As any good Game of Thrones fan (or Chicago resident) knows, winter is coming. Sure, you may be enjoying the most beautiful July day you’ve ever set eyes on, but you know that parka lurking in the back of your closet is counting down the days until snow falls from the sky and the wind rips through you.
Lucky enough, we Chicagoans have mastered the art of enjoying it while it lasts. From abusing our tiny patios to refusing to be defeated by record high temperatures, if it makes us forget winter, we’re there. For the cooks and entertainers among us, the most important part of our anti-winter celebration is the glorious grill. Whether a charcoal monster like the Big Green Egg or the gas grills that top many a rooftop, your grill is your new best friend when it’s 90 degrees, you have a crowd to impress, and you dare not turn on the oven.
If that scenario starts you sweating even more than you were from just the heat, you need to check out one of The Chopping Block’s many grilling classes that are available during the summer months on the patio at the Lincoln Square location.
On the patio, any hesitation you have about grilling will disappear once you’re in the hands of a seasoned grillmaster like Chef Roger Coons, who taught my Beer Garden Grill class earlier this month. Roger took us through every element of grilling, starting with what grill to use for cooking what and how to get the grill hot enough for the food you’re cooking -- a hotter sear for meat and a low heat for delicate vegetables and fruits, like the dessert I’ll tell you about later. (He also told us that if you buy the right grill, it does the job for you!)
Roger had three grills going at once, but barely broke a sweat while he was teaching us how to chop onions wide enough that they get the perfect char without falling through the cracks and that if you shape a burger like a very shallow bowl, it turns out picture perfect and juicy every time. His tricks of the trade spoke for themselves as we all sat down to dinner.
The best part of the class was getting to have some hands-on grilling time with both the charcoal grill and the gas grills. You know what they say: give a woman a burger and she eats for a night, but teach her to grill, and her and her friends get burgers forever.
So get to one of those grilling classes, then start working your way down this list of 10 things you need to grill before winter comes:
10. Grilled peaches and vanilla ice cream: this dessert is elegant, delicious, and best of all, easy!
9. Corn on the cob: the perfect summer sides gets elevated with a char and a hit of salt.
8. Sweet jerk pork chops: sweet, spicy, and satisfying.
7. Pizzas: you think you can only do pizzas in the oven? Think again!
6. Tropical shrimp skewers: a great dinner that basically serves itself.
5. Salmon: hit it with some butter, dill, and salt, and never look back.
4. Broccoli and greens: char these babies up, sprinkle them with lemon juice, and you’ve got yourself an unforgettable side.
3. Carrots with yogurt sauce: the smooth sauce will be the perfect foil for barbecued carrots.
2. A veggie burger for your vegetable-forward peeps who will be disappointed with your number 1 choice:
1. A perfect, juicy burger, made using Chef Roger’s secret technique.
For more grilling know-how, download The Chopping Block's free Guide to Grilling.
