Grilling is always a fun and yummy experience, especially when you have the perfect recipes to follow. Your choices of the grill may be limited by the space available in your home, but quality grills are available in any size, as our friends in the Outdoor Cooking Pros prove. So whether you have a vast backyard when you can enjoy outdoor grilling with a company, a smaller outdoor model on the balcony, or even an indoor electric model, you can make amazing grilled food.
I have some of the best tips on this article that will make your next grill session amazingly incredible, so read away and enjoy it!
Outdoor Grilling Classic with a Fruity Twist
If you’ve read any of my other recent articles, you’ll know I’m on a grilling kick! I love summer and pleasant temperatures and swimming pools and most of all: outdoor cooking!
I love grilled meats, grilled vegetables, and shrimp, and I adore grilled fruit! That’s right – grilled fruit!
Okay, if you’ve eaten ‘Hawaiian’ things, I’m sure you’ve had a kabob with some pineapple on it, but I bet most of you never thought about grilling other fruit. You can cook anything on the BBQ you want, but some fruit works better on the grill than others.
What Fruit Is Good to Grill?
Any fruit can be grilled, I suppose, but I think strawberries wouldn’t look very attractive if they were cooked whole. However, I did once grill them sliced, and they wrapped around the skewer and tasted quite good. Your best bet when choosing fruit to grill is to pick the heartier, sturdier fruits with a ‘meatier’ fruit.
Apples and pears are exceptional grilling fruits that hold up well to the heat and the use of skewers. Pineapple grills well and is a good pair both for dishes of lighter meats (fish and chicken) or for using directly on the grill for a fruit-flavored treat.
Citrus fruit like lemons and limes go well with other vegetables and meats for added color and flavor. The outsides of the citrus fruit will dry, but when warmed on the grill, the juice inside will be very squirty and ready to squeeze on your meat and vegetable pieces.
Bananas are a remarkable grilling fruit. If you freeze them before grilling, they stay sturdier on the grill when peeled, but you can grill bananas in the peel, and they get warm and gooey and yummy inside. Stay with me to the end of this article for a great recipe with grilled bananas!
How to Grill Fruit
Fruit can be grilled the same way meat and vegetables are cooked. You can skewer the grain and make kabobs out of them. You can put the fruit in foil packets and place the containers on the coals. You can even put slices of fruit directly on the grate and cook them that way. Use your imagination and experiment. But before you start experimenting, it is also very important that you have good grill which will done business for you.
Use Sauces on Fruit for Flavor
Just like brushing BBQ sauce on meat or butter sauce on vegetables when grilling, you can make the caramel, honey, or sugar/syrup sauces to brush on fruit while it cooks. Apples are exceptional for cleaning with caramel sauce or a cinnamon honey mix.
Grilled Banana Recipe
I promised a grilled banana recipe at the end:
First, you can take a packet of foil and make a banana in the peeling. Cut the long banana ways down the skin so the skin can be pulled back, but the banana isn’t cut. Pull the skin back and place the banana in a foil packet. Place chocolate chips inside the skin of the banana. Place miniature marshmallows inside the banana peeling. Loosely wrap the banana in the foil packet and place the container on the coals and let it sit for about 2-5 minutes, depending on the temperature of the flame.
This is a divine and yummy and gooey banana dessert your entire family will love! Grilling is definitely fun, but it can be risky if you
Easy Marinade for Steak, Chicken, or Pork
Firing up the barbecue is a sure sign that summer’s here! Corn on the cob and potato salad are traditional side dishes, but what makes the meal perfect is the grilled meat. No chef, however, wants the reputation for serving tough-as-shoe-leather steak or pork chops, making them succulent and tender before cooking by placing them in a marinade in advance.
This easy marinade for steak, pork, or chicken is versatile, goes together quickly, and will become a family favorite for summertime grilling.
Ingredients
- Sprite, 1 c.
- Soy sauce, 1 c.
- Vegetable oil, 2/3 c.
- Lemon juice, 1 TBSP.
- Garlic powder, 1 TBSP.
- Onion powder, 1 tsp.
- Horseradish (optional), 1 TBSP.
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl or zip bag. Add steak, chicken, or pork chops. Close and marinate for 3 hours to overnight. Drain and discard marinade before grilling. Serve grilled meat with corn on the cob, potato salad, and a refrigerated gelatin fruit salad for a perfect summer combination.
A Few Notes
The marinade gives flavor, but also tenderizes the meat, and is especially tasty when used on meats that will be grilled. This marinade may be used as mentioned above, or made and poured over steak, pork chops, or chicken in a zip bag and then frozen until the meat is needed for grilling.
Safety Tips for Grilling
With all the grilling shows that are on television, they make it appear as anybody can grill. While that is true, many shows fail to explain the importance of safety. This is especially important for new grillers. Plays and books will emphasize “the thrill of the grill”, but before experiencing that thrill, here are some tips for those of you that are newbies about safety.
Keep in mind you are playing with fire. The coals or the coils on your gas grill get very hot.
Many times these temperatures are even higher than what you deal with on your oven inside the house. Therefore make sure you are in the right state of mind when grilling, so you can pay attention to your surroundings. Many enjoy an adult beverage or two while having a barbecue party. That is fine, but the grill is not somewhere to take safety risks from if you are too drunk to protect your own safety as well as the safety of those around you.
