Grilling was made for these times.
Actually, it was made for all times, but particularly for those with economic struggles. Cooking with fire goes back to the days of the woolly mammoth, but during more recent millennia, the most prevalent meats for grilling were the cheaper ones -- the very kind many of us are turning to as food prices soar at a much hotter rate than our incomes.
"Barbecue was originally designed for the disenfranchised," said Steven Raichlen, author of the recently updated "The Barbecue! Bible" (now in its 10th year). "The ribs and the briskets weren't going to the masters."
True, except that these days, once-inexpensive cuts -- pork ribs, flank or skirt steak and even the once-lowly Cornish game hen (which a friend invariably calls "game-ish corn hen") -- cost several times as much as they did a decade or so ago.
But there remain plenty of ways to combine frugality, fire and flavor this summer, when vacations-at-home -- and entertaining there -- have become so prevalent. And just like in the old, cheaper days (not so long ago), the items best suited for grilling are the cheaper cuts.
Take ground beef. The extra-lean stuff is great for concocting some hockey pucks, while the fattier meat, whose grease adds sizzle and smoke to the process, produces spot-on burgers if cooked correctly (and to at least 160 degrees).
Same goes for fowl. Chicken breasts are notoriously ill-suited for grilling: Boneless ones get tough with just a few seconds too much -- or too little -- cooking, while the bone-in ones have such an odd shape that only a real pro can cook them perfectly throughout. Meanwhile, the more reasonably priced dark meat is a grillmeister's pal, not to mention a continuation of America's dubious preferences.
"The great irony is that we send most of the dark meat from our birds to Asia," said Raichlen. "I love those cuts. I'm a big believer in the fact that any meat that's next to the bone is inherently more flavorful."
