Grill Recipes

Tender meats are the result of slow cooking. However, favorable flavors and crisp textures follow from high heat. Even your grill can use an occasional boost.

Salamander or Torch: To caramelize that sweet barbecue sauce considers using a handy electric salamander or plumber's torch. Both work quickly and both will gain attention from onlookers. The electric salamander is a heavy round cast-iron disc that gets red hot. Move it across items on your grill and they will brown in a moment.

If you don't have a salamander, try a torch. Go to your shop or garage and dust off the old plumber's torch or hand-held butane torch. Torches with flame spreaders are best. Check the canister for gas and light it. That beautiful blue flame will quickly toast bread, singe vegetables, caramelize sauces or crisp edges.

Grilling requires courage and skill, and I challenge you to demonstrate yours with salamanders or torches.

One of the easiest ways to add flavor to gas-grilled food is to add wood chips to the inside of the grill when you cook. If you do decide to experiment with wood-smoke flavoring, you'll add a whole new dimension to your grilling repertoire, and, with practice, you'll even be able to approximate the skills of a venerable Southern pitmaster. To get you started, here are the more common types of wood available, along with the foods with which they go best:

ALDER: Traditionally pairs with seafood, especially salmon. Also excellent with pork and chicken.

APPLE: A sweet flavor very good with ham and sausage, and good with other pork dishes, along with poultry and game birds.

CHERRY: Great with duck and very good with chicken and turkey. Pairs handsomely with lamb and venison, too.

HICKORY: The traditional wood for Southern-style pork barbecue, but perfectly appropriate for beef and poultry as well.

MAPLE: Traditional, of course, with cured or cold-smoked ham, and very fine, too, with grilled ham. A good complement for turkey and some vegetables, such as squash.

MESQUITE: Not a traditional barbecue wood, but popular in recent years, to say the least. Use sparingly and not over a long cooking time, to avoid a bitter flavor. Goes well with pork or lamb chops, beefsteaks, and swordfish, and used modestly with vegetables.

OAK: Great with steaks and other beef dishes, and does nice things for duck and all manner of pork.