Poor Richard’s Almanac

Grillers listen up! July 19, 2009

Silence Dogood here. My favorite cooking magazine is “Cook’s Country.” But sometimes I get promotions for two other great cooking magazines, “Cook’s Illustrated” and “Cuisine at Home.” Free magazines with the promotions, and more to the point, good free magazines. All right!

So okay, I haven’t actually broken down and subscribed to either one. But that doesn’t mean I don’t read them, with great interest, from cover to cover when they arrive. This week, a copy of “Cook’s Illustrated” arrived with a promotion. I don’t know about you, but I find the mindless pleasure of cookbooks and cooking magazines a great way to relax before bed, so I was reading this issue last night when I came on something truly timely. I thought, yikes, I’d better share this tip with everyone while we’re all still at peak grilling season. So here you are.

One reason I love “Cook’s Country” and its parent publication, “Cook’s Illustrated,” is that their test kitchen is determined to try out products and see how they compare and if they live up to their promises. Then they share their findings with the rest of us. If you love cooking like I do, and don’t want to waste time, effort, or money on bad products, these magazines are worth their weight in gold. They really do their homework, and they’re not afraid to give the thumbs-down to any product, however prestigious (or the thumbs-up to the cheapest snob-derided product if it turns out it’s actually the best for the job).

All of which means that when I saw their enthusiastic endorsement of Grate Chef Grill Wipes ($2.99 for a pack of six), I sat up and took notice. The test kitchen team found that these Grill Wipes “clean and grease grills better than any homemade method.” “We got clean, slick grates and better grill marks” on fish and meat than by any other method, the test kitchen declared, after using their metal grill brush and one of these wipes to clean and grease a hot grill. Drawbacks? “These small wipes are flammable and can slip between the small rounded bars of a charcoal grill. Keep long-handled tongs on hand as a safety measure.” Well, okay.

If you do a lot of grilling and want to simplify the process, here’s something that can do the job for just $2.99 a pack. That works for me! And, er, if anybody can tell me why you have to wait ’til the grill heats up to clean and grease it, risking burns and incineration, rather than doing the job before you heat up the grill, I’d love to know.

          ‘Til next time,

                      Silence