(continued)

Otis
You guys are really getting around on the web. Have you seen the Digital Chef site at www.Digitalchef.com? It is really fantastic! Do you have any plans to work with them?

Warren
What are the "messiest" or "most unexpected" things you have grilled?

Chris&Doc
Whole fish are really hard to grill sometimes -- I grill roasted a 30-pound bass last weekend, I had a hard time with that. I experimented with soft-shell crabs, that doesn't work too well. But I don't look at grilling as a novelty; there are some grill book authors who will grill anything just to say they've put that thing on the grill, but I see grilling as one cooking technique among other cooking techniques. So I'm not going to grab something weird and grill it just to say I grilled it.

Frederick
What are some of your favorite restaurants in Boston?

ruby
I bet your favorite restaurants in Boston are in providence ;-)

Chris&Doc
Beebop, Hamersley's, Tuscan Grill, Frank's Steak House, Rialto ....

Frederick
How easy is it to substitute turkey for chicken or beef on the grill? I know it has a low fat content, but I'm not sure how to prepare it on the grill.

Chris&Doc
I think it's a straight substitute for chicken breast. Prepare the turkey as you would the chicken breast. I don't think it's a good substitute for steak -- it's a different thing. It'd be more appropriate to substitute it into a fish recipe than a steak recipe.

ana
One of my favorite grilled foods is octopus. It never seems to be as chewy when grilled as when cooked any other way -- but I've only had it at restaurants, never tried it myself. Is there a secret? Like marinating or cooking a specific amount of time?

Chris&Doc
When you cook octopus, there are very specific processes, most having to do with parcooking -- They'll beat octopus in the Mediterranean, same as you do with conch, to make it more tender. Then you'd parcook it, then grill it just to heat it up and season it, but it's already cooked from all these other things that you've perpetrated against it. You can get octopus frozen pretty easily -- it happens to be a fish that freezes pretty well -- you might want to check in Chinatown for that.

Frederick
John, where did the nickname "Doc" come from?

Chris&Doc
[John] I grew up in Iowa and came to school at Harvard and my roommate used to tease me because I wore buttoned-up, Father-knows-best sweaters all the time, and they told me I looked like a country doctor. So they called me Doc.

ruby
what's your favorite drink with summer-grilling?

yumyum
Do you guys have any advice about grilling vegetables? Which ones grill best? Any quick marinades you suggest for veggies?

Chris&Doc
Yumyum, I would consult Mediterranean cookbooks for veggies -- there's a really long tradition of grilling them in both the southern and northern Mediterranean -- certainly onions, eggplants, zucchini, squash, mushrooms work well with just a little salt, pepper and a touch of oil. Not too much oil. Artichokes, potatoes, beets, and turnips have to be parcooked ahead of time.

Chris&Doc
How'd you get your name YumYum?

Chris&Doc
Cat got your tongue, Yum Yum?

yumyum
I'm a Gilbert & Sullivan fan and I thought it made a nice "chat" handle.

ana
Seems to me you could bake something like cornbread on the grill (as long as you didn't mind charring the pan a little...) Have you ever tried grill-baking?

Chris&Doc
Grill baking? Nah. The oven's great for baking. I mean it's humanly possible ... but I wouldn't bother. Inappropriate technique.

Rita C
Great steak houses like Peter Luger use very high heat grilling, but most cookbooks suggest moderately hot, i.e five second hand test. I can not get the great crust on my burger or thin steaks with the moderate heat that my grill provides. Any suggestions?

Chris&Doc
Rita, you gotta buy License to Grill and Thrill of the Grill. I agree with you -- you gotta build a really, really hot fire, don't skimp on the charcoal. We're under three Mississippis for our hand test. Have you tried hardwood chunk charcoal?

Gary
What are the best fruits you can grill ?

kirby
Most books I've read recommend soaking wood chunks before using. Saw something recently that opted to use them dry. What's the best way to get the most smoke? I just bought a Hondo smoker and will be firing it up this weekend with help from your books. You guys have really improved my culinary ability!

Chris&Doc
I don't really -- wood is a personal choice. I prefer the smoke from a non-soaked wood. But smoking is one thing and grilling another -- I'd have to know more particulars before I had anything to say about your choice.

Chris&Doc
Nice! Thank you Kirby!

Chris&Doc
Can I ask a question? Has anybody out there cooked Hobo packs?

Chris&Doc
Also, how many people think that gas grills make the same food as charcoal grills? Can you tell the difference?

Frederick
What's a Hobo pack?

Chris&Doc
A Hobo pack is when you wrap stuff up and stick it in the coals, it's awesome.

Chris&Doc
We've got a whole chapter on them in License to Grill and it's been the hit of the book. I really recommend it. It creates culinary drama, people think you're crazy. It comes off really well, I recommend it highly.

ruby
I thought gas and charcoal were the same -- but from the earlier response to my grill-buying question, I guess I was wrong!

Chris&Doc
Ruby, you couldn't be more wrong. It's like the difference between a real fire in the fireplace and a Duraflame.

ruby
So you can't cook on a duraflame?

Chris&Doc
No. Can't cook on a duraflame.