In Boston, the extremity of the seasons means taking advantage of what precious few beautiful days we are allotted. I'm sure just about anyone will agree that one of the best ways to do so is by throwing a barbecue. Day drinking, excellent home-cooked food, friends, night drinking: What is not to love? In this guide I've included some of my tried-and-true grilling favorites, one item I've never tried but assume I'd like and some drink ideas to make playing with fire that much more fun.
Grilled Chocolate Chip Cookies
This tastes as ridiculous as it sounds. I recently found myself gathered around a grill with some friends and a package of chocolate chip cookies. We did what came naturally, throwing a couple of cookies onto the grill, and wound up turning dry, adequate prepackaged cookies into homemade-tasting delights. The difference is flooring, and this practice has since become one of my grilling staples.
What better place to shop for barbecue supplies than the closest grocery store to my apartment? Shaw’s is an optimal destination for food of course, but it’s worth pointing out that while some Massachusetts grocery stores sell beer, in this state of blue laws and immoral price inflation it’s best to leave alcohol to the pros.
What better place to shop for barbecue supplies than the closest grocery store to my apartment? Shaw’s is an optimal destination for food of course, but it’s worth pointing out that while some Massachusetts grocery stores sell beer, in this state of blue laws and immoral price inflation it’s best to leave alcohol to the pros.
Miller High Life
The cheap beer of kings, high life is also an ideal barbecuing beer because of its low alcohol content. Starting early with high life (usually) means not falling asleep before dark. Barbecuing and drinking during the day is the only situation I can think of in which relatively low alcohol content is an asset instead of a liability, but here we are.
Blanchard’s is a local chain, but the Allston location seems to be the flagship, spreading intoxication across all of Allston, Brighton and their outlying areas. Any ingredient for any of the drinks in this guide can be purchased at Blanchard’s at any price/level of quality. Hooray, Blanchard’s.
Blanchard’s is a local chain, but the Allston location seems to be the flagship, spreading intoxication across all of Allston, Brighton and their outlying areas. Any ingredient for any of the drinks in this guide can be purchased at Blanchard’s at any price/level of quality. Hooray, Blanchard’s.
Asparagus Pasta Salad
Yeah, yeah, Rachel Ray isn’t cool, blah blah blah. I found her recipe for asparagus pasta salad, tried it with the lowest of expectations, loved it and never looked back. If you still feel guilty, just close your eyes and pretend it’s an Alton Brown recipe or something.
Gin and Tonics
Arguably the essential summer drink combination, gin and tonic water were first mixed when tonic water was deemed too bitter by soldiers being fed the stuff to prevent malaria. These days, tonic water has about five percent of the quinine necessary to prevent malaria, but malaria risk is low these days and tonic water is now usually sweetened. A worthwhile trade.
This MSNBC article details some ways such a simple drink can go wrong and also supplies an excellent baseline recipe.
Corn
In these descriptions I often feel the need to justify why I chose to include a given item in my guide. Corn is corn. A barbecue without some corn just doesn’t make any sense. Everyone likes corn. Bobby Flay has an exceptional recipe for corn. You can also just throw some butter and salt on there and enjoy, but you knew that. It’s corn.
Modified Veggie Burgers
I feel weird for repeatedly mentioning my vegetarian lifestyle, but in a barbecue setting it’s unavoidable. I’ve definitely done my share of running to the grocery store, picking up some morningstar or boca burgers, and throwing them on the grill, but when I saw this recipe from 101cookbooks, it just about blew my mind.
The most common gripe about grilled veggie burgers (and one I completely understand) is that they are too dry. The genius behind this recipe realized that, engineered a slightly dryer burger, and used it as bread to hold vegetables and whatever else. This is pretty much one of my favorite things in the world.
In spite of my general distaste for enormous, brightly lit big box stores, I grudgingly admit that there are few places on earth where one can procure a better selection of party sundries than Target.
In spite of my general distaste for enormous, brightly lit big box stores, I grudgingly admit that there are few places on earth where one can procure a better selection of party sundries than Target.
Mint Juleps
The perennial Southern classic, few things are better for a lazy summer day than a cold, minty alcoholic drink that pretty much forces you to drink it slowly. I began using this recipe because it was close to the top of my google results, but it’s yet to do me wrong.
Some chemical engineers had a contest to see who could get charcoals going the fastest without poisoning the charcoal. Liquid oxygen, as it often does, saved the day.
Modified S'mores
It seems pretty rational that s’mores would taste excellent when cooked on a grill, but when the idea struck me, I discovered the bodega around the corner from my house didn’t stock graham crackers. They did, however, stock Palmeritas, the ubiquitous circular Goya cookie. We threw caution to the wind and picked some of these suckers up, and I’ll be darned if they’re not better than graham crackers. These things can be found just about everywhere, so give them a shot.
Green Chile Cheeseburgers
I haven’t eaten meat in awhile, but I wholeheartedly recognize and embrace the fact that barbecue and meat are more or less synonymous. With that in mind, I dug up this recipe used by celebrity chef Bobby Flay. It’s a bit time-intensive, with the preparing the chile sauce in advance, but I have a feeling that if you used the green tabasco sauce available at any supermarket it wouldn’t make too much of a difference.
Smoothies
When I first began conceiving this guide, it took me a little while to realize that I wasn’t providing any nonalcoholic refreshments for the children and non-drinkers among us. Smoothies immediately came to mind. With a pantload of fruit, some ice and a blender, it’s incredibly easy to make something almost absurdly delicious and good for you.
N.B.: Throwing a neutral spirit like white rum or vodka in there is a fine idea.
A map to the locations outlined in this guide. Like a treasure map, only slightly less fun and much less rare.
Brought to you by Guidespot.comCopyright 2008 - Local Matters Inc.
.jpg)
.jpg "Something About Screaming: Ice Cream in Boston")
.jpg "Denver's Barbecue Joints")
.jpg "Boston Burrito Roundup")
.jpg "I Want Candy: The Boston Edition")
.jpg "Everything Apples in Boston")
.jpg "Best Martinis in Boston")
.jpg "JoeB")
.jpg "Something Something With the Radio On: The Best Live Music Venues in Boston")
.jpg "Grown Men With Ponytails: Your Guide to Boston Music Shops")
.jpg "Breakin' Down Allston For Real")
.jpg "Not a Boring Hellhole Ruined By Blue Laws and High Rent After All: Boston Odds and Ends")
.jpg)
