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Summer Grilling
March 20, 2007

Summer’s been on my mind, and it’s not just because of the cold weather and this morning's thaw. It’s the smell of roasting pork.

Recently, the guys from my monthly poker game took me out to Thomas's country house in the Catskills for a weekend getaway to celebrate my birthday. When we got there, George and Charlie had brought up a suckling pig from Ottamanelli’s in the West Village. George went to work on it that first night: He squeezed the juice from lemons, limes and oranges, and mixed in some chopped garlic, salt, pepper and parsley. Unable to find a container big enough to marinate the pig, he took out a heavy-duty black garbage bag, mixed everything together, and hung the bag up overnight in the cool basement.

The next, day as the pig broiled in the oven, the six of us stood outside, hovering around a bonfire roasting sausages in the 15-degree chill.

Since then, a steady flow of books has made its way to my desk--books that evoke not only the spirit of barbecue, but of summer:

First there were the obvious books--“The Texas Cowboy Cookbook” for southwest cooking, and “King of the Q’s Blue Plate BBQ.” But flipping through “The Jerk from Jamaica” I found a decent recipe for Butterflied Pork Loin on the Grill, made with a paste of nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar and hot pepper sauce.

All sound good, but one of the first things I might grill this summer is from Jessica B. Harris’s “Martha’s Vineyard Table”—and that’s a burger that’s been stuffed with a scoop of blue cheese. Or, from the “The Summer Shack Cookbook” I might slather some sardines in olive oil and salt and toss them right over the flames. Maybe I'll serve that with some freshly chopped fennel.

Posted by Mark Rotella on March 20, 2007 | Comments (0)