Grilling Asparagus
Have You Ever Thought Of Grilling Asparagus?
If you have never tried grilling asparagus, you should do so. You'll be in for a treat. The most common method of cooking asparagus seems to be dumping it in a pot, and letting it cook for awhile. This is the easiest method. It is also the worst, unless crispness, flavor, and nutrition, are of no particular concern. Good cooks will cook asparagus by steaming it, and only cook it for more than a few minutes when they're making asparagus soup.
Grilling asparagus is not quite as common a method of cooking. No doubt there are many, who think of asparagus as perhaps being a bit too "fragile" to face the intense heat of the grill. When you grill anything, you need to be paying reasonably close attention, at least close enough so things don't dry out, or get burned beyond recognition.
As is the case with steaming asparagus, you prepare the stalks by rinsing them first (to remove any sand or grit), and then snapping off and discarding the less tender, and sometimes woody, base of the stalk. You can then simply place the stalks on the grill. Although this will give you a delicious helping of cooked asparagus, there are better ways, giving you an even more delicious entrée.
Some cooks like to put a skewer through several stalks before placing them on the grill. This does appear to be an efficient approach, plus you avoid the possibility of having stalks slip through the grill. Another piece of useful advice is to use a pair of skewers, instead of just one, for even easier handling.
Foil can also be used, either lay the stalks on a piece of foil, or wrap them in the foil. The latter method does not appear to be used all that often. Whether grilled asparagus tastes better when cooked over charcoal, or cooked over gas, is open to argument. Different folks will likely have different opinions, or no opinion at all, as to which way is best.
The best results in grilling asparagus are often achieved when the stalks are first dipped in olive oil, then sprinkled with salt and pepper, before cooking. A variation of this method is to use garlic salt.
If you really want to be a little bit fancier, try bacon-wrapped asparagus. It's a particularly tasty dish, even better yet when served as an appetizer. Bacon-wrapped asparagus is often an oven-prepared dish, but can also be done on the grill. Each asparagus stalk is wrapped in a half strip of bacon, with the tips protruding. Place on the grill, best on a layer of foil, and that's all there is too it.
With a little experimenting of your own, you might just come up with an even better recipe. But even if you just stick to the basics, you'll no doubt be glad you tried this method of cooking asparagus. And, maybe wish that everybody would.