Humans have been cooking with fire since the dawn of civilization. In the years between our culinary beginnings and today, the art of cooking with fire has been refined and expanded to include grilling, barbecue, smoking, roasting, rotisserie and wood-burning ovens.
Grilling is a big part of American cooking culture. Today, chefs are taking the grill to new heights. Sophisticated campfire-style cooking is used not only at restaurants, but at cafés and business cafeterias, on college campuses and aboard food trucks. As Nation’s Restaurant News contributor James Scarpa said, “Seeking dishes with the distinctive smokiness and rustic appeal born of flame and embers, a growing number of operators are adopting the age-old practice of wood-fired cooking.” With new variations on traditional techniques, an emphasis on regional flavors and growing love for international cuisine, America is leading the way in perfecting the art of cooking with fire and smoke.
Chef Pete Balodimas of Distrito in Scottsdale, AZ combines international cuisine with variations on centuries-old cooking methods. Distrito is part of Garces Restaurant Group, owned by Chef Jose Garces, a James Beard award-winning chef from the Mid-Atlantic region (2009) and winner of Food Network’s “Next Iron Chef” (2010). Chef Balodimas has worked in some of the greatest kitchens in Chicago, including Heaven on Seven, Spiaggia and Blackbird. The Latin-inspired Distrito features a barbacoa menu with Costillas (Berkshire pork spare ribs with chipotle-cider mustard barbecue sauce), Chorizo Rojo (house-made red chile garlic sausage) and Cochinita A La Pibil (Berkshire pork shoulder with achiote-pineapple barbecue sauce). Using multiple, layered techniques to bring out the flavor of these dishes, Chef Balodimas starts his barbacoa with either a wet rub or an adobo dry rub made with brown sugar, cinnamon, peppers, chiles and other spices. He then adds achiote (annatto, cumin, sour orange and other spices) and smokes his meats in banana leaves. He finishes meats with a sauce made with sour orange, cascabel chiles, garlic, oregano, bay leaf and red wine vinaigrette, on the grill over a mixture of cherry, oak and mesquite woods.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: National Pork Board's The 400