Summertime… and the grilling is easy

Picnics, watermelons and Fourth of July barbeques quickly come to the minds of most Americans when thinking of the summer months. This is the time to gather together and enjoy the long days — outdoors. Most people enjoy a good cookout, and whether one is a veteran griller or a beginner, now is a good time to fire up those grills. After all, last year over 47 million Americans enjoyed this summer pastime.

Nathan Lewis, 29, of Gainesville, became a self-described grill master after being left to tend to the food by a distracted party host several years ago.

"I was asked if I can take over and I went ahead and started cooking hamburgers, hot dogs and turkey dogs on a 20-year-old Weber grill,” Lewis said. “I was especially nervous. It was the first time I was ever responsible for grilling on a charcoal."

Lewis quickly discovered that he enjoyed it — a lot.

“The thing I liked about it was sitting outside for many hours,” Lewis said. “People come by and talk to me. The whole social aspect is great, and people are nice because you’re cooking their food.”

Lewis said he especially enjoyed the primal smells of the burning charcoal and the cooking meat.

"You have to put your full attention into it,” Lewis said. “The entire experience for me is very immersive.

Like many first time grillers, Lewis was smitten. Within a month he had his own Weber grill and was experimenting with different cooking techniques. One of his favorites is smoked chicken. He coats the bird with Italian dressing and a butter-and-honey mix and glazes it while it cooks.

“I cook it about four hours over Hickory wood, soaked in water, along with charcoal,” Lewis said. “Every thirty minutes I take a little brush and coat it.”

He also cooks vegetables on the grill, as well as baked beans, left in the open can.

“That tastes really good,” he said. “That hickory smoke flavor gets in there.”

He prefers cooking with coal and readily admits that part of the pleasure comes from sitting outside, cooking his food, drinking a beer.

“I don’t think about work when I’m grilling.”

John Glanzer, 57, of Newberry, has a passion for cooking and is quick to point out that barbequing and grilling are not the same thing.

"You have the age-old difference in terminology,” Glanzer said. “Grilling is over a high, direct heat. Barbeque is a slow cooking method. If you are doing briskets or pork butt, or pork shoulder, you would cook it at 225 to 250 degrees, anywhere from 12 to 15 hours.

“And when you do that type, everybody has a different way of doing it.”

When Glanzer was a child he would watch his father cook on the grill. Later in life, after he had become a father, he discovered he also enjoyed this cooking pastime.

“My dad used to do it when we were kids. It kind of evolved after a while,” he said. “I didn’t get heavy into it until my kids bought me a gas grill. I burned that one up and then I got another.”

Glanzer said there are many different recipes for making marinades or rubs, and even the method of application varies from person to person. Some people do not put anything on until after the food has cooked.

He also said the rubs he concocts are always a little different.

"I probably never make the rub the same way twice,” he said. “It depends on what’s in my cabinet.

His dry rubs consist of vinegar-based powdered spices that he mops onto the food.

“Every hour or so you slop some of this liquid on,” he said. “You can cook the same piece of meat three or four different ways, depending on taste.”

Like many backyard chefs, Glanzer said he likes to experiment with different cooking techniques and recipes. Sometimes he applies a dry rub before cooking, and other times he marinades it for hours. But he cautioned people to cook food the proper amount of time.

“You don’t want high heat with chicken,” he said. “To grill chicken, let the coals die down so they are not super hot. If its bone-in chicken it takes longer to cook.”

He said that thin pieces of boneless chicken breast cook in five to 10 minutes.

Glanzer has experimented with cooking a variety of fruits and vegetables and recommends people do the same.

"Apples, zucchini, squash, mango, peaches — I haven’t tried watermelon,” Glanzer said with a chuckle. “Put them in a bowl with a little bit of seasoning. If you like them plain, use a bit of olive oil.

Just be sure the food is big enough to not fall through the grill, he cautioned.

Corn, he said, is barbequed best when left in the husk.

“I usually peal the husks back, leave them connected, get the silk off and pull the husk back on,” Glanzer said. He uses Cajun or some other seasoning. “Then you roll the husks back up around the corn and you can grill it just that way or you can wrap it in a piece of tin foil.”

Corn should not be cooked for hours. Glanzer said he puts it on for the last hour of cooking.

“If it is a high temperature grill, the corn goes on for 20 to 25 minutes, depending upon how much stuff is on the grill,” he said.

Cooking corn in the husk locks in the taste, Glanzer said.

“When you boil corn, the natural sugars boil out,” Glanzer said. “With cooking in the husk you aren’t pouring flavors down the drain.”

Glanzer emphasizes that everybody has different tastes and different techniques, from the type of marinade used to the type of fire.

“That’s another thing — you got charcoal people and gas people,” Glanzer said. “I’m ambidextrous.”

Glanzer also enjoys smoking his dinner at a low heat for many hours.

“It’s a long-term cooking process,” Glanzer said. “You get all the smoke flavor. Every hour or so you’ve got to come back. Some people don’t touch it for hours.”

Dale Cole, 58, of Archer, happens to love fishing and barbeques. Cole was preparing to grill some fish for a party.

“These are local fish caught at Horseshoe Beach,” he said as he unwrapped the tin foil and revealed the filets. “Spotted sea trout.”

He said he first buttered both sides of the fish liberally and then sprinkled cayenne.

“Fill a paper bag with batter, pour all the fish in and shake it up,” Cole said. The batter consists of corn meal, breadcrumbs, or hushpuppy mix. It adds flavor and helps hold the fish together.

The coals were hot, flames licking through the metal grate as Cole decided whether to cook the fish on the tin foil or directly on the grill. When the oil on the foil caught fire he did a little of both.

Like many grillers, Cole never cooks the same way twice.

“It’s not the same,” Cole said. “But it’s always good.”

Cole was attentive, never straying far from the fire. He cooked the fish for about eight minutes on each side. This was not a meal to be cooked all day

“When the fish are brown and firm, and the flesh flakes off, it’s done,” he said.

In short order the filets were finished and being served.

And in shorter order still, they were gone.