Welcome to Bobby Flay Everyday!

I am not an expert. I have never even taken a class. I have no formal training - but I love to grill. I love the food off the grill and I just like the idea, the fun and the relaxation of grilling. So naturally Bobby Flay is a hero. I have his books, I watch his shows and I try out his recipes. So my idea is to grill one of Bobby's grilling recommendations everyday and see how it goes. Bobby Flay Everyday!

The idea to grill and blog is not original. Julie Powell wrote a blog that became a book and then a movie when she cooked all 524 recipes from Julia Child's cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. But this is not French Cooking - this is backyard, after work, tailgate, American male grilling. I grill outside in a man-cave in every kind of weather. There is no "grilling season" for me - its everyday, year-round. We will skip around through Bobby's books and TV shows and grill what we like. But grilling is more than food, its an experience - so we will also report on what music we listened to or what ball game was on while we were grilling. We will keep track of what we were drinking during the grilling and later with the food. I'll try to figure what went wrong when we fall short of Bobby's perfection and pass on any tips I know about or discover along the way. Maybe it will give others some ideas as well.

The photo is of me and two of my brother-in-laws roasting the Thanksgiving turkey on the grill last year. That's me on the far right. In real life I am a college professor and pilot. I have written 12 books, but they were all about flying - here we write about grilling. We write about Bobby Flay Everyday!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

California Burger

The California Burger! from Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes, page 34. Check out that avocados relish on top of this burger. It was made with Haas Avocados, onion, lime juice, and cilantro. The burger was grilled the Bobby Flay way with canola oil, coarse Kosher salt and ground black pepper over the outside and nothing but beef on the inside. I used the basting pan method to melt the cheese. The basting method is really the only way to get the cheese perfectly melted. After the burger turns (and you only turn a burger once), lay the cheese over the burger top and cover the burger with a pan. The pan has to be tall enough so that it does not actually touch any part of the burger, but the grill heat gets trapped in the pan. This delivers equal heat on all sides of the burger and completely melts the cheess. In this case the cheese was a Colby-Jack.

It was a great coincidence that while I was preparing the California Burgers that a delivery from California was made to our house. It was this month's package from the Wine of the Month Club!
Our friend Paul Kalemkiarian, of the Original Wine of the Month Club, in Monrovia, California makes some terrific selections every month. And look, this month he also sent along a Wine of the Month Club binder so I can keep all his newsletters handy. Where I live in Tennessee, we just don't have access to as many different wines and the rest of the country, so Paul's Wine of the Month Club is double great for us. We get to try wines that we otherwise would never be able to get. Go to their website and check them out: http://www.wineofthemonthclub.com/
You really should consider joining this club - even if you are not in Tennessee, but especially if you are!  

The arrival of this month's Wine of the Month Club package was cause for celebration. I mentioned this on a previous blog, but I believe I am growing the world's smallest vineyard - three plants. Here it is last January and here it is today. The leaves have just appeared this week.
This is the third year of these vines. This is the year they are supposed to produce grapes - but we will see if they actually do. They are Sangiovese, the grape that makes Chainti. If we do get grapes, I am not really sure what to do with them!

I think I will stick to grilling, not wine making! Paul
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