Tip from Margo True, Food Editor: Play with your fire. After years of living in the East, where tri-tip is as common as zebra, I'd lost my tri-tip grilling savvy, especially over charcoal. On my first attempt, the coals, perfect at first, dwindled fast, and the meat took ages to cook. Next I tried grooved coals that burned as hot as a blowtorch. Then I remembered: Play with the fire to get the right heat. I created a coal-free zone to give me medium heat, and moved the tri-tip there. Later, I pushed it back, chasing medium. At the end, I let the breeze fan the coals into a final burst. Cooking over live fire is like driving a stick shift. It feels good to be back in gear. Prep and Cook Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes. Notes: Find sour or bitter oranges (aka Seville oranges) at Latino markets.
Photo by: Photo: Annabelle Breakey; Styling: Randy Mon
1. Rinse and dry tri-tip. Rub with 1 tbsp. olive oil. Whisk together 1 tsp. cumin, dried oregano, 1 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper; massage into tri-tip. Let sit 30 minutes.
2. Make sauce: In a blender, whirl juices with remaining cumin, the fresh oregano, the garlic, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper, and remaining olive oil. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper.
3. Prepare a charcoal or gas grill for medium heat (350° to 450°; you can hold your hand 5 in. above cooking grate only 5 to 7 seconds), leaving a cleared area if using charcoal. Grill tri-tip, turning to brown evenly and, on charcoal, moving it to wherever heat is medium (see "Our Live-Fire Grilling Secrets," below), until a thermometer inserted in center reads 125° to 130° for medium-rare, 25 to 30 minutes. Let meat rest 15 minutes, then cut across the grain into thin, slanting slices. Serve with sauce.
Our Live-Fire Grilling Secrets: Gas is no big deal, because the heat stays steady. Charcoal or hardwood is a different game. Here are a few hints for staying on top of yours.
Keep the Firegrate Ash-free. A big pileup blocks the airflow, choking the fire so it can't burn.
Get to Know Your Coals and How They Burn. Start by following the directions on the package (seriously). Kingsford's new grooved coals, for instance, burn hotter and longer than the smooth kind, so a single layer of coals puts out a lot of heat. Hardwood charcoal pops and sizzles and burns unevenly, but gives great flavor.
Create an Emergency Cool Spot. If your grill is big enough, leave an area of the firegrate free of coals. You'll typically use this cool spot at least once whenever you grill.
Measure the Heat Constantly. Use your grill's thermometer or, if it doesn't have one, your hand. Low heat (250° to 350°) means you can keep your hand 5 in. above the cooking grate for 8 to 10 seconds before you have to yank it away. For medium heat (350° to 450°), you can keep your hand steady for 5 to 7 seconds; for high (450° to 550°), 2 to 4 seconds; for very high (550° to 650°), 1 to 2 seconds.
Move Your Food Around. Once you've identified which spot on the grill has the desired heat, get your food over there (often the emergency spot will have just the temperature you need, if only for a little while). You may have to move food several times before it has finished cooking. The exception: food that cooks in a flash over a super-hot fire.
Manipulate the Fire. Need it hotter? Push coals together or throw on a few more. Cooler? Separate the coals or cover the grill with the lid. Close lid vents to cool it off even more. (Don't close vents under the firegrate, though, or the fire will go out.)
Note: Nutritional analysis is per serving.
Sunset JULY 2008
Tip from Stephanie Dean, Test Kitchen coordinator: Try a baking sheet. Boy, do I hate to skewer things. It takes so much time. Plus I'm afraid of stabbing myself. But how else to grill little chunks of vegetables so they don't fall through the cooking grate? Use a baking sheet. It saves time and pain, and, since the vegetables cook indirectly, I can glaze them with balsamic vinegar, which ordinarily scorches on the grill. And I can cut them into strips, which won't cling to a skewer. The result: creamy, melt-in-your-mouth vegetables. Prep and Cook Time: about 2 hours. Notes: Serve in pita halves, over pasta, or with grilled lamb, beef, or chicken.
1. Prepare a charcoal or gas grill for indirect medium heat (350° to 450°; you can hold your hand 5 in. above cooking grate only 5 to 7 seconds). If using charcoal, light 60 briquets and let burn until covered with ash, 15 minutes. Bank evenly on 2 sides. The area over the cleared section is the indirect heat area. If using gas, turn all burners to high, close lid, and heat for 10 minutes. Then turn off 1 burner and reduce others to medium. The area over the turned-off burner is the indirect heat area.
2. In a large bowl, toss together all but the last 3 ingredients. Spread vegetables on a large rimmed baking sheet (not nonstick).
3. Cook vegetables over indirect heat, lid down, until very tender, about 60 minutes (for charcoal, add 4 briquets to each side every 30 minutes and keep measuring heat), gently stirring every 15 minutes. Drizzle with vinegar, stir, and cook 15 minutes more. Let vegetables cool. Put in a medium bowl, toss with pine nuts and salt to taste, and sprinkle with cheese.
Note: Nutritional analysis is per serving (about 3/4 cup).
Sunset JULY 2008
For a simple 4-ingredient grilled fruit dessert, make a caramel sauce with sugar and coconut milk and brush the sauce on pineapple slices while they're grilling. Top the pineapple with coconut and serve with the extra sauce.
Photo by: Photo: Annabelle Breakey; Styling: Randy Mon
1. Trim ends from pineapple, then stand it on one end and cut off peel. Quarter pineapple lengthwise and cut out core. Reserve half the pineapple for another use. Cut each remaining quarter into 4 lengthwise slices, then cut each slice in half to make 16 thin wedges. Skewer each lengthwise.
2. In a small saucepan, combine sugar with 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil, swirling to dissolve sugar; boil, swirling occasionally (do not stir), until just golden and honeylike. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in coconut milk (mixture will bubble furiously).
3. Prepare a gas or charcoal grill for high heat (450° to 550°; you can hold your hand 5 in. above cooking grate only 2 to 4 seconds). Using a pastry brush, coat pineapple pieces with caramel sauce. Grill just until marks appear, then turn to mark other side, 4 to 5 minutes total. Put skewers on a platter, sprinkle with toasted coconut, and serve with remaining caramel sauce.
Note: Nutritional analysis is per serving.
Sunset JULY 2008
Tip from Elaine Johnson, Associate Food Editor: Turn heat super-high. In 1 1/2 hours, can I make dinner while grocery shopping for the week? On my mark: I toss a flank steak (very thin and therefore fast to cook on a hot fire) in a ridiculously easy marinade, dump charcoal in a chimney, alert husband to light the fire, and call children to set the table. Get set: I'm off to the market, where I careen through aisles, piling food into the cart. Back home, go! Toss meat on grill. Zip in house to make sauce from marinade. Warm up bread. Pile watercress in bowl. Slice meat. Sit down with happy family. Total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes. Crazed mom does it again. Prep and Cook Time: 20 minutes, plus 1 hour to marinate. Notes: Many stores such as Trader Joe's sell naan, an Indian flatbread, and garam masala, an earthy Indian spice mixture.
Photo by: Photo: Annabelle Breakey; Styling: Randy Mon
1. In an 8- or 9-in. glass dish, mix olive oil, lemon juice, garam masala, 1/2 tsp. salt, and the pepper. Turn steak in mixture and let marinate at room temperature 1 hour.
2. Prepare a charcoal or gas grill for very high heat (550° to 650°; you can hold your hand 5 in. above cooking grate only 1 to 2 seconds). While grill heats, preheat cooking grate for at least 10 minutes.
3. Pour marinade into a small pan and bring to a simmer; remove from heat. Pour 1 tbsp. water into a blender, turn on, drizzle in marinade, and whirl to emulsify.
4. Grill steak, covered, turning once, about 5 minutes for medium-rare (cut to test). Lift to a board and loosely cover with foil.
5. Grill naan, turning once, until hot and slightly crusty, 1 to 2 minutes. Lift to board.
6. Thinly slice steak across the grain. Let each person arrange meat and watercress over half of each naan. Drizzle sauce on top, sprinkle with salt to taste, and fold naan in half to make a sandwich.
Note: Nutritional analysis is per naan-wich.
Sunset JULY 2008
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