What struck me most about this contest?" muses Elaine Johnson, the senior writer in charge of the project. "Barbecuers have a good time. They're also extremely creative. I mean, look at Dan Peters's story of how he came up with Sauceless-in-Seatrie Ribs [page 84 and pictured on the cover], or Roxanne and Bock Chan's recipe for paella burgers [page 88]."

Rosalie Muller Wright