Kate's Global Kitchen: Summer Grilling

More Grilling, All Year Long

Salmon

Wacky weather strikes again. While this past summer has been unseasonably cool in Texas, where I grew up, it's also been unbearably hot in California, where I live now. Drought conditions fed the flames in forests and counties throughout the West, and I'm starting to do raindances in hopes of ample moisture this fall and winter.

Even grilling outdoors, which is my normal summer pattern, was painful. As the thermometer rose into the hundreds during the day, we increasingly ate later each night. The only way I could face the grill was after sunset, when the sizzling air gave way to evening coolness, or at least, cooler-ness.

September in many parts of the West typically rages with heat, not at all the benign entry into autumn most people think of. Right now, it's way too early to put away the grill, and in the sunbelt states, most of us don't retire our grills ever. Barbecue in January is not uncommon, and I've even been served deep-fried turkey at Thanksgiving and a pit-roasted pig, Hawaiian-style, at Christmas.

So before the Yankees, Easterners and other snow-bound cooks roll away their grills for the season, let's make one last blast into fired-up food. The recipes below deviate from the same old ketchupy barbecue sauces—one marinates salmon in elegant crème de cassis, and the other infuses flank steak with oyster sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, and lime juice for a Southeast Asian flavor. Both are a great way to say so long to summer.

Recipes

Grilled Salmon Cassis

Flank Steak in Southeast Asian Marinade

Kate's Global Kitchen for August-September 2002:
08/30/02     More Grilling, All Year Long
09/06/02     "Meating" the Italian "Salumeria"
09/13/02     Cooking Up an Italian Life
09/20/02     Savoring Salt-Packed Anchovies & Capers
09/27/02     The Little Italian Cookbook, Revised

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