We thought that Cookout USA would be the perfect cookbook for Memorial Day. While not technically the start of summer, for many, Memorial Day signifies the start of summer and grilling season. I love everything about grilling season. The smell of the charcoal and grilling meats, the steamy weather and cold, refreshing drinks. Plus, there are fresh tomatoes, corn and watermelon to name a few of my food favorites! To me, summer, grilling and barbeques are intertwined and represent my favorite time of year. Although, grilling isn’t just reserved for summer – my dad fires up in the grill in January and wears full hunting regalia to tend to his wares (my dad lives in Wisconsin and hunting clothes are made warm – if you are football fan, many of the Green Bay Packer fans sport this same regalia at games in the winter).
Cookout USA explores the culinary contributions that each state makes to the United States of grilling. Some of the selections weren’t surprising – brats from Wisconsin, lobster from Maine and roasted corn from Illinois. A few of the other selections were pretty surprising – hamburgers made with ground cherries from Michigan, grilled pizza from Rhode Island and barbequed pork salad from Arkansas. The barbequed pork didn’t surprise me but a barbequed pork salad did. Although, I have to say that it sounds truly delicious.
If you are looking for some new and interesting dishes to grill this year, give Cookout USA a try. And, if you have little kids, you can use it as a geography lesson. You can serve pineapple from Hawaii, North Carolina barbequed sweet potatoes, Tennessee ribs, Indiana beer can chicken and Utah dutch oven cherry cobbler.
