Holiday kicks off barbecue season
Fourth of July celebrations are often marked with traditional family activities such as camping out, swimming in the lake and barbecuing.
“July Fourth is the official kick-off for barbecue season,” said grill master Rick Browne of PBS’ “Barbecue America” show. “More people fire up the grill on this day than any other day of the year.”
Simple recipes always seem to work best for campsite cookouts.
“These days I’m doing a lot of Kobe Bleu Burgers,” said Browne during a telephone interview earlier this week from Santa Clara, Calif.
“All you do is make two patties and sandwich them together with bleu cheese in between,” he said. “It’s a big stuffed, really delicious hamburger.”
As for side dishes and desserts, Browne loves grilling fruit.
“To me there is nothing quite like pineapple,” he said. “I core and cut a pineapple into long, vertical spears and soak them in brown sugar, butter and a little nutmeg. If you want to be real daring, add a little rum.”
Browne then grills the pineapple wedges over a hot fire just until they start to brown on one side, then he flips them for the other side.
“It won’t take more than a minute or so for each side,” he said. “Then serve right away with coconut ice cream. It’s absolutely delicious.”
(For the complete recipes of these two grilling suggestions and others go to: www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/wheellife.)
Catching up with Browne
The last time we checked in with the barbecue master, it was about this time two years ago.
He and his wife, Kate, were about to leave for a cross-country tour from their home in Ridgefield, Wash., aboard a 35-foot Georgia Boy motor coach. They were off to film segments for his third season of “Barbecue America.”
These days the cookbook author said he is too busy to travel by RV. His schedule is packed with producing two syndicated cooking shows, writing cookbooks and multiple public appearances.
In fact, you might have seen him Friday on the “Live with Regis and Kelly” show. Today he is scheduled for the “Fox Friends” morning Fox News Channel show out of New York City.
“Besides,” he said, “with fuel at $3.30 a gallon, it is incredibly expensive to travel as many miles as we do in a rig that gets 9-miles-to-the-gallon.”
In 2003, the Brownes’ first year of RVing, they drove 27,000 miles in 18 weeks. In 2004 they logged in close to 30,000 miles.
Even through the pit master is not traveling by motor home this summer, he is still meeting up with thousands of RVers.
He recently started taping the fifth season of “Barbecue America” with the theme of “NASCAR and Barbecue.”
“We are attending a lot of the NASCAR races around the country where we are interviewing tailgaters and racing team cooks,” said Browne.
“We were at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway a couple weeks ago,” he said, “and there must have been between 5,000 and 7,000 rigs all around the racetrack. They were everywhere. Huge parking areas were filled with them.”
Browne quickly discovered that NASCAR has a loyal, almost fanatical RV following.
“I didn’t realize how intense these people are about NASCAR,” said Browne. “They all like to eat good food and drink adult beverages; but the racing is the reason they are gathered there.”
Often RVers follow the circuit by traveling together in caravans.
Browne visited with one group of about 20 Winnebago owners.
“All the rigs were parked in the same area with everyone grilling burgers and hotdogs, and laughing themselves silly,” he said.
“There is a family nature about it,” he added. “It’s like an old hometown get-together. That’s the magic.”
More information
“ Rick Browne can be reached through Barbecue American online at www.barbecueamerica.com.
“ Browne’s second barbecue series, “Ready, Aim, Grill” on the Outdoor Channel, is geared to hunters and fishers cooking in the field. He has recently finished its second year and will begin filming the third season this fall.
“ Browne’s cookbooks include: “The Big Book of Barbecue Sides (Collectors Press, $16.95) “Rick Browne’s Barbecue America TV Cookbook,” (June 2004); “Grilling America,” (Regan Books, $19.95); “The Frequent Fryers Cookbook: How to Deep-Fry Just About Anything That Walks, Crawls, Flies, or Vegetates,” (Regan Books, $24.95); “Barbecue America Cookbook: America’s Best Recipes from Coast to Coast,” with Jack Bettridge (Lyons Press, $19.95); and “Barbecue America: A Pilgrimage in Search of America’s Best Barbecue,” with Jack Bettridge (Time-Life Books, $18.95).