Grilling

Smoky bacon wrapped around shrimp spiced with Neely’s barbecue rub and garlic creates a sensuous dance of flavors on your tongue. But the real romance of the dish is that you can feed your partner these bite-sized delights.

PAT I have a confession—when I was a kid, I would jump my grandmother’s neighbor’s fence and pluck peaches from Mr. Johnson’s trees. I figured that there were so many of those little darlings hanging from Mr. Johnson’s trees he surely wouldn’t miss a few. Looking back on it, you could say those peaches helped me develop an appreciation for the simple pleasures life has to offer. Over the years, we’ve grown fond of grilling sweet fruit. (Yes, we do “grill everything.”) When you add the smoky flavor from the grill to the sweetness of the apricots and peaches, well, you are talking about a different kind of dessert from the shortcake you’re used to. Ours also calls for biscuits (talk about a Neely spin on things!). And the turbinado sugar is just a fancy name for sugar in the raw . . . like me!

PAT Grilled corn is good enough all by itself. Here we feature it in a light, slightly smoky salad with rice, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and kidney beans. It’s an awesome combination, but once you add in the feta cheese, “Girl, you did that!” That’s what Gina’s mom always says. We used white rice, but brown will work just as well and give it an earthy, nutty flavor.

PAT When hosting on a day as important to everybody as the Fourth of July, you’ve got to have some chicken on the menu for the non–pork eaters. (We will never understand how you could be a non–porker, but that’s for another book.) GINA I’ve always loved drumsticks for their juicy dark meat, and the way they would fit so neatly in my hand when my sister Kim used to fry them for me. Now Shelbi loves drumsticks, too! The combination of honey, orange, and ancho-chile powder, with just the right amount of heat, and the smoke of a grill—baby, these drumsticks are so good they’ll make you want to smack your mama or the cook (although I wouldn’t recommend it!). Allowing the drumsticks to marinate overnight, and then “mopping” on the glaze at the end, will ensure your guests’ memberships in the clean-plate club.

PAT My brothers and I are all “bourbon men.” We take ours neat, or lacquered to our ribs. Enough said. GINA I can’t believe I ended up with a bourbon-and-ribs man. Growing up, we always had chicken, hot dogs, smoked sausages, and burgers, but for some reason the ribs were always center stage. The women in my family were often throwing some crazy ingredient or other into their rubs and sauces—and don’t you know that we kept bourbon as one of them. We always had bourbon around for “ailments,” and not just the cooking kind. So what do I do? I go and marry a rib-grilling bourbon lover—was my life being planned even then? To this day, ribs and bourbon are like the “main act” in my life! Remember: in all grilling, the sauce and the rub must work together, like a good marriage. And when smoking those ribs, Pat will remind you to keep the heat “low and slow.”

PAT I told y’all, I can’t have steak without potatoes, and fingerling potatoes are my choice. These rich and creamy little darlings are about the size of my fingers, and they are firm enough to withstand the heat of my grill. A great tip for grilling potatoes is to boil them a bit first; this will give you faster and more even grilling. The olive oil will keep them moist and let the rosemary and garlic do their aromatic thing.

There is nothing like a rib eye: it is the most flavorful steak you can buy. The thin streams of fat running through this cut of steak create outstanding flavor. You’ll only need to season this with salt and pepper, because we’re going to make a shallot-and-herb butter to slap on top of this baby once it’s off the grill. As with any good steak, let this one rest for a few minutes before digging in. It will be moist and tender.

PAT I refer to this dish as “sophisticated cheese toast.” Gina and I actually got the idea from a famous Memphis restaurant, though in our version we make it with baguettes, because we are going to grill these puppies, and baguettes can withstand the heat. Now, you can use any cheese you like, but on my spicy grilled cheese bread, we must have Parmesan and mozzarella.

Don’t let these puppies fool you. We call them mini-pizzas, but there’s nothing all that little about them, in either size or flavor. It just makes us feel better, because you find yourself eating a lot of them before you know it!

If you’ve got a smoker or kettle grill, here’s your recipe—you’ll make much more pulled pork than you need for the nachos, but are you complaining? Ever heard of that Memphis classic, a pulled-pork sandwich? Make some Neely’s coleslaw (see page 150), BBQ sauce (see page 37), and toasted hamburger buns, and go to town with the leftovers.

Oh my, if you love shrimp, this quick, easy grilled-seafood appetizer will make any celebration festive.

There is nothing like grilled corn. Ours calls for butter spiked with lime, which gives it a citrus zing that acts as a perfect complement to smoky grilled corn. Rolling the husk back over the cob after adding the lime butter helps keep the corn from drying out. Some people prefer to soak the corn in a water bath beforehand, but this gives off steam when the corn is cooking inside the husk, and we prefer having the extra-smoky flavor instead.

PAT The secret to this recipe is the sauce. Kids and grown folks will not be able to eat just one. Using 80-percent-lean ground beef leaves just enough fat so the burger will plump up and be extra juicy. And we can’t leave out Gina’s pig: top these darlings with bacon, Comeback Sauce, pepper Jack, Neely’s coleslaw, and fried onion rings, and you’ll have a burger like no other.

PAT Oh, how we love grilled pineapple—and everyone loves grilled shrimp. And as Gina says, “Let’s keep it pretty,” so we skewer these two favorites together. Always remember to soak your skewers in cold water so they don’t catch fire on the grill. A brush of the syrupy glaze at the end will have your guests licking their sticks.

PAT Let me tell you, there’s nothing like a perfectly seasoned smoked beef rib. Don’t be intimidated by their size; beef ribs are easier to cook than pork ribs. Removing the silver membrane on the inside of the ribs is key, particularly with beef ribs that have thick skin. (Start at the end of the bone with your fingers and it’ll pull right off.) Once the film of the membrane is removed, the sweet cherry-cola rub can really penetrate the meat. Cooking the ribs with indirect heat and hickory wood gives them a pull-off-the-bone tenderness and smoky flavor, and the sweet cherry-cola sauce added near the end infuses syrupy goodness into these beauties.

We grill anything, and potatoes are no exception. The simplest way to grill sliced potatoes is to parboil them first. This makes for fast and even grilling. The calling card of these tasty taters is the appetizing grill marks that make them irresistible. That, and our house seasoning, when Neely’s barbecue rub makes its annual spring debut.

PAT Gina seasons these burgers perfectly. And unless you are standing in the kitchen while she’s preparing them, you’ll never be able to tell whether they’re turkey or ground beef. Once these babies hit the grill and the sizzle starts, your neighbors will be peeking over the fence. Ground turkey, as a rule, has less fat than ground beef, so don’t buy lean ground turkey (also known as ground turkey breast). Instead, buy regular ground turkey, which is a mix of white and dark meat, and makes for a moister burger. We also add the garlic, shallot, cheddar cheese, and Worcestershire sauce to give it some extra juice and flavor. What you’re left with is a healthy little handful (if you can eat just one!).

GINA Now, you guys know I am married to the “grill master”—and yet we never seem to think of grilling lamb! Adding the mint vinaigrette pulls the whole thing together in the best possible way: the piquant flavor of the vinaigrette contrasts perfectly with the earthy smoked lamb. It’s a grilled twist on a classic Easter dish. PAT Y’all know how I feel about my grill. She loves it when I bring her different types of meats so we can cook them to perfection. Letting these beautiful cuts of lamb soak in the marinade overnight ensures a delicious flavor, and once Gina adds her outstanding mint vinaigrette, there is nothing else for these babies to do but make it to your plate.

GINA Forget calling up the delivery guy: making pizza is easier than you’d think, and this recipe is perfect for movie watching. I love this pizza because it has my favorite ingredients, chicken and spinach, right on top. You can slice large tomatoes if you like, but I prefer sweet and juicy red and yellow grape tomatoes. Not many people think of the yellow tomatoes, but they add extra color and taste great. PAT Most guys prefer any kind of pig on a pizza, including me, but Gina introduced me to this recipe, and that flavor blast of garlic and red pepper won me over. Make one of these and cuddle up on the couch together.

GINA For some reason, there are always potatoes in the pantry. So pull them out and make some potato skins! Grilling them gives them a nice spin, and since we are the first family of barbecue, these skins are complemented by barbecue sauce, pulled pork, and bacon. And you guys all know how I feel about the pig . . . so I like to call these the “double pig.” They also make a nice pick-me-up when you’re entertaining, so, to make them more like appetizers, you can slice them in quarters, arrange on a platter, and sprinkle with green onions. Trust me, these will be eaten so fast they’ll be history. PAT That’s right, pig layered on pig, y’all! Having potato skins, and adding two types of pork—bacon and pulled pork—truly puts a guy (that’s me, Pat!) in hog heaven. For you non–pig lovers (surely only a few of you), you can always substitute turkey bacon, chicken, or even beef brisket for the bacon and pulled pork.