Cooking

This is a great time of the year to use our outdoor grills for everything from steak to chicken to pork to fish to vegetables and even certain fruits.

While most of us enjoy grilling, we tend to ignore all the various sauces that can really enhance the flavor and aroma of our burgers and steaks. If cooking a filet mignon, why not liven it up with a spicy mustard and caper sauce? Or how about a beef tenderloin with blue cheese sauce? One of my favorites is sliced porterhouse with a garlic butter sauce.

With our weather beginning to cool down into autumn, I start thinking about flavorful and hearty soups that are perfect for this time of the year. 

Though not really a soup, I also enjoy making goulash and especially, paprikash. My favorite is chicken paprikash, a traditional Hungarian soup or stew made primarily with bone-in chicken, onions, chicken stock and plenty of paprika. Paprikash is slow-cooked on the stove along with a pot of potato dumplings or noodles and a platter of Hungarian pickled peppers along with a loaf of crusty home baked bread.

I can remember the first time I ever tasted French fries smothered in chicken gravy. It was in Topeka, Ka., at a small local steakhouse.

The waiters never wrote anything down, being able to remember everyone’s order perfectly. Our group all ordered thick T-bone steaks. In a few minutes, the waiter brought over a large serving bowl of homemade fries and a large bowl of chicken gravy. I don’t remember much about the steaks, but the combination of those fries and gravy has stuck with me all these years.

Chicken is probably one of the most popular foods to grill, yet I’ve found out that for most of us, it seems to be the most troublesome to cook.

The biggest problem is with bone-in chicken and flare-ups caused by the skin melting and then dropping on the flame, which in turn causes the chicken to burn faster on the outside. But because it contains bones, it takes longer to cook than your standard burgers and steaks. And, no one wants to eat chicken that is anything less than well done. Most of us end up with chicken burnt on the outside and raw close to the bone.