Grilling with Bittman
Grilled lamb shoulder chops and asparagus
Last year, I moved into a garden apartment with a backyard, and bought a grill just in time for my 4th of July barbecue (in fact, about two hours before it was supposed to start, I bought the last one they had at the hardware store across the street). I fell in love with grilling.
As much as I love How to Cook Everything, Bittman doesn’t go into great detail on his grilling instructions. Occasionally he’ll mention how hot the coals should be, but not always. Fortunately, my other favorite cookbook is The Cook’s Illustrated Guide to Grilling and Barbecuing*, the ultimate geek-out grilling guide. This summer, I resolved to grill every week, and I’ve been using the magic combination of Bittman’s recipes and Cook’s Illustrated’s techniques.
Tonight I grilled up a few of my farmer’s market buys from Saturday: Prather Ranch lamb shoulder chops and asparagus (I forget who the vendor was). I decided to go simple and made the Basic Grilled Lamb Chops and Grilled Asparagus.
The lamb was so easy to prepare: rub with garlic, sprinkle with salt and pepper, grill. I used a two-layer fire, per Cook’s Illustrated, and browned the chops over the medium-high heat for two minutes on each side before moving them to the medium-low heat to cook through. I generally don’t get my coals hot enough, so the chops were browned but not well-browned (also, it was getting dark by then, and my headlamp only throws so much light). I moved them to the medium-low coals and cooked them for about 8 minutes total, aiming for medium but getting medium-rare.
Bittman and Cook's Illustrated: The ideal grilling combo
Still, it was really good. Bittman recommends cooking shoulder chops medium, and I bet they would have been even more flavorful if I had cooked them a bit longer. Lamb is my favorite meat, and these chops were really flavorful and nicely chewy, but not at all tough.
When I moved the chops to the lower heat, I put the asparagus on. I put them on a single skewer so they wouldn’t fall in, but they did spin around a bit. Normally I char asparagus, but I kept to Bittman’s recommended cooking times and they kept a nice crunch. I was tempted to grate some parmesan over them, but I held back. I was glad I did. It was perfect with a little salt and lemon.
The woman at the farmer’s market said that they’ll probably only have about two more weeks of asparagus. I can’t imagine how sad my face looked when she said that.
Recipes: Basic Grilled Lamb Chops, HTCE p. 478; Grilled Asparagus , HTCE p. 538
*Oh my lord, it’s on sale. Buy it. Seriously. If you grill, you won’t regret it.
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