"cookout" news and stories

Do you plan on doing a lot of grilling this summer? You'll probably have to clean the grill at least a few times, but now you don't have to use chemical cleaners or lots of water to do it.

Inventor Spot is keeping us environmentally friendly this summer by highlighting the Grillboy. It's a new device that's shaped like a stick figure with all different sized grooves on the hands and feet. The grooves are for scraping the carbon buildup off of the grill, and the different sized grooves make the Grillboy useful for lots of grills.

The Grillboy is also a magnet, so just put it on the fridge for storage and you'll always know where to find it when you're getting ready for your next cookout.

The Cupcake Project is a huge contributor to the Slashfood Flickr pool. But because I don't want to express favoritism among our flickr posters, I try to limit my Cupcake Project posts to about one a month.

And what better way to celebrate the upcoming Memorial Day weekend than with cupcakes? But these aren't any cupcakes, and they probably won't satisfy your sweet tooth.

Enter: All-American Barbecue Cupcakes. Essentially, you add liquid smoke to a chocolate cupcake recipe, and top it with a sweet corn frosting that contains four gloriously simple ingredients: sweet corn, cream cheese, butter, and sugar. (And did anything bad ever come out of a recipe whose two main ingredients were butter and cream cheese?) The red, white, and blue star sprinkles don't hurt, either.

Okay, so they sound a little funny - but props to Cupcake Project to being creative and unique. They sound like the perfect addition to any cookout. Just serve 'em and watch your guests' eyes widen in surprise and their faces sink into relaxed, contented smiles.

I find that those slices of individually wrapped American cheese are always disappointing. I can't remember the last time I bought them, but occasionally, when I'm at a cookout or barbecue, I forget and get them on my burger. One bite in I regret the choice, as while they have amazing melting properties, there's really nothing redeeming about them. You get a mouthful of tasteless cheesy food product that coats your tongue like liquid plastic and ruins a perfectly good piece of grilled meat.

Because of my disdain for these slices of faux cheese, I was particularly delighted to discover a far more interesting and creative use for them. Cheese racing. This is a practice in which people (mostly like while they are under the influence of alcohol) toss the still-wrapped slices onto a grill, in order to see who's slice will puff up the fastest. Apparently the plastic doesn't melt or burst and the cheese gives off inflating gas. Who knew!

[via Neatorama]

Source

If you haven't started your cookout yet, maybe this is something you'd like to try: Hershey's Chocolate Barbecue Sauce!

It comes from Charlie Gipe, the executive chef at Hershey's and sounds like maybe a pop food version of mole sauce. You use four cups of Hershey's chocolate syrup, which sounds like a lot, but there is also four whole lemons and vinegar so I'm sure that balances the flavor. Full recipe after the jump.

This might be just because I'm not a big seafood fan in the first place (except for some fish, clams, and scallops), but I find oysters a rather odd food to even think about eating. The way it must feel when it's going down your throat...gah. I wouldn't eat one for a million dollars.*

But I know that a lot of you out there love them, and Esquire has everything you need to know about buying and eating them: what they are, the difference between East Coast and West Coast oysters, how to shuck them (including the equipment you'll need), and a few companies where you can buy the best oysters in the country.

Oyster lovers, rejoice!

* This is a lie. I actually would eat one for a million dollars.