Grill is not just for steak

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By Bobbi Mlynar (Contact)

Monday, September 22, 2008

Photo by Adam Vogler

Judith Fertig talks to the crowd at the Emporia Farmers Market while Karen Adler loads the grill with tomatoes Saturday, Sept. 20. The two Kansas City residents form the BBQ Queens, cookbook authors, culinary instructors and BBQ instructors.

There was food galore and samples for the crowd when the Barbecue Queens, Karen Adler and Judith Fertig, brought their grills to the Farmers Market on Saturday.

The audience through the hours-long presentation was free to come and go, though some stayed throughout the program to learn new ways to use barbecue grills year-round.

The Queens cooked everything from steak to salads as they worked their way through fresh foods donated by local vendors and producers.

Their presentation was full of tips to make grilling easier and tastier while eliminating the mess that comes from cooking in the kitchen.

Fertig recommended “planking” meats like salmon, sirloin, and chicken, and said that portobello mushrooms also could be planked. All that is needed is a plank of lumber — something aromatic, like cedar, and soak it in water for an hour before placing meat on it and putting the plank on the grill.

“You want to sniff your plank before you buy,” she said. “If it doesn’t smell aromatic, it isn’t going to cook aromatic.

“The whole idea of planking is you just put your food on the plank, stick it on the grill, and let her rip,” Fertig said.

Slather equal parts of Dijon mustard and mayonnaise, with a little dill seed added, onto a salmon steak and place it over indirect heat. The method was one recommended for certain types of cuts, and involves using charcoal on one side of the grill and using the heat generated from the charcoal to cook the food on the other half of the grill.

The women cooked squash, eggplant, corn both in the husk and on the cob, and other vegetables to create a hot vegetable dish.

They suggested slightly grilling Romaine lettuce to make a salad with a smoky flavor, and doing the same to a head of cabbage, which will caramelize and, when finished, will give a unique blend of sweet and tangy tastes to cole slaw.

Adler recommended slicing, seasoning, and grilling large round slices of squash and inserting skewers horizontally through the round.

“If you’re trying to get your kids to eat more vegetables, you can call them lollipops,” she said.

Three assistants in white jackets cut and chopped the meats and vegetables into small portions to pass out through the crowd.

Adler also grilled thick-sliced tomatoes topped with goat cheese for a creamy-tomato taste. She cut corn on the cob into halves or thirds and grilled them directly on a gas grill, finishing them with a homemade coating of butter, blended with chopped basil and pureed tomatoes with seeds and pulp removed.

“It’s so good we’ve caught people eating it with a spoon,” Adler said.

Jalapeno butter also adds a tasty zing to corn on the cob, she said.

The women made a point of passing out some of the corn on the cob to two police officers who stood nearby, watching.

“We’ll tell them it’s a corn doughnut,” Fertig said.

The women demonstrated several ways to cook the sirloin steaks from grass-fed cattle that were provided by Renaissance Farms northeast of Emporia.

Fertig talked with the farm’s co-owner, Judy Decker, while some of the sirloin cooked.

Decker said that they breed and raise their own Galway cattle on the farm, grass-feed them, then send them to Olpe Locker to be processed.

Decker drew laughs when she referred to a new law requiring Country of Origin Labels for cattle. Renaissance Farms outdoes the federal law in that respect.

“We’ve said for years we have County of Origin Labeling,” Decker said.

The presentation by the Barbecue Queens was sponsored by Main Street, Flint Hills Technical College, the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce, KVOE, Country 107, Sutherlands, Country Mart, Waters True Value, Flint Hills Music, Amanda’s Bakery and Cafe, Alma Creamery, Fieldstone Organic Farm, and King Liquor.

Rachel LeClear of the FHTC reminded the audience that the college will offer several specialty culinary classes for the public this year.