Julie Van Rosendaal offers some 'nice smoky' BBQ hacks
CBC Calgary's food expert shares tips and tricks for grilled dishes.
This story was originally posted on July 18.
As we enter the second half of the summer barbecuing season, CBC food columnist Julie Van Rosendaal has a few hacks to keep things interesting.
"When we're talking about real, authentic barbecue, it's low and slow, but when we're talking about grilling, it's high, intense, direct heat," she told the Calgary Eyeopener Tuesday morning.
"The grills are often limited to burgers and hot dogs and steaks."
She suggests grilling pizzas and naan breads instead. The intense and direct high heat will slightly char the bread's edges.
"I have people texting me, 'like really, I just put the dough right on the grill?' If it's really hot, that will keep it from sticking," she said.
To give dishes a "nice smoky flavour," Van Rosendaal says to try wood chips. Make a homemade foil packet, or use a foil pan, and poke some holes in the top. Fill it with wood chips soaked in water and throw that at the back of the grill.
"Sometimes I use the remnants of a cedar plank," she said.
Always keep a water spray bottle on hand to keep those chips moistened — and so the smoking doesn't turn into anything more dangerous.
A cast iron pan can be helpful to get the barbecue taste for harder-to-keep-together kinds of foods. For example, Van Rosendaal suggests baking a brie cheese briefly or even layering peaches or pineapple for a summery dessert.
Recently, Van Rosendaal baked cherries in the barbecue cast iron, softened with sugar and honey, and then layered with chocolate chips and marshmallows. Serve that with cookies or graham crackers as scoops.
She also suggests dessert kebabs of thick slices of pound cake and strawberries.
Try using two skewers per kebab for easy serving.
With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.
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