Hot Off The Grill

My nephew J.R. and his wife Lorrie e-mailed us tonight. They have been in the midst of a huge kitchen gut-to-the-studs remodel which spread throughout the first floor of their home. They’ve been doing all (or nearly all) of the work themselves. During this period of upheaval, they have been cooking using only a microwave and a barbecue grill. At one point Lorrie made homemade pizza on the grill, but didn’t like the way the crust was sagging down into the open spaces between the bars. It tasted really good so she wanted to make it again. This time my nephew J.R. had a flash of inspiration. They had some slate lying around because of the remodel. He suggested they put a piece of slate on the grill and put the pizza on top! It worked like a charm! Did I mention I’m closely related to these folks? Yup, I am convinced our ancestors were the ones who first discovered fire and invented the wheel!

Curious, Lorrie headed for the computer to Google and see what she could learn. While she discovered they weren’t the first to invent the process, she did find some very good advice.* We haven’t tried cooking this way yet, but we do still have a few large pieces of slate from a project a few years ago. And we have used cedar house shakes (leftover from our barn rehab) as planks to cook salmon on, so slate sounds like a natural progression.

* Do heed all the warnings!