Fun for Me, a Giveaway for You!

I had a very non-typical Monday!

If you've ever searched for recipes for baked goods in my archives, chances are you've come across one by Abby Dodge—I think I have at least half a dozen in there, maybe more. Her book The Weekend Baker is definitely the most batter-splattered in my collection. Abby and I follow one another on Twitter, and I was thrilled when she tweeted me an invitation to attend an event put on by Workman Publishing to promote Steve Raichlen's new book, Planet Barbecue!: 309 Recipes, 60 Countries.

Here's the story behind the event, if I got all my facts straight: Southwest Airlines held a contest in which the winner would get to fly 10 friends/relatives anywhere for a BBQ party. The wife of Command Master Chief David Twiford—the commandant of the USS Constitution (yes, "Old Ironsides," docked here in Boston)—entered on behalf of her husband, and won! Dave, however, chose instead to throw a party, cooked and hosted by grill-master Steve Raichlen himself, for all his sailors and their families. (I was also told that Southwest still gave Dave his 10 flights—to see games in 10 different baseball parks! Hope that's true!) So today was the day, and I was lucky enough to be invited!

Those of you who wonder why I live in Boston need to understand that every once in a while we get a day that is 100% perfect, and today was such a day—warm and mild and breezy and sparkling clear. Let's throw a barbecue! Huge kudos go to Beth Wareham at Workman, who orchestrated the whole event and who is a total blast to be with. I finally got to meet Abby, who is just as nice and funny and warm in person as she is online. She even gave me a copy of her latest book, which is called Desserts 4 Today: Flavorful Desserts with Just Four Ingredients. I can't wait to dig in to that!

Then I met Steve, the chef of the hour, who was busy manning the giant grill. He demonstrated how to cook everything, and was ably assisted by various sailors and their wives. We watched him make these dishes from around the globe:

Shrimp on the Barbie (Australia)
Caveman T-Bone Steaks (Universal)
Honey Garlic Ginger Ribs (Cambodia)
Grilled Corn with Butter and Cheese (Columbia)

Our lunch was amazingly delicious:

Village Hammers (Serbia)
Peri Peri Chicken (South Africa)
Thai Grilled Chicken (Thailand)
Planked Salmon with Juniper Rub (USA)
Potato Bacon Kebabs (Armenia)
Cactus Pear Crisp (USA)

I have to tell you about those "Village Hammers": It's a prune stuffed with a small chunk of fontina cheese, wrapped in bacon, then grilled. OH. MY. GOD. I ate about 50 of them and only stopped so as not to embarrass myself. Everything else was delicious too.

As if that wasn't enough excitement, Dave was kind enough to invite our small group—me, Abby, Abby's friend Ed, Steve, Beth, Beth's assistant Samantha, Dawn (another Boston-area blogger), and Will (AKA the Boston Foodie)—for a private tour of the USS Constitution! How fast did we all say, "YES!" Steve was over the moon, because it turns out he is a total ship geek, so it couldn't have been a more ideal setting for him. We got to see all the cannons and hammocks and powder kegs and everything else. It was way cool. I seriously considered not telling Andy about it because he would be so jealous. We even got to tour a section of the ship that no one ever gets to see, one that still has original features from the 1790s. It was an amazing experience. We even learned the origins of some common idioms that all originated on ships: scuttlebutt, shake a leg, mind your P's and Q's, groggy, down the hatch, square meals, loose cannon, son of a gun, scrape the bottom of the barrel, and more. Oh, and we also learned earlier from Steve that "high on the hog" refers to the meat closer to the pig's backbone, which is more tender and desirable.

In case you don't believe I really did any of this, here's a shot of me with Steve and Abby, down below the decks:

I got a copy of Steve's new book, as well as a swell bag o' swag, including a BBQ baseball cap, a BBQ thermometer, a brining kit, and some hand wipes for the busy (messy) griller. And ... (there is where you come in) I also snagged an extra copy of the book and an extra swag bag, which I'm offering up to my readers. In order to win, please leave a comment below telling me something about grilling. Are you good at it? Are you a little afraid of it? Do you have a favorite grill recipe or anecdote? Whatever you want. I'll take entries all week, up until this Friday at midnight my time, then draw a random winner. Please be a resident of the U.S. and willing to share your snail mail address with me for shipping purposes. Good luck!

Update 9/25/10: Please feel free to continue leaving comments about grilling and about how cool I am now that I've hob-nobbed with famous cookbook authors, but it's officially too late to enter the contest. The winner, chosen by Random.Org, is Tonya! Congrats!

Comments

[James]

For the first time ever, we grilled peaches this summer. We had guests over, and so I covered the grill with peach halves. While those grilled, I whipped up a brown sugar, rum and butter sauce on the burner. When the peaches were nice and soft, we plopped them in bowls next to a scoop of ice cream and drizzled them with the sauce. it was quite nice!

I love Old Ironsides. My cousin is a former commander and we had the privilege of a turnaround cruise. ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/drmomentum/sets/72157600854095665/ ) During his tenure he oversaw the beginning of the extensive restoration of her deck (they replaced the decking and restored the original camber). I guess you can tell me whether the restorations went well, because I haven't been up there since the transfer of command ceremony.

[Susan]

My favorite is grilled pizza. Just brush dough with olive oil, grill, turn, toppings as desired and close the grill while the cheese melts.

I usually brush the bottom with oil, throw it on the grill and then brush the top.

Yum!!!

I also like grilled salmon but usually put it in aluminum foil since I haven't figured out how to keep it from sticking on the grill.

[PurplePenning]

That *was* an awesome day! I just started watching Steve Raichlen's show -- lots of great stuff there. Those Serbian (who knew?!) Village Hammers are officially on my list of things to try now. Not a great griller, but enjoy it. And, if I do say so myself, my foodie siblings and I have greatly improved our family grilling experiences over the years. We grew up thinking that all grilled meats should be blackened, dry, and taste a bit of lighter fluid. Mmmmm. ;-)

[Tonya]

My husband is the griller (sort of by osmosis) and believe me, he needs all the help he can get. Bar none.

Sounds like a very special day, and it made me tear up a bit since my son is in the Navy!

[karen polinsky]

What a fantastic day! I like to grill, but I hate the smell of the charcoal burning until it's ready. I've considered a gas grill for me (while Andrew would still use the Weber) but, why bother? That's not real BBQ in my book. What do you use?
K.

[Jeananne]

I loved reading about your amazing day. Served as a reminder of a few of mine -- days that still give me reason be giddy with awe.

Grilled sweet peppers ... yum! I cut the peppers in half and place them on the grill (very low flame). Then I'll fill them half-way with olive oil. By the time the outer side is grilled, the oil is warm and flavorful. I use the oil for dipping and just about anything I want with a hint of sweet pepper. It keeps in the fridge for about two weeks. This works well with yellow, orange or red peppers; not green.

[Papa Lew]

My father-in-law was a master griller. He only used a charcoal Weber Grill, never gas. His mantra was that you could never use too much lighter fluid to get the grill going. Both he and I have grilled, among other things, Thanksgiving Turkey.

[abby dodge]

hi Karen.. I had such fun meeting you yesterday! The whole day was filled with great food, great company & adventure. Once in a lifetime day & I'm so happy you were there!
ps.. don't need to put me in the giveaway ~ have my own copy :)

[abby dodge]

ps.. Ed found this pic of our wonderful tour guide karl firing off one of those "loose canons"! http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=86509

[Karen]

Oh Abby, ditto on all of that! I'm such a behind-the-scenes person in my work that I rarely get to go to such events. I'm still feeling a little starry-eyed about the whole day! And thanks to Ed for that COOL photo!

[Trasherati]

I'm definately grilling peaches soon...our current favorite is to marinate pork in orange juice and brown sugar, but we also add our not-so-secret ingredient - Bragg's Amino Acids.
We add that stuff to anything going on the grill - it's very good with herbed oil on grilled portabello mushrooms. I've used it on salmon, too.

Karen, I'm so glad you had such a fabulous day and got to meet your fellow food bloggers.

[Sharon]

Grilling scares me a bit. Timing and quickness are not my strengths in cooking.

[Jonathan]

In fact, I just used Raichlen's BBQ Bible the other day, for my "world famous" beer can chicken, using his rub and instructions. My girls simply love that recipe. I also like the fish recipes in the bible. I'm not a purist, so I use propane, although this summer we used briquettes at the camper and really enjoyed the difference.

So I'd love to get a copy of his new book!

[Ed Mileti]

Karen, terrific meeting you yesterday and spending some time "below deck"! I'm a total newb with twitter, blogging, etc., so I was very excited to see my name in print. Thanks Abby for forwarding. Like you, I'm still reeling from the day.

[Mark]

What an awesome day. I was jealously following along on twitter all day.

[Katy]

Sounds so fun! (Btw, you look fantabulous in the photo! Is your hair longer than usual?) We love to grill pineapple, chicken sausage, and sliced red onions, but I'll eat anything off the grill. My favorite way to cook, even if I don't get around to it as often as I would like.

[susitravl]

I leave the grilling (charcoal only at our house) to my husband who is GREAT at it. How can he get my steak cooked perfectly every time, yet at a restaurant where they cook steaks all day every day, I often have to send it back?

We've recently started grilling bananas and eat them with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. Delicious!

susitravl(at)gmail(dot)com

[Deborah]

In the summer, I'll grill anything that gets in my hands. If it's not a big piece of meat or veggie, it goes in foil or on the grill pan. Marinades are the secret to juicy, tender chicken and pork.

[Sandy]

Karen, you sure are hanging out with the cool kids now! Re: grilling, I was one of the fearful ones. But note the past tense! Sheer embarassment finally motivated me about a year ago. I started with chicken breasts, steaks and burgers. Grilled just one category of food at a time, to keep it simple. I'm up to skewered shrimp and eggplant/squash slices -- and damn proud of myself, thank you.

[kate]

OK, enough with the how cool Karen is.

The only time we use our charcoal grill, sans charcoal, is to burn all of the prior year's palms for Ash Wednesday because we live next door to our Church. When my husband has the "Knights" over to do this, my kids hide in acute embarassment.

Not really food related, but probably unique!

[Kelly]

What a fun day!

We actually grill all year long. Jon and Payne man the grill most of the time. My issue? The correct temperature. I can never find the right temperature.

[Kathy]

UNlike Susan who posted above and CAN grill pizza, I had a DISASTER grilled pizza story from this year. The dough stuck to the grill, and by the time I got off it was burnt and not in a nice oval shape that it started out in- so we had to order out pizza. I am convinced that it is our grill and not the "grill master" so I am lobbying for a new grill - maybe a new BBQ book and a fall sale could get me that new grill (and another chance to try grilled pizza!)

[Wendy]

Damn. I wish *I* were anyway near half so cool.

[Wendy]

I guess I should say something about grilling, hmm? If I want to be in the competition (in my defense, my first comment took place before I'd read that far in the post). I love my gas grill -- it makes grilling totally possible mid-week! Currently I am into the whole peppers-n-onions with a grilled sausage on a bun thing, with excellent tangy homemade barbecue sauce.

[James]

Jonathan - i think a purist would have to gather his own wood. Don't let anyone make you feel bad about using propane. I've done tons of both charcoal and propane in my 42 years and I've had lousy burgers off a charcoal grill that tasted like lighter fluid and wonderful burgers and steaks off a propane grill with amazing flavor. I own both, but I rarely have the urge to break out the charcoal anymore; the propane means I'm grilling all the time.

Besides, neither charcoal grilling nor propane are actual BBQ, since BBQ is a method of slowly cooking meats while smoking them.

People need to lighten up and just enjoy cooking and eating, and worry less about what's pure. On second thought, those folks can turn up their noses, I'll be over here enjoying my propane grilled peaches and steaks. You can join me if you like. ;)