Ruhlman's Twenty (47 page)

My dad’s dear friend Peter Zacher claims to have met Don the Beachcomber, originator of the tiki bar, on a beach in Hawaii and secured the famed restaurateur’s recipe for the ribs served at his eponymous bar-restaurant. He gave it to my father and called it Peter’s Own. My dad fussed with it some and made it his own. The sugar in the marinade gives the beef a flavorful charred crust; the soy balances the sweetness. It’s a great example of a marinade flavoring the exterior of the meat. My dad used this for London broil, but it’s great with flank or sirloin, ribs, or even chicken. The meat should be marinated for at least 6 hours and may be marinated for up to 3 days.

½ cup/120 milliliters soy sauce

½ cup/120 milliliters ketchup/tomato sauce

¼ cup/50 grams firmly packed brown sugar

4 to 5 garlic cloves, minced or smashed with the flat side of a knife

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon ginger powder

½ tablespoon onion powder

In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients.

The key here is to cook the alcohol out of the wine so it doesn’t denature the exterior of the meat. Use this marinade for grilled chicken or for the
Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Tarragon Butter.
Marinate the chicken for 6 to 8 hours, fish for 2 to 4 hours. If the chicken must be marinated longer, halve the amount of salt.

1½ cups/360 milliliters good white wine

2 garlic cloves, smashed with the flat side of a knife

¼ onion, sliced

1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed on a cutting board with a pan

1 tablespoon tarragon leaves

Kosher salt

Ice or cold water

In a saucepan over high heat, combine the wine, garlic, onion, peppercorns, and tarragon. Season with 1 tablespoon salt. Simmer for 5 minutes. Hold a lit match over the mixture to ignite the remaining alcohol. Continue to simmer until no flames remain, and you can’t ignite any alcohol.

Strain the marinade into a measuring cup and add enough ice or cold water to bring the level to 1½ cups/360 milliliters. Return the strained ingredients to the liquid.

This is a summertime staple in our house that begins in the spring, as welcome as spring after countless roasted chickens throughout the winter. My father, who taught me the pleasures of grilling all the way through the harsh Cleveland winters of my childhood, created the baste, and I’ve never found a better one. This recipe may be the one instance where I prefer dried tarragon to fresh tarragon—the heat from the fire would kill the fresh. Dad would simply melt the butter and didn’t mind that it separated. I use the
beurre monté
technique to keep the butter whole, swirling chunks of butter into the heating lemon juice, then adding the remaining ingredients, because the baste adheres to the chicken better.

The chicken is cooked first over direct heat to give it some immediate color and get the skin rendering some of its fat. Don’t walk away for too long, or you’re likely to return to find the chicken engulfed in flames. (I don’t recommend cooking this or any whole chicken preparation in a gas grill because flaming can be an unavoidable problem.) Please cover the grill if you intend to leave it, to minimize the chance of flames and burnt chicken. After 10 minutes, you turn the bird onto the other side of the grill, skin-side up, and cover to finish cooking over indirect heat, basting frequently so that the smoke from the butter solids and shallot roast into the chicken.

You can reserve the bones for
Easy Chicken Stock
if you wish—they make it deliciously smoky.

One 3- to 4-pound/1.4- to 1.8-kilogram chicken

Kosher salt

Juice from 1 lemon

½ cup/115 grams butter, cut in 4 or 5 chunks

2 tablespoons minced shallot

1 tablespoon dried tarragon

2 tablespoons dry mustard

Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Remove the wing tips and discard or save for stock. Stand the chicken on its neck and breast, butt-end up. Use a chef’s knife to slice down through the ribs on either side of the backbone to remove the backbone. Open up the chicken, and press the breast down to flatten it. Fold the legs in so that the drumsticks run parallel down the center of the chicken. Tie the ends of the drumsticks together with butcher’s string. Liberally sprinkle the chicken on both sides with salt.

Build a hot fire large enough to fill half of a grill with a dense layer of coals.

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the lemon juice and 1 chunk of butter. Swirl or whisk the butter continuously until it’s half melted. Add another chunk of butter and keep swirling the butter, adding the remaining chunks as the others melt. When the butter is completely melted, reduce the heat to low and add the shallot, tarragon, and mustard, stirring to combine. Turn the heat off and cover the pan to keep the butter warm.

Spread the coals evenly on one side of the grill. Put the grill rack on to preheat. When it’s hot, put the chicken skin-side down over the coals and cook for 10 minutes. Cover the grill if flames begin to flare. Flip the chicken and continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Turn the chicken again so it is skin-side up, and move it to the cool side of the grill. Cover and continue to cook for a total time of about 50 minutes. Turn the chicken and baste the bony side once, and allow the baste to cook on the chicken. Turn the chicken again, baste the skin, and cover the grill. Save one last brushing for after you’ve taken the chicken off the grill. Allow the chicken to rest for 10 to 20 minutes before carving and serving.

I don’t think there’s a better way to cook a rack of beef or a whole beef tenderloin than this combination grill-roast method. It gives the meat great grilled flavor and allows you perfect control of temperatures and timing. I use the method in summer and in winter, during holidays, to serve beef tenderloin sandwiches on a buffet or a rack of beef for a large group of people.

The ribs themselves are an added benefit. You can serve them immediately, but I like to save them, for a second leftover meal the next day. They’re delicious spread with some Dijon mustard and bread crumbs, and cayenne if you like the meat hot, then broiled. I buy 1 pound/ 455 grams per person, which is usually enough to have leftovers.

If you want to do a tenderloin instead of a prime rib, sear the tenderloin on all sides, about 3 minutes per side. Leave at room temperature until you’re ready to finish it, or refrigerate it and remove it 3 hours before you want to begin cooking it. Tenderloins will take about 15 minutes per pound to reach rare.

If you want to concentrate the flavors, start preparing this dish 2 to 4 days before you want to serve it by salting the meat and leaving it to dry, uncovered, in the refrigerator.

Serve with
Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes
or
Make-Ahead Mushroom Risotto
.

One 6-pound/2.7-kilogram rack of beef

2 to 5 tablespoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons canola or olive oil

2 teaspoons coarsely cracked or chopped black pepper

2 teaspoons coarsely cracked coriander seeds

Rinse the beef and pat it dry. Line an appropriately sized baking sheet/tray or platter with paper towels/absorbent paper. Liberally sprinkle the beef all over with the salt. You should have a nice crust of salt on the exterior. This is best done several days before cooking; refrigerate the beef, uncovered, until the day you cook it.

Remove the beef from the refrigerator 3 to 4 hours before grilling. Rub the beef with the oil and sprinkle all sides with the pepper and the coriander seeds.

Build a hot fire on half of a grill (you’ll be searing all sides of the rack of beef). Spread the coals out, put an oiled grill rack over them, and allow it to get hot. Put the beef on the rack over the coals, and cover the grill. Sear the beef on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side (covering will keep more smoke on the meat and reduce the flames from the rendering fat). When all sides are seared, move the meat to the cool side of the grill, cover, and cook for another 10 minutes.

If you’re serving the beef immediately, preheat the oven to 250°F/120°C/gas ½. Put the beef, ribs-down, in a roasting pan/tray and roast it to an internal temperature of 125°F/52°C for rare or 130°F/54°C for medium-rare. This will take about 15 to 20 minutes per pound, but can vary depending on the internal temperature of the meat when you began cooking it.

(If you’re serving the beef the following day, refrigerate it, covered with plastic wrap/cling film. Remove it about 4 hours before you want to cook it, and proceed as directed.)

Allow the meat to rest for 15 to 25 minutes after you remove it from the oven. Remove the beef loin from the ribs, slicing along the ribs downward to remove the loin in one piece. It’s best to do this on a carving board with a moat, or channel, around the periphery. The beef will release a lot of juice, which can be spooned over the meat when serving. Slice the meat as desired. If you wish to serve whole pieces on the bone, simply slice them whole and serve with the juices.

Grilling vegetables makes them satisfying and complex. So when the first vegetables of the season arrive along with warming weather, I make whole meals out of grilled vegetables. A platter of grilled vegetables and a
small side of risotto
are a perfect spring meal.

When grilling a variety of vegetables, it’s important to build a hot fire on only one side of the grill, leaving plenty of space to hold the cooked vegetables where they’ll stay warm but won’t overcook. The vegetables here are suggestions. You are limited only by the availability of good produce.

The vinaigrette is flavored with balsamic vinegar because the sweetness pairs beautifully with the charred flavors of the vegetables.

1 summer squash, quartered lengthwise

1 zucchini/courgette, quartered lengthwise

1 sweet onion such as Vidalia, quartered lengthwise through the root end so the wedges stay together on the grill

4 ripe plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise

1 head radicchio, halved lengthwise

12 to 20 asparagus spears (3 to 5 per serving, depending on their size)

Olive oil

BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE

1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar

1½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon minced shallot

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

Kosher salt

¼ cup/60 milliliters olive oil or canola oil

Build a hot fire on half of a grill.

Rub the vegetables with oil. Spread the coals out over half the grill and cover with the grill rack. Put the squash, zucchini/courgette, and onion over direct heat and sear, 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Move both squash to the cool side of the grill and move the onion to the edge of the heat (they can take a little more cooking). Sear the tomatoes and radicchio, 3 to 4 minutes on each side, then move to the cool side of the grill. Put the asparagus over direct heat and cover the grill. Cook the asparagus for about 2 minutes, then turn the spears. When the spears are tender, remove all the vegetables to a platter.

MAKE THE VINAIGRETTE:
In a small bowl, combine the vinegars, shallot, and mustard. Season with a two-finger pinch of salt. Whisk the oil into the vinegar.

Spoon the vinaigrette over the vegetables and serve.

Grilling fruit is a wonderful preparation. Pineapple, peaches, melon—all are enhanced by the charred flavor. Here, pears are grilled for a summer salad with prosciutto and nuts.

VINAIGRETTE

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons honey

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Kosher salt

2 tablespoons walnut oil or canola oil

¼ lemon

3 pears

Canola oil

4 slices of baguette or good-quality bread

Olive oil

½ pound/225 grams arugula/rocket

4 ounces/115 grams prosciutto, julienned

½ cup/55 grams walnuts, lightly roasted

½ cup/60 grams coarsely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Freshly ground black pepper

MAKE THE VINAIGRETTE:
In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, honey, and cayenne. Season with a two-finger pinch of salt. Slowly whisk in the oil.

Build a hot fire on one side of a grill. When it’s ready, squeeze the ¼ lemon into a bowl of cold water. Quarter the pears and cut out the cores, keeping the pears in the water as you work. When you’re ready to cook the pears, remove them from the water, pat dry, and rub with canola oil. Grill the pears over direct heat until they are nicely marked on the cut sides and are tender. Move the pears to the cool side of the grill (or to a plate, as they don’t need to be piping hot). Toast the baguette slices on both sides over the coals. Remove from the grill and brush with olive oil.