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Father’s Day heats up with some magic on the grill

A grilled burger pairs nicely with herb-roasted corn on the cob.
Timothy Grayson Special to Food

Celebrate the official arrival of summer this Sunday – and Father’s Day – by doing some outdoor cooking on the grill.

To prepare, I recently visited several local stores in search of a new grill.

My old one was in a dilapidated state, and I was happy to see a wide selection of all shapes, sizes and fuel sources – from charcoal and wood to propane.

Some were even designed to cook specialty items such as pizza. I also found all kinds of smokers and handy gadgets such as fish baskets, tongs and corn holders made to prevent your corn from rolling somewhere it isn’t supposed to go.

I finally decided upon and purchased my grill – a 22-inch Weber Master Touch charcoal grill for $199 from Home Depot – but I haven’t decided what’s going to be on it this weekend. Still, I wanted to share some of my grilling tips and a few recipes I love to cook.

• Get set up. I recommend placing a table next to your grill so you have workspace. It’s never a good plan to try to juggle a lot of different plates, bowls and ingredients that you will need.

• Towel off. Keep handy a towel coated with vegetable oil to carefully rub over the grill surface before cooking to help prevent sticking.

You can hold this towel with a long pair of tongs and rub the grill after the fire dies down.

You never want to use canned spray oil near an open flame as it is a safety hazard.

• Preheat. I recommend preheating your grill for at least 15 to 20 minutes before you start cooking.

When using a charcoal or wood grill, make sure the fire has died down and the coals are white hot. Make sure the grill is hot enough to sear the foods on contact so you get the proper caramelization.

• Add flavor. I like to wet marinade or dry rub meat to infuse the food with flavor. (See recipes below.)

• Select proper method. Remember it’s direct cooking for steaks, burgers, fish, vegetables and hot dogs, and indirect, lower heat for larger pieces of meat or whole pieces of poultry that need more time. These items need to be under the lid of your grill to envelope food with heat on all sides. This also allows the smoke to circulate around the larger pieces of food and helps give the meat a golden brown exterior. Remember, a grill is just a source of heat, and it’s very user friendly.

• Go green. You can also grill vegetables and fruit on the grill as an accompaniment to your meat or for vegetarian cuisine or dessert.

Vegetable cooking times vary widely depending on the density, structure and size of the vegetables.

Different approaches include varying the cooking time, cutting the thickness to make dense vegetables thinner and parboil the longer cooking-time vegetable, such as potatoes.

You can boil them for about 5 minutes in salted water before grilling.

I likewise recommend skewering them, wrapping them in foil or using one of those handy baskets.

You want to make sure you coat them with a mixture of melted butter and canola oil or just canola oil to prevent sticking and sprinkling them with coarse kosher salt.

Cook fruit over indirect medium heat just long enough to heat; they contain sugar and can and will burn.

• Get the perfect burger. Burgers are not diet food.

So I prefer to use fresh, never frozen, ground meat with a high fat content of 20 to 30 percent. Very lean meat does not make a good burger.

Also, do not season your burger with salt before you start cooking as it starts to cure the meat and will change the texture.

You can mix in ingredients for flavor such as fresh chopped herbs, sautéed mushrooms, onion, mustard or mustard seeds and or cheeses such as cheddar, blue cheese or gorgonzola.

Before you put your prepared patties on the grill, coat them lightly with canola oil as it handles high heat the best.

Never push down on the burger patty when cooking as it forces out the juices and dries up the patty.

Toast a quality bun just before serving. Season the patties with salt and fresh ground pepper.

Add some nice crisp lettuce leaves and local tomatoes or, if desired, some fresh grilled sliced pineapple or onion to add to the top layers.

Chef Tim’s All-Purpose Marinade for Chicken, Beef, Pork, Seafood or Vegetables

1 cup canola oil

1 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar

1 cup low sodium soy sauce

3 teaspoon of minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients together and use to marinate the meat for at least 2 hours before cooking.

Argentine Gaucho Grill Marinade for Steak or Chicken

This one is perfect for grilled tacos or meat lovers who like it spicy.

1 cup olive oil

1/2 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon chipotle pepper in adobe, minced

1 tablespoon dried ground rosemary

2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoon dried ground oregano

2 tablespoon ground thyme

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

3 tablespoon black balsamic vinegar

3 teaspoon minced garlic

2 pounds of flank steak, skirt steak or boneless chicken breast

Heat olive oil in a saucepan until hot. Remove from heat, then add all other ingredients. Stir well, then leave at room temperature for 1 hour. Then, use to marinate meat before grilling.

High Mountain Coffee Dry Rub

Use this rub when cooking large cuts of beef with indirect heat on the grill.

1 tablespoon freshly ground coffee

2 teaspoon (packed) golden brown sugar

2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

2 to 3 pounds beef roast

Combine all ingredients through oregano, then rub on all sides of meat before grilling.

Herb-Roasted Corn on the Cob

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons chopped chives

1/2 teaspoon salt

Dash of pepper

8 ears of corn, cleaned

Blend butter with parsley, chives, salt and pepper.

Peel back husk from corn, clean away silks and brush with butter mixture. Put husk back over ear of corn. Roast in husk on grill over glowing coals, 10 to 12 minutes turning occasionally.

Then pull back the husk or remove and brush again with butter mixture and grill again, 6 to 8 minutes until golden brown. Serve with more butter.

Grill Roasted Bananas with Toblerone

4 bananas

Butter, for greasing

4 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon honey

1 ounce dark rum

Toblerone candy, or other chocolate

Split bananas lengthwise in half but not all the way through. Place on buttered aluminum foil.

Mix brown sugar, honey and rum. Coat bananas with mixture, then fill each split banana with Toblerone or other chocolate bar slices. Wrap all together and grill for 10 minutes. Open carefully and serve immediately with ice cream or whipped cream.

Timothy Grayson is the district executive chef for Sodexo Dining Services and is based at Whitworth University.