Speaker 1: Hey, Aro, how are you fantastic? How are you doing today? Chef?
Speaker 2: Very well, my friend glad to be on hun.
Speaker 1: Dude, I'm so glad that you're doing this, because it
seems like every year, once we get past July fourth,
that's it. Everybody goes back to, you know, ordering food
from you know, instacart and all that kind of stuff.
So I mean, and now you're going to say, no, no,
we need to do it at home. We need to
cook our own food, We need to chef in our
own homes.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, the grill is on twenty four hours a day
in my home.
Speaker 1: What do you do in order to stay in tune
with that, because sometimes that can be a little bit grueling,
especially in the summer heat.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, the secretest is just prep ahead with
your menu. You want to choose dishes that are effortless
but delicious and that'll make everyone happy. So think things
like grilled skewers, simple and tasty, smoked sausages, even snacks
that you can just pop on the grill and instantly serve.
The goal is to have less stress on the grill
and more time having fun with your friends and family.
Speaker 1: One of the things that I love to do. I
don't like getting barbecue sauce from a bottle. I like
to make it fresh at home. Do you have a
secret sauce that you like to dive into?
Speaker 2: Absolutely not. Who has the time for a secret sat
secret to the secret for a good barbecue sauce is
to look for the word molasses or brown sugar in
the bottle and you're set to go. Save time.
Speaker 1: Wow, Now, what is the one mistake do you think
that we're making out here on our own grills? I mean,
I mean, it's just one of those things where people
like to take chances and if it gets too charred, ah,
we'll live with it. We'll do better next time.
Speaker 2: Well, the thing that people don't understand is that you
can actually make really great crowd pleasing snacks on the
grill as well. So if you're hosting with friends and
family or indulging in a snack, I use things like
President Brie to transform simple moments into something special, no
matter this season. So it's crafted in the French tradition.
It's made with one hundred percent cosmel q. In the US,
it's a soft ripe and cheese that as a buttery flavor.
Soft Premiu centers snow white edible rind, and it makes
everything elegant yet approachable, a lot of richness versatility for
summer spreads, charcruitery boards, backyard gatherings. You can really get creative.
And so what I do with my President Brie is
that I put it in a cast iron pan, I
add some fruits all around it, a little bit of honey,
and then you pop it on the grill and it
turns into an incredible snack or derv appetizer instantly. You
can even add some President Brion a burger or a
bag ad as well. Just be a little bit creative
and understand that it doesn't have to be too complicated.
Speaker 1: Man, you bring up honey, and there's one thing that's
really happening a lot here in the Carolina is in
fact not even a half a mile from here. I
have an actual bee keeper and we go down there
and get the honey all the time, and it really
does add to the flavor.
Speaker 2: And it's very health beneficial as well if you have
local honey, so you get a lot of those well,
I mean there's ways that you can protect yourself with
immunity as well with eating local honey. So that's a
great find.
Speaker 1: One thing that I'm seeing a lot of these days
when I go into people's backyards, it's not just a grill.
They've got a griddle that they're cooking on nowadays.
Speaker 2: Two. Yeah, Well, the griddle is fantastic too because you
can make sausage on it, and one of my favorite
go to is butterball smoked turkey sausage. It's this kind
of do it all ingredient. It's perfect before cooking a
week like dinner for the family show with a special
crowd with loved ones. So I love pairing their hard
with smoke turkey sausage with roasted veggies, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers,
even red onions. It really cooks up beautifully on that
griddle or on a grill, but also on a single
sheet pen. It's ready under thirty minutes with minimal cleanup.
It's quick and easy to prep pack with flavor. Also,
butterballs Polish style smoke turkey sausage is delicious. It's fully cooked,
perfect for anyone craving that kind of old world flavor
with less fat, less sodium, making grape for meat and
cheese trays, Recipes like a lemon broccolini one pot pasta.
It's a crowd pleaser. Kids adults love it, whether you're
gathering for a barbecue or even have that back to
school routine again.
Speaker 1: Oh, we're talking broccolini. Coming up next, We're going to
dig even deeper into this very delicious addition to your
summertime cooking. Chef George Duran is coming up next. Hey,
thanks for coming back to my conversation with Chef George Duran.
Let's get back into broccolini. What is it about broccolini
that souddenly? It has become the go to for so
many people. It's not broccoli anymore. I gotta have my broccolini.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you what broccolini is. It is a
way to eat broccoli with a finger. That's all it is.
Speaker 1: Really.
Speaker 2: It's delicious, it's long, it's tender, and you can grab
with your fingers and just pop it in your mouth.
That's what I love about broccolini.
Speaker 1: See that's the way I do my asparagus. I don't
want to cut it up. I just want to sit
there and use it as finger food.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and don't forget to peel the bottom half, or
at least the bottom third of your asparagus before grilling
it or cooking it as well, to make it extra tender,
all the way from top to bottom.
Speaker 1: Fintyl, That's one thing that I'm really still trying to
grasp and the reason why is because I believe I
can do something with those those fuzzy little leaves. I mean,
is there something Can I use it as an herb?
Speaker 2: Wait?
Speaker 1: Which fuzzy little leaves with the finnyl with the fennel? Yeah,
you know the study because you've got the big old
ball on the bottom and then and then the leafy
substance up on top, and it's like, I feel like
I'm wasting the plant.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know you can easily SAW tell you that,
but very high heat, very quickly, and then add something
like vinegar to it or a lemon, just just this
quick squeeze, so just kind of just almost like you're
wilting up, just barely, and then serve it like that
on the side of a little salt and pepper and
your golden Wow.
Speaker 1: When it comes to burgers, I do not like mustard
ketchup or anything on it. I want to be able
to put all the ingredients on it, from the tomatoes
to the peppers and things and taste the burger, not
drown the burger.
Speaker 2: It's not a bad idea. Just make sure to season
the burger properly, cook it to the right temperature. But yeah,
I mean, what I like to do is kind of
do like a self service topping bar so that everybody
gets what they want if they want anything on it.
So if you set it up for people to make
their own burgers, it's less work for you, more fun
for the guests.
Speaker 1: Now for your summer celebrations, can we add some soup
to it? Because I'm a soup person.
Speaker 2: Only if it's caspacho cold.
Speaker 1: Oh, I get what you're saying. Absolutely absolutely all right?
Where can we go to find out more about what
you're doing because you're opening up that door for us
to enjoy the rest of the summer and not hide away.
Speaker 2: Yeah. You can find all these recipes at president Cheese
dot com or butterball dot com, or you can follow
me at Chef George Durant on social media. Contact me,
call me. I'll talk about food all day long with you.
Speaker 1: Wow, is there a mistake that we're all making that
you see as doing? Because I mean, or do you
even find yourself being a student of us.
Speaker 2: When when you say you do, you mean you radio folks,
television and radio folks, every day people, every day people,
because I mean there are times that I will sit
there and I will just go and watch the chef
in someone's backyard.
Speaker 1: They're home chefs, but there's still a chef. They do
things that really open up my imagination.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I think the biggest problem, especially this time, this
day and age, with summer grilling are the flare ups.
If you don't have a spray bottle with water next
to you while you're grilling, you're gonna be in lots
of trouble. So spray bottle is your best friend. The
non sick spray is fine too, but that spray bottle
with water is your savior.
Speaker 1: Man. You got to come back to this show anytime
in the future. Chef. The door is always going to
be open for you.
Speaker 2: I love being with you. Arrow. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: You'd be brilliant today. Okay, thank you, thank you Here