Don't give up grilled flavor just because it's getting cold outside.

Don't give up grilled flavor just because it's getting cold outside.
By RICK ASA
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Any a stoic Chicagoan will gladly brave the coming winter cold for that smoky flavor only outdoor grilling can impart, and many others will gladly watch them from the warmth of an indoor kitchen.
If you are among the latter, indoor grilling can be a happy medium -- or medium-rare.
Grill chefs note that the rising popularity of outdoor grilling has actually spurred a burgeoning indoor grilling industry that until a couple of years ago went strictly by the name of George Foreman.
More equipment choices and indoor grilling guides can have you turning out perfect, caramelized cross marks on chicken breasts while keeping your precious buns warm all winter long.
Quotable
"If you can eat it, you can grill it," said Elizabeth Karmel, a Chicago grilling expert and author of "Taming the Flame." Having recently tested 16 indoor grills, Karmel said that all will give "beautiful grill marks that are a big part of the allure, they're pretty easy to cook with and clean, and you don't need a lot of added fat. One thing you don't get is the same smoky, grilled flavor, but three out of four isn't bad."
Essentially, there are four ways to grill indoors: electric contact grills that heat from above and below and are perfect for burgers, Italian panini and Cuban pressed sandwiches; electric hibachi-style open grills that most closely approximate the outdoor experience; stove-top grill pans; and a newer category, stove-top grill pans with lids that act as sandwich presses.
Karmel, who made her name on the outdoor barbecue circuit, began teaching grilling indoors several years ago. She prefers grill pans for her own cooking.
She likes a customized setup developed when she was unhappy with indoor results: Start with a round, anodized aluminum, nonstick grill pan, which has raised ridges along the bottom for searing. Then add a domed lid that normally covers a deep chef's pan.
The result, Karmel attests, is a pan that imparts beautiful grill marks and produces a nice sear, while the cover allows more hot air to rotate around the food -- which is the secret to outdoor grilled flavor. For smaller and thinner cuts of meats and for vegetables, you can forgo the cover.
If you're a beginner, the key is to start with a pan that is preheated -- which is very important -- on medium heat. You don't want to cook on high heat, which won't cook the food any faster and could ruin your pan.
Once you learn the basics, you can work on a level of finesse, Karmel said. Protein, for instance, sticks to hot surfaces when first being cooked, but if you're patient, and coat the meat with a little olive oil, it will release itself. You only want to turn the food once, which sounds like common sense, until you realize that people have an almost innate tendency to move, poke and prod meat into shoe leather. Your steak, or other cut of meat, should rest at least five minutes after cooking to allow the flavorful juices to redistribute evenly.
Another grill pan aficionado, Jamee Ruth, wrote the concise and straightforward "Grill Pan Cookbook" after having an epiphany with grilled asparagus.
"Unlike a traditional grill, it doesn't burn," Ruth said. "The ridges sear the food and the little valleys in between collect moisture."
Grill pans are great for vegetables, she added. A boneless breast of chicken also is superb, seasoned simply with some coarse salt and fresh pepper. Grilled four to five minutes on one side, turned for another three or four minutes, that breast will be the "juiciest piece of chicken you've ever eaten, with no added fat."
Written about it
In his indoor grilling book, "Raichlen's Indoor! Grilling," author Steven Raichlen adds countertop rotisseries, stove-top smokers and fireplaces to the mix.
A bit of an anthropologist, Raichlen noted that indoor grilling is really as old as man-kind itself, which has been confirmed by remnants of cave fires found near Beijing among the remains of Homo erectus, a cook who goes back about 1.8 million years.
In a repeat of that cave grilling, Italians are dusting off what are called Tuscan grills, made to fit into their fireplaces.
"Cooking in the fireplace is the closest thing to grilling over charcoal or wood out-doors," Raichlen said. "The principle is pretty simple. You just build a good pile of embers and rake them under a Tuscan grill." Raichlen said there is even a fireplace rotisserie now available, which makes an incredible leg of lamb or pork shoulder.
The stove-top rotisserie, he added, took him by surprise. He found that it was perfect for, say, quartered artichokes basted with garlic and parsley oil and spit grilled. He also quartered onions and basted those with balsamic vinegar.
Raichlen also has become a big fan of stove-top smokers, which he calls "elegant in their simplicity and effective in their design" for their ability to imbue food with the smoke flavor of authentic barbecue, often in 10 to 20 minutes. With sawdust or even hardwood pellets, he said, any cook can create intense hickory, cherry, apple or mesquite flavor.
"If I were to buy only one [indoor grill], chances are I'd buy a high-powered [electric] contact grill," Raichlen said. "Or a cast-iron grill pan, but that can get smoky and hard to clean."
Over and over
Raichlen said that most people grill the same three or four dishes over and over and don't have much room, so a good contact grill will be versatile and easy. More than 40 million Americans already own a Foreman contact grill, he added.
In 1995, when those now-ubiquitous grills first came on the market, Holly Rudin-Braschi, author of "Grill Power," gave one a try. She was hooked on the ability to grill year-round and get food on the table fast. The downside, she found over time, was that many contact grills lacked the power to sizzle foods at very high and dry heat, so if you want to buy one, check those with a higher wattage and variable heat settings. The hottest electric grills available, she said, will range from 1,200 to 1,700 watts.
Rudin-Braschi finds that the two-sided contact grills keep the food juicy by preventing moisture evaporation while steaming the food. Deep grilling ridges can accomplish caramelized grill marks and the result can be healthier because fat drains off.
After the type of equipment you use, seasoning is the next important step.
Karmel has developed a "grilling trilogy" composed of salt, pepper and olive oil, which she uses in her training of chefs to showcase the inherent flavors of grilled food without masking them with thick rubs, marinades or sauces.
Once you have the technique down, she added, try adding some smoked paprika for outdoor flavor.
Chicagoan Kevin Appleton, executive chef at Robert Morris College, employs his own dry rub with garlic, onion, thyme, basil and other spices. He encourages home cooks to follow suit.
"Don't be afraid," he said. "Get in there and experiment, have some fun."
GRANDMA JENNIE'S BASIC BURGERS
1 egg or 2 egg whites, beaten, or 1/4 cup egg substitute
1/4 cup bread crumbs or finely crushed croutons
1/2 cup grated or finely chopped onion
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon fresh pressed garlic or garlic puree from a jar
1 pound ground meat such as beef, veal, pork, poultry
4 hamburger buns, split
Tomato slices, lettuce, onion slices, pickles, ketchup, mustard, low-fat mayonnaise, optional
Mix the egg, bread crumbs, onion, ketchup, mustard and garlic in a large bowl. Mix in the meat. Divide the mixture into fourths; lightly pat into 4 burgers, each about 3/4-inch thick. Cover; refrigerate 20 minutes.
Heat a grill pan over medium heat at least 3 minutes; place burgers on the grill. Cook 6 minutes; turn. Cook to medium doneness, about 6 minutes, or to desired degree of doneness.
Yield: 4 servings
Nutrition information per serving: 385 calories, 41 percent of calories from fat, 17 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 119 mg cholesterol, 31 g carbohydrates, 24 g protein, 484 mg sodium, 2 g fiber.
CUMIN-RUBBED FLANK STEAK WITH CHIMICHURRI SAUCE
Cumin rub and steak:
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon each: smoked or regular paprika, cumin seeds, coarse salt
1 flank steak, about 11/2 -2 pounds, trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil
Chimichurri sauce and bread:
1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped, about 2 cups
3/4 cup olive oil
3 to 5 cloves garlic, according to taste
3 tablespoons each: red wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons minced shallot or onion
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
1 baguette, thinly sliced
For rub, combine the garlic, paprika, cumin seeds and salt in a small bowl. Brush steak with oil; coat sides with rub.
Heat grill pan over medium heat. For chimichurri sauce, combine parsley, oil, garlic, vinegar, lemon juice, shallot, salt, red pepper and black pepper to taste in a blender or food processor; pulse until well chopped but not pureed. Set aside.
Place the meat on the grill; cook 6 minutes. Turn; cook until an instant-read thermometer reads 160 degrees for medium, about 6 minutes. Remove; set aside, loosely covered with foil, 5 minutes. Meanwhile, spread the baguette slices with some of the chimichurri sauce; set aside.
Cut the steak across the grain into thin diagonal slices. Place a slice on each piece of bread; top steak with more of the chimichurri sauce. Serve hot or warm.
Yield: 6 servings.
Nutrition information per serving: 730 calories, 54 percent of calories from fat, 44 g fat, 8 g saturated fat, 43 mg cholesterol, 53 g carbohydrates, 30 g protein, 1,814 mg sodium, 5 g fiber.
VICTORY CHICKEN
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, trimmed
2 tablespoons barbecue rub, recipe follows
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon liquid smoke, optional
3/4 to 1 cup barbecue sauce
Heat the grill pan over medium heat. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with the rub mixture on both sides, rubbing it onto the meat with your fingertips. Cover; refrigerate 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat; stir in liquid smoke, if using.
Arrange the chicken breasts on the grill on a diagonal to the ridges. Cook 2 minutes; baste with butter mixture. Turn chicken; cook 2 minutes. Baste. Cook chicken, turning as needed, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thick part of the breast registers 160 degrees, about 8 minutes. Transfer chicken to a platter. Brush with any remaining butter; serve with barbecue sauce.
Yield: 4 servings.
Nutrition information per serving: 189 calories, 42 percent of calories from fat, 9 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 66 mg cholesterol, 7 g carbohydrates, 20 g protein, 961 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
BASIC BARBECUE RUB
3 tablespoons each: sweet paprika, light or dark brown sugar
11/2 tablespoons freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon each: garlic salt, onion salt, celery salt
1 teaspoon each: ground cumin, dried oregano
Whisk all ingredients together in a small mixing bowl; break up any lumps in the brown sugar with your fingers. Store, covered, in an airtight jar away from heat or light up to 6 months.
Yield: About 3/4 cup.
Nutrition information per tablespoon: 10 calories, 23 percent of calories from fat, 0.3 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2 g carbohydrates, 0.4 g protein, 1,068 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.
SMOKED SAUSAGES WITH APPLE-FENNEL 'SAUERKRAUT'
1 large fennel bulb and tops
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
5 tart apples such as Granny Smith, peeled, grated
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus more for buns
1/2 cup hard cider or apple juice
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
Freshly ground pepper
8 fully cooked smoked sausages
8 poppy seed hot dog buns or French rolls, split
Spicy brown or Dijon mustard
Trim off fennel stalks from bulb. Chop fennel fronds; reserve. Save stalks for another use. Cut bulb vertically into thin strips.
Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat; add the onion and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the fennel strips; cover. Cook until the fennel begins to wilt, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
Stir the grated apple and lemon juice into the fennel mixture. Add butter, stirring to mix well. Stir in the cider, reserved fennel fronds and caraway seeds. Cook until mixture is soft, about 5 minutes. Season with remaining 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Remove from heat; set aside at room temperature to let the flavors mingle.
Heat the grill pan over medium heat; heat the broiler. Place the sausages on the grill; cook, turning occasionally to mark all sides of the sausage, until hot, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, brush insides of the buns with a little butter. Place buns cut side up on a baking sheet. Broil until lightly browned about 1 minute. Place 1 sausage and a generous spoonful of sauerkraut on each bun; serve with mustard on the side.
Yield: 8 servings. Nutrition information per serving: 491 calories, 52percent of calories from fat, 28 g fat, 9 g saturated fat, 50 mg cholesterol, 39 g carbohydrates, 20 g protein, 1,535 mg sodium, 4 g fiber.