Veal is pricey, so let it be the star
Outdoor grilling is in full season, and cookbook author Mark Bittman is at the ready with one of his blockbuster cookbooks on the subject.
How To Grill Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Flamecooked Food (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Raincoast, $40) is a winner, thanks, so the author confesses, to the help of veteran cookbook editor and writer Pam Hoenig.
She did, as former New York Times food columnist Bittman states, most of the work on this tome of a book.
It claims to contain 1,000 recipes, since each of those provided contains three variations. Whether you like gas or charcoal, “hot and fast cooking” or “slowand-low,” familiar or offbeat foods, this is a comprehensive, well-written and illustrated book. Even sweetbreads make it to the grill, flavoured with lemon, or red peppers, or pancetta, or green chimichurri.
The vegetable section includes grilled kale, collard greens and baby bok choy. Eggplant ideas are tempting, advice generous.
Tips include don’t bother butterflying shrimp; buy jumbo size; liven up chicken by skewering pieces with chunks of sausage; marinate lean beef in balsamic vinegar.
A beginner could grill successfully by following directions in this book. A veteran griller could find new ideas, such as skewers of lamb with onions and grapes or cubes of fish with chunks of Italian bread and oranges.
Another plus factor: The book is big and wide, but it stays open.
Veal is expensive, so keep it simple, Bittman says. If you don’t want your veal medium-rare to medium, use centre-cut pork chops, he says.
Mouth-watering photographs are by Christina Holmes.
SIMPLY SEARED VEAL CHOPS
Serves: 4
4 veal loin or rib chops, about
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1 inch (2.5 cm) thick, 12 to 16 oz (340 to 454 g) each
Salt and freshly ground pepper
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Lemon wedges
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1. Make sure grates are clean. Start coals or heat gas grill for hot, direct cooking.
2. Pat chops dry with paper towels. Sprinkle on both sides with salt and pepper.
3. Place chops on grill directly over the fire. Close the lid and cook, turning once, to one stage shy of the desired doneness. Use an instant-read thermometer, avoiding bone, to check meat has reached 135 F (60 C).
4. Transfer meat to a platter and let sit about five minutes, checking the temperature occasionally. When the chops are ready, serve with lemon wedges.
ALTERNATIVES:
Brush chops with olive oil. Cover meaty parts on both sides with fresh sage leaves and brush leaves with oil. Grill, making sure sage remains stuck to the meat.
Combine olive oil, some sherry vinegar and fresh rosemary leaves, marinate chops in mixture, then cook as in basic recipe.
Skip lemon and serve chops with gremolata made by combining chopped parsley, grated lemon rind and minced garlic.