"OutdoorCooking" news and stories

Photo: terren in virginia, Flickr.

So much for putting a wiener on a stick and calling it dinner.

Campground cooking, once the province of anyone who could wrap a potato in tin foil, is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Vicki Loughner, who's coordinating the 2009 South Carolina Campground Cookoff, reports it's not uncommon for campers today to get cracking on a recipe for spinach sausage quiche.

"They are very serious about the cooking they do," Loughner, project manager for the Old 96 District Tourism Commission, says of the teams registered for this weekend's competition. "When you look at their food, you'd never know it was cooked over a campfire."

In pursuit of the $500 prize, some entrants this year have purchased their own Big Green Egg, the fetishized grill with the startling price tag. But Loughner says it's not just the promise of riches that's inspiring outdoorsy gourmands to up their dinner game. According to Loughner, more and more South Carolina campers are applying their "Top Chef" sensibilities to campground menu planning.

I tend to think of Memorial Day Weekend as the time when the summer grilling season really starts to heat up. While the weather has already been nice for as much as a month in some areas, by the end of May, nearly everyone is having a surfeit of warm, sunny days and is ready to move the bulk of their cooking outdoors (so as to avoid heating up the kitchen).

Here at Slashfood, we're going to spend a lot of time focusing on all this summer outdoor cookery. We'll have a bunch of posts up for you this week, to get you ready for the weekend, but we'll be writing about grilling, barbecuing and even what to do if you don't have any outdoor space in which to grill, all summer long. Our friends at AOL Food are also featuring grilling this summer, so make sure to check in over there often for fresh tips, tricks, recipes and bbq related quizzes.

To get you started, here are some grilling links from past years:

1. Seven kabob recipes from Real Simple
2. Bobby Flay's grilling for Dad's Day
3. Maple Chipotle Glazed Grilled Corn
4. Maple Bourbon Barbecue Sauce
5. How to grill corn on the cob
6. Cook outdoors in style with this Barbecue Belt
7. No room for a big grill? Try this tiny, bucket-styled one.
   
8. Slashfood weighs in on the gas verses charcoal debate.

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When grilling season starts, the simple act of being able to stand outside without a coat and cook a meal is thrill enough. But then, as the Summer progresses, it becomes old hat, and you start to look for ways to spice up your hot dogs, hamburgers and steaks. Enter the BBQ Sword!

This barbecue fork is designed to look like a swashbuckler's trusty blade, and harkens back to the days when men cooked their raw dinner by impaling it on the end of their sword and extending it out over the flames (much like Brazilian barbecue). The package is also printed with a cut-out eye mask, so you can pretend to be Zorro while grilling up your kids' turkey dogs.

[via Geekologie]

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I look at this picture, and I swear I start to smell the charcoal burning and the chicken charring. It gets me excited for a season of outdoor festivals, street fairs and the occasional grilling session in my cousin's backyard. You can see other images from this event here. Thanks, Ohad, for adding your image to the Slashfood Flickr pool.

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Raise your hand if you're ready for warmer days and cooking outdoors! I, for one, certainly am. Sadly, I don't actually possess any outdoor space in which to grill (the downsides of living on the 20th floor) but I partake in the outdoor cooking of others whenever possible. This image of grilled skirt steak reminds me about all things that are good about summer, grilling and eating al fresco.

What's your favorite thing to throw on the grill?

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