Today, I grilled a couple of inexpensive steaks, corn on the cob slightly steamed and wrapped in foil with a little "Mexican Street Corn" seasoning, and a mushroom pilaf in parsley butter with red onion, carrots and celery. It was a tasty supper, but that's more or less the kind of thing everyone grills.
Yesterday, I grilled...meatloaf. Yes, meatloaf. I like the stuff and with a wonky oven, I haven't made it in years. Our corner grocery sells fresh meatloaf ready for the oven, at a price not much more than the ingredients, and without the investment in time and effort.
Meatloaf gets baked at 325° to 350°F. A charcoal grill will do 450°F with a little effort. 300° to 350° is typical for a covered grill. So I tried it: built up a nice layer of coals, raked them to the sides for indirect heat, set the store-bought meatloaf in its little foil pan on a grill pan and let it bake for an hour. I did add a strip of catsup (Heinz Chili Sauce -- try it!) down the middle; it's not really meat loaf to me without it. I set an oven thermometer next to the pan and looked in at fifteen and thirty minutes. The grill was making 325°. After an hour, I used the digital thermometer to check for done-ness in the middle, and it was well past the 165° minimum.
Off the fire, drained and sat for ten minutes, it was ready to slice and was as good as any meatloaf I have had. I had a warmed-up slice for lunch today and I may have more for breakfast tomorrow.
I'm working my way around to trying to bake bread in the grill, just to see if it can be done.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
2 comments:
Bread in a wood fired oven is as old as, well bread.
The common modern thing is wood fired pizza, bread with stuff
on it. I do a form of grilled flat bread more like Focaccia or
sometimes Naan. A quick dough makes a great pita.
Loaf breads can be two styles one being in a dutch oven (yummy)
the other as artisan (formed loaf, no pan). The trick is getting
the heat right and then time. I've tried a conventional bread
dough this way and the result is wonderful.
It requires the oven to be in the 375 to 450 range. One trick
seen is dividing the grill in to halves using some fire brick
with coals on one side and the other for indirect heat.
I use a gas fired grill so getting the temperature and controlling
it is easier. I cook breads on a pizza stone on the semi-direct
heat by shutting off one of the three burners after its all up
to temp.
FYI biscuits are great on the grill.
Eck!
Nice. I hadn't thought of using a grill for "baking". When I was in scouts, we had Dutch Ovens for that.
Unfortunately the only one I had access to went somewhere else when my Dad died and I wouldn't use it enough to justify purchasing a new one.
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