We’re hard at work in the test kitchen months before grilling season starts. We often find ourselves developing summertime favorites in the middle of winter, and finding a spot to grill (sometimes in the snow) can be challenging. I’m lucky enough to have a backyard and both a gas and charcoal grill, so I volunteer on occasion to bundle up and test recipes from home to ensure accuracy.
Here are some tips I picked up this past winter while testing recipes for the June issue of Food Network Magazine.
5 Tips for Successful Grilling:
1. Get organized. Make sure everything you need is organized and within reach of your grilling command station. Using a small baking sheet is a great way to keep sauces, seasonings, timers, thermometers, recipes and miscellaneous equipment nearby and ready.
2. Invest in a thermometer. If you’re cooking larger, more expensive cuts of meat using a thermometer can help with accurate cooking temperatures — so you don’t overcook that pricey steak. We in the test kitchens like digital instant-read thermometers.
Click here for three more tips
Hot tips from Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:
Homemade pickles are a fun way to customize sandwiches and salads, and they don’t have to take days. You can pickle vegetables by soaking them in a vinegar-based brine for just 20 minutes, like Food Network Magazine did for these Cold Asian Noodles With Pork. Use a hot brine to pickle beets, carrots and other dense vegetables, and a cold brine for more delicate vegetables, like the red onion in these Chicken Salad Sandwiches With Walnut-Dill Pesto.
Hot tips from Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:
Instead of the usual penne or macaroni, try stuffed pasta like ravioli, tortellini or pierogi in a pasta salad. Stick to cheese varieties (meat-filled pasta isn’t as appealing cold) and choose a subtle dressing that won’t overpower the filling, like the lemony one in this Ravioli Salad from Food Network Magazine.
Hot tips from Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:
Try roasting a pepper directly over a gas burner: Rest the pepper right on the burner grate, turn the heat to high and rotate it frequently with tongs until it’s charred (the pepper served with the Spinach and Feta Frittata from Food Network Magazine took just a few minutes). You can use your burner flame to heat tortillas and pita bread, too. If you don’t have a gas stove, just use your broiler.
Bobby Flay took a break from cooking for “Savor Borgata: A Taste of American Classics” at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, N.J. to chat with us about his holiday plans. We asked him seven rapid-fire questions to help us get to know his holiday personality.
FN Dish: For a holiday drink, eggnog, apple cider or hot chocolate?
Bobby Flay: Hot chocolate
FN Dish: Vodka, tequila, gin or bourbon?
BF: Bourbon
FN Dish: Christmas breakfast or Christmas dinner?
BF: Breakfast
Does Bobby eat fruitcake? »
Winter’s gone by the wayside (hopefully) and the great outdoors await – after you finish your grocery shopping. You’ve followed my tips and made a detailed list. You have your coupons and your cash. But you’ve also got a car full of kids with a knack for wreaking havoc on your financial prudence.
Each one wants a different cereal, ice cream, lunch snack and juice box. One is hungry, another tired and yet another needs to go to the bathroom. You just throw everything into the cart in an effort to emerge from the store with your sanity, but you are also vastly over budget, having broken the cardinal rule of sticking to your list.
The stress that frequently accompanies taking children on a trip to the supermarket often results in additional pounds on the hips and fewer dollars in the bank. But this does not have to be the case!
Roni’s tips for grocery shopping with kids
