Adding a grill to your Sacramento, Roseville, or El Dorado Hills home may be exactly what you needed to spend more time outdoors with your family and friends. Nothing says outdoors quite like a quality grill. It’s almost a symbol of an outdoor, family oriented lifestyle, and it’s a chance to cook up some pretty unique and delicious meats and meals. Chances are you’ve already thrown a few burgers, a corn cob, and a hot dog on the grill already and have shared it with those close to you.
But if you really want to get the most out of your grill this summer, you may want to try mixing it up. In general, if you can eat it, it can go on a grill, and there are a lot of fun foods that you may not have considered “grill worthy” that, once you try them, you’ll want to cook them again.
Grill-Worthy Foods
- Portobello Mushrooms
Portobello Mushrooms are like meat to vegetarians. They have the perfect texture and flavor for grilling and easily fit inside of burger buns. They are great for adding any type of grilling sauces (or your own unique flavoring) and have no cholesterol. If you’re grilling on a diet or need a day away from red meat, a Portobello mushroom can still get you out on the grill cooking up a masterpiece.
- Pineapple
You read that right: pineapple. Pineapple has some serious flavor when grilled. Even if you’ve never been a big pineapple fan, throwing some pineapple on the grill with some chili powder or coconut milk (or with no seasoning at all) and you and your family are going to find them to be a serious treat.
- Bear Meat
It may not be at the top of your list of meats in Sacramento, given that it’s not easy to find at the grocery store, but bear meat is an incredibly popular item to grill. If you can get your hands on it (and some stores like the Exotic Meat Market in Sacramento carry it) you should consider throwing it on the grill and seeing how you like it. If you’re looking for other exotic meats, try Koreana Grocery (KP International Market). They have alligator and other meats that may be worth grilling.
- Grilled Cheese
The idea that you can grill Grilled Cheese is probably no surprise, given that it’s name is, of course, “grilled cheese.” But you probably only know grilled cheese as a slice of fake cheddar in between two slices of white bread. Don’t limit yourself. Use real cheese, including pepper jack or other interesting cheeses. Throw some parmesan on there, or some vegetables or even meats inside and turn it into a real sandwich. The result is often delicious.
- Quesadillas
All Mexican inspired foods taste great grilled, but like grilled cheese a grilled quesadilla is something else. Add a little bit of jalapeno or hot sauce inside and you have an edible hand food that tastes far better grilled than it does fried or baked in any other way. Consider grilling up some burritos as well if you’re flush with ingredients.
How to Use Your Outdoor Grill
Whether you’ve recently installed a new outdoor grill from Capital Landscape or you simply love grilling, the best way to grill is to avoid limiting yourself to the foods you’re used to. Yes, hamburger patties and steak taste great on the grill. But the masters of the outdoor grill know how to work with all different types of ingredients and turn grilling into a culinary art form.
COMMENT: What’s your favorite unusual item or recipe to grill? Let us know!
