Jamie,
Thanks for your time. In all your attempts to develop new recipes etc, have you come across a type of food that was not meant to be grilled no matter what you tried? I'm interested in your answer and hoping to receive your new book on Fathers Day.
Andrew

This message has been edited. Last edited by: AndrewW,

Andrew,

Through the years I've pushed pretty hard on the boundaries of what to grill. I recall attempts to grill fava beans, watermelon slices, and chocolate souffles, for example. In each case I had enough success that I'd do it again, especially on a gas grill. I find that the smokiness of a charcoal fire doesn't complement fruit or chocolate, and for a souffle you really need the evenness of precise heat that a gas grill provides. To me, a grill can operate very much like an outdoor oven. If you working with indirect heat, I can't anything you couldn't bake or roast on the grill, and with direct heat the number of options grows longer and longer. A few years ago I avoided grilling little pieces of food like pea-sized scallops or rock shrimp, but nowadays, we can use perforated grill pans to grills those kinds of things. Now some guys have told me that they want to fry food on the grill, as in heating up a pan of oil on the grate and frying chicken or calamari or something like that. BAD IDEA. THAT WOULD BE REALLY DANGEROUS. But other than that, I'll grill just about anything.

I hope you get my book on Fathers Day. If any questions or comments come up, feel free to "friend" me on Facebook and let me know what's up.

Thanks,
Jamie

when hurricane isabelle came through here and we were without power for 6 days i grilled everything. i had a cheapo charbroil kettle and grilled the cheapo mama rosa's 2 for 5 pizzas, tater tots, fries, and one morning while i was cooking eggs and bacon for myself i grilled 2 strawberry poptarts for my wife. she ate them but has never asked me to do it again...lol

I've grilled watermelon slices with some degree of satisfaction before.

I think I glazed them with a honey-lime glaze? not sure, I'd have to dig out my notebook.

I liked it, and I liked the grill marks, but my wife didn't like it - so maybe it wasn't as satisfying as I thought.