The Outdoor Cooking Issue

Hot weather brings out the primal in us and that includes how we cook. Home chefs get the urge to roast over coals or an open fire. It is the most basic way to roast any kind of meat  -and, without a doubt  - the most delicious.

The editors at the New York Times Food section realized this and dedicated today's issue to everything grilled , from duck to taters.There are some great articles on how to create a fish boil  (more on that tomorrow)to cooking game on a stick. All the regulat contributors have given some interesting recipes. Melissa Clark, of A Good Appetite gives us a one  from her parent's  Depression era experience .It is simply taking potatoes and roasting them on a bonfire. Her parents then took  the recipe and adapted it to their living room fireplace.  The end result is a charred and well cooked spud . The inside is a nicely mushed flesh that deserves  gobs of butter and salt. Ms. Clarks' parents ate them plain which is fine too.The wood smoke flavor stays with the potatoes and imparts a rich smoky flavor. David Tanis of A City Kitchen gives the perfect barbecue side - baked beans. These came  from his first  summer job as a ranch hand. It's a simple dish made with pinto  beans and onions. Bay leaf, bacon - of course - and paprika give the dish its' much beloved flavor.This can be made on a stove top or over a fire in cast iron pot.The beans can be made two days in advance if you have a busy grilling day.

Then there is the catching, cooking and eating. Newcomer and owner chef of the famed Spotted Pig and John Dory Oyster Bar April Bloomfield give an interesting recipe for smoked bluefish salad.Her catch - the popular bluefish -is then smoked over heavily scented chips like hickory or mesquite.The bluefish is then flaked for the salad.Bibb lettuce is the base as tomatoes , onions and eggs are also added. Homemade buttermilk dressing is then drizzled on top. It's a great way to have the bluefish instead of grilling it to reduce the oiliness. ANother intriguing one is Steven Rinella's piece on roasting meat on a stick. This is a more involved cooking method that involves forked and straight sticks. The fire is also made from sticks , namely deciduous trees such as apple cherry, alder and mesquite. The meat used is duck and it is salted with coarse salt after it's been spatchcocked or splayed open. This is not a quick method. The duck must be cooked over an open flame for forty minutes. Chicken takes an entire hour. A quicker cook is just chucking the meat on hot coals as two food writer brothers Matt and Ted Lee did.This is imitating what President Dwight D. Eisenhower did They give a large steak a flavorful coffee- chili dry rub and the it is literally flung on hot natural chunk charcoal.In ten minutes time you have a tasty , fat free - it melts on the coals, cut to enjoy.

The warm weather brings out our Paleo side. We want the fire roasted taste of any meat- from fish to fowl to beef. Luckily we have The New York Times Outdoor Cooking issue to hel[ us get in touch with our primitive cook side..