Barbecue University™
Steven Raichlen’s Barbecue Birthday Menu
Call it a busman’s holiday. When my birthday rolls around in this blustery month of March (don’t try to guess when or how old), I’ll celebrate with, what else, a barbecue.
And being the hands-on, DIY, control freak kind of guy I am, I’ll probably cook it myself.
Oh, I’ll have help from son-in-law Gabriel, the master mixologist of the family. I’m thinking something smoky, like an Oaxacan Manhattan—made with mezcal. (Gabriel also grills a mean skirt steak for carnitas.) I hope daughter Betsy will whip up a batch of her famous brownies—meltingly soft and incredibly fudgy. No, they’re not smoked or grilled, but that doesn’t stop me from dreaming.
If son Jake—newly minted chef-owner of Der Kommissar in Brooklyn were in town—he’d loosen our belts with his astonishing smoked brisket bratwurst.
And if my wife were manning the grill, she’d cook rack of lamb—rubbed with Mediterranean spices, super-crusty on the outside and the rosy pink of dawn in the center. But smart man that I am, I’ll excuse her from dinner duty and call in my chips later.
That leaves yours truly to prepare dinner, which is just fine, because few things give me more pleasure than firing up a few smokers and grills.
The menu? I’m thinking some Raichlen’s greatest hits from my years traveling the world’s barbecue trail.
- Catalan grilled tomato bread (Hey, it’s tomato season here in Florida.)
- Grilled gazpacho (See reason above.)
- Shrimp grilled on sugarcane (from my days running the Cooking in Paradise cooking school in St. Barts in the French West Indies)
- Hill Country brisket
- Asparagus rafts (they come from the land of my birth, Japan)
- Tandoori potatoes (roasted and mashed in a single dish—a souvenir from an incredible trip to New Delhi)
- And to wash it all down, a cocktail from my novel (Island Apart—a love story set on Martha’s Vineyard): Katama kirs (champagne and blueberry syrup).
I didn’t pick a dessert as I suspect there will be a cake—or maybe the aforementioned brownies. I just hope they don’t light the full number of candles. That would put out more BTUs than all the grills on my terrace!
What’s on your barbecue birthday menu this year? Share your recipes and photos with us on the Barbecue Board.