What could be better than a summer cookout?<\/p>\n
Even better would probably be household name celebrity chefs such as Aar\u00f3n S\u00e1nchez, Marcus Samuelsson, Charlie Palmer, the Voltaggio brothers, Roy Ellamar and more cooking on open flames in Sonoma wine country.<\/p>\n
And while most of us were not be enough to attend the first-ever Savor Sonoma at Graton Resort & Casino, and attend a main headline event such as “Live Fire & Vine,” S\u00e1nchez told me in an email interview there’s one technique we can steal from the pros.<\/p>\n
Indirect cooking.<\/p>\n
His biggest lesson: Your grill is also an oven.<\/p>\n
According to S\u00e1nchez, the best technique we can learn in our summer grilling is Indirect cooking. “Set your coals in your equipment and make sure that you put the denser proteins off to the side. Use your grill or smoker as an oven instead of a high heat area. If you are smoking or grilling with a sauce that has a lot of sugar, add it last because the sugars will burn,” he told me in an email.<\/p>\n
What does that mean for those of us who are not a chef? It’s quite simple: Just, instead of piling coals beneath everything you’re cooking, you’re going to want to create separate heat zones. When you do this, denser proteins can cook more gently off to the side rather than sitting directly above screaming-hot coals.<\/p>\n
Sugary sauce goes on LAST.<\/p>\n
We may glaze or marinate without thinking at every step of the process, but it’s important to remember that barbecue sauce, glazes, marinades with lots of sugar\u2014they’ll burn if you introduce them too early.<\/p>\n
Consider your barbecue sauce to be your perfect finishing touch. It does not need to spend the entire afternoon on the grill.<\/p>\n
Stop making meat the only star.<\/p>\n
It’s a part of our core belief system, I know. Grilling is all about the meat. Except, it does not have to be!<\/p>\n
Incorporate more summer vegetables. “Squash, like a summer squash or zucchini. Slice up the squash for the grill in long pieces, add olive oil and seasoning and grill, then dice it and make a salad – adding a vinaigrette and cheeses,” he told me.<\/p>\n
What a great way to embrace produce at the end of the summer, too.<\/p>\n
Make yourself a seasoning oil.<\/p>\n
“Every backyard cook should have a seasoning oil aromatic blend like your favorite rub mixed with lemon peel and olive oil, it can be used as a baste,” said S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n
It’s very simple too, just choose your favorite rub, add a lemon peel and a good olive oil, and then just baste with abandon.<\/p>\n
Why fire tastes different.<\/p>\n
The reason cooking with fire is more than practical, it’s actually rather romantic. “Cooking over flames and with charcoal gives you another sensation of flavor that you often don’t find in a gas kitchen. It is a connection to nature and gives a char that you can only get with a wood fire. It allows the rub and spices and marinades to express themselves better,” said S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n
Savor Sonoma isn’t just another tasting festival.<\/p>\n
What S\u00e1nchez seems particularly excited about is the contrast in formats. What starts as a sophisticated collaborative five-course dinner pivots into a fun act of fire cooking. “I think the idea of being able to do different events, a combo of a sit down dinner where chefs can display their serious culinary prowess and then next following day is open hearth live fire cooking. The format gives us an opportunity to show off versus, the lineup has a great array of culinary skills. We’re not focusing on one style or format, the chefs can show off their abilities,” he said.<\/p>\n
For S\u00e1nchez, the act of all these incredible chefs coming together is about comradery. “We live in different locations and look forward to coming together, learning from each other. It is very exciting for me to be able to spend time with these great chefs and it definitely brings inspiration.”<\/p>\n
It’s important to remember that aside from being famous chefs with restaurants and television shows, they are also friends and colleagues who love and respect one another and don’t necessarily get to hang around together very often.<\/p>\n
The Impact Fund.<\/p>\n
And what better, in the midst of this gathering of established culinary heavyweights, is S\u00e1nchez helping the next generation find their place in that world?<\/p>\n
A big takeaway from Savor Sonoma is that they will be supporting the Aar\u00f3n S\u00e1nchez Impact Fund, a program of Emeril Lagasse Foundation founded by Chef Aar\u00f3n S\u00e1nchez that was created to help to uplift Latino youth through culinary education, nutrition education and food resources.<\/p>\n
“For me, the Impact Fund has a fair amount of beneficiaries from California and the idea of us supporting the local community and reinforcing its Latin culture is really important for the growth of the Impact Fund. There are great supporters in this region and we’re proud to be here at Savor Sonoma,” said S\u00e1nchez. “”The most rewarding part is to see them find their culinary voice and find new adopted homes. They often move outside their hometown to grow, they spread their wings and become ambitious. The mentoring is truly the most rewarding part.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What could be better than a summer cookout? Even better would probably be household name celebrity chefs such as Aar\u00f3n S\u00e1nchez, Marcus Samuelsson, Charlie Palmer, the Voltaggio brothers, Roy Ellamar and more cooking on open flames in Sonoma wine country. And while most of us were not be enough to attend the first-ever Savor Sonoma<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2763,5,2138,2765,1129,6407,457,6408],"class_list":["post-5929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chefs","tag-aaron-sanchez","tag-chef","tag-its","tag-marcus-samuelsson","tag-sanchez","tag-sonoma","tag-summer","tag-the-impact-fund"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117221327063090583","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}