Grab a pan, and bring the kitchen outdoors
LIKE every other red-meat-eating American, I’ve swallowed the idea that the grill is the greatest innovation since fire itself. But ever since a friend subjected me to an entire meal cooked on one, I’ve been wise to its limitations. Grilled shrimp followed by grilled steak followed by grilled fruit is a recipe for char fatigue.
While the whole country has been slaving over a hot grid, though, a solution seems to have emerged. More and more grills are being sold with side burners, which are just what they sound like: dedicated burners off the grilling area that can accommodate not just chicken but pots, skillets, even woks. Although manufacturers tend to promote them only for heating sauces or melting butter, theoretically they can turn a basic grill into a backyard Garland.
The latest models of these new must-have accessories boast up to 15,000 BTUs, which is more powerful than my 1950s Wedgewood range, which is just a bit less powerful than some home Vikings.
Even the lamer ones are at least as blazing as a rental apartment’s four-burner stove. With many of these side burners, you can cook anything you would indoors: curries, risotto, pudding, frittatas, pancakes and more. You can also stir-fry, steam and fry.
Side burners seem to have slipped onto the grill scene stealthily, though. When I flipped through a dozen or more recent grilling cookbooks the other day, from bibles to dummy manuals, not one had more than a mere mention of the things. The best reason any of them could suggest for buying one was being able to heat sauce -- and who needs that? The point of grilling is to dispense with sauce.
But with more and more Americans cooking outside year-round, it stands to reason that there would be a demand for an extension of the grill or, as it is increasingly called, the “outdoor cooking system.” No one wants to be running back and forth between the steak on the deck and the potatoes on the stove. Now you can have your fish and make soup too.
In some ways a side burner is much like a Coleman stove. But side burners are both more powerful and more controllable than a camp stove.
They also have their own limitations, much as the Coleman stove did. Every dish made on them has to be pretty much one step, or several very similar steps, simply because you are cooking at a rudimentary level, sans blender or food processor, let alone counter space. You also need to limit yourself to one pot, or pan, or skillet.
The best choices involve placing ingredients in a pot or pan and cooking, nothing more. It’s one step up from grilling, which is exactly the point. But with a little more imagination, you can make some things that bring out the other allure of grilling: showmanship. Cooking for an audience always seems less daunting when coals are involved.
Even with those considerations, there are endless dishes that adapt to grill-side cooking. For starters, you could make something as simple as chile con queso or a fondue, which are both only slightly more complicated than melting butter, or something as relatively complex as a chowder. You could steam mussels, in coconut milk with Thai green curry paste, or with just garlic and wine.
For side dishes, you could make polenta or rice or, easiest of all, couscous. You could braise baby artichokes or green beans, or simmer carrots with a little sugar and water until they caramelize, or fry up potato or zucchini pancakes.
A side burner is even useful for dessert, if only to make you appreciate your oven. Not many sweets are at their best right off the fire and out of the pot. Some that are include rice or tapioca pudding (lightened up with diced mango), fruit compote or fruit soup and stewed rhubarb. With a little more effort and a lot more flash, you could make bananas Foster, flambeed with rum, or a big batch of zabaglione to spoon over fresh berries.
Thinking back to the shrimp-steak-fruit charfest, though, what appeals most to me is a mix of the showy and the simple. Baby crab cakes, fried in batches so they can always be served hot, would be my substitute for the shrimp. Any sauce -- salsa, tartar or just a puree or roasted red peppers -- would be preferable to cocktail sauce. To go with the steak, either a wild mushroom fricassee or creamy grits would have gone a long way to making that dinner more of a meal.
The mushrooms all need to be prepped in advance, along with leeks and herbs, but once they’re in the pan, they almost cook themselves. And the grits just need stirring between moving around the meat on the grill.
As for dessert, a hot fudge sauce for ice cream, cake or strawberries strikes the right excessive but easy note. It’s something that might seem ordinary indoors but has real panache made from scratch and in plain sight. It’s also kid-simple and adult-pleasing, which is what grilling is really about.
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Wild mushroom fricassee
Total time: 40 minutes
Servings: 4 to 6
1 pound shiitakes, stemmed, caps cleaned
1/4 pound morels, stemmed, caps rinsed and dried
1/4 pound chanterelles or other seasonal wild mushrooms, cleaned
3 tablespoons butter
2 large leeks, white parts only, washed well, thinly sliced
Coarse sea salt
1/3 cup dry vermouth
1 cup beef or vegetable stock
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh herbs, such as chives, thyme or dill
Freshly ground white pepper
1. Cut the shiitake caps into quarters. Cut the morels lengthwise into quarters. If the chanterelles are large, cut them to comparable size.
2. Melt the butter in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks and cook 2 minutes. And all the mushrooms and season with salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mushrooms start to soften. Continue cooking, stirring often, until the mushrooms give up their liquid, 10 minutes. Add the vermouth and continue cooking and stirring occasionally until almost all liquid has cooked away.
3. Add the stock and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until it is mostly reduced, about 10 minutes. Add the cream and cook until the mushrooms are very tender and the liquid has thickened into a sauce. Add the herbs to taste and more salt if needed, then season with white pepper. Serve hot.
Each serving: 261 calories; 56 mg. sodium; 70 mg. cholesterol; 21 grams fat; 13 grams saturated fat; 12 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 2 grams fiber.
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Creamy grits
Total time: 35 minutes
Servings: 4 to 6
Note: To vary the flavor, omit the cheese and add 2 cloves minced garlic to the liquid before adding the grits.
2 cups half-and-half
Large dash sea or kosher salt
1 cup old-fashioned grits
Freshly ground pepper
Cayenne or hot pepper sauce
1/4 cup crumbled Maytag blue cheese or 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives or parsley
1. Combine the half-and-half with salt in a deep saucepan. Add 3 cups of water and bring to a rolling boil. Slowly pour in the grits while whisking constantly. Cook over medium heat, whisking frequently, until the grits are soft and smooth, about 20 minutes.
2. Season with pepper and cayenne to taste. Add the cheese of your choice and stir until melted. Stir in herbs and more salt if needed. Serve hot.
Each serving: 223 calories; 119 mg. sodium; 44 mg. cholesterol; 10 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 24 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 0 fiber.
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Hot fudge sauce
Total time: 5 minutes
Servings: 6
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup top-quality cocoa powder, such as Valrhona
2 (3.5-ounce) bars 70% cacao chocolate, in small pieces
2 tablespoons dark rum
1. Combine corn syrup, sugar and cocoa in a deep saucepan. Add 1/2 cup cold water; whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then boil 2 minutes (mixture will bubble wildly). Remove from heat; stir in chocolate until smooth. Stir in rum. Cool slightly and ladle over ice cream, cake or strawberries.
Each serving: 301 calories; 35 mg. sodium; 0 cholesterol; 15 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 50 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 5 grams fiber.
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Baby crab cakes
Total time: 15 minutes, plus 1 hour chilling
Servings: 4 to 6
Note: Panko are Japanese bread crumbs and available at Asian and specialty markets.
4 green onions, green parts only, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 pound lump crab meat, picked over to remove any cartilage, drained, if necessary
1/8 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/2 cup panko or fine dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Salt, pepper
1 egg
Peanut oil
2-3 tablespoons butter
1. Combine the green onions, cilantro and crab in a large bowl and toss with a fork to mix. Add the Worcestershire and hot sauce and toss again, being careful not to break up the crab too much. Add the panko and mayonnaise and toss again. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the egg and mix well without breaking up the crab. Shape the mixture into 2-inch round cakes and lay out on baking sheet lined with wax paper. Cover with more wax paper and chill at least 1 hour to firm up.
2. Pour the oil to a depth of about 1/2 inch in a large skillet and heat over medium heat until hot. Add the butter. When it has melted, carefully lay the crab cakes in without crowding the pan (work in batches). Fry 2 minutes on each side until crisp and brown. Drain on paper towels and serve hot (with salsa, tartar sauce or a puree of roasted red peppers).
Each serving: 229 calories; 339 mg. sodium; 113 mg. cholesterol; 14 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 18 grams protein; 1 gram fiber.