ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 19, 1996 TAG: 9606190077
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Summer & Smoke
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES FOOD EDITOR
During the next few months, chef/caterer/cooking instructor Lee Wright will be a local grilling guru, offering classes through Roanoke County's and Roanoke city's parks and recreation departments. But the teacher will be learning, too, using the courses as therapy in his own rehabilitation from an incident about 18 months ago that almost killed him.
On a recent morning, Wright made the numerous trips between kitchen and grill site that usually accompany the season's first cookout.
"The first one is always a refresher. It makes you remember all the things you'd forgotten," Wright laughed as he realized he'd have to make yet another kitchen-to-cookout sojourn.
"Rule one is get organized," he good-naturedly admonished himself.
Being organized was one of the skills that helped Wright advance from culinary apprentice to assistant director of purchasing at the 1,600-room Anaheim (Calif.) Hilton and Towers Hotel and to oversee four employees feeding about 500 people as food service manager for Automatic Service Co. in Lynchburg before opening Be Our Guest Catering in Southwest Roanoke County three years ago.
He'd grown up about three miles from his home-based business' location. He graduated from Cave Spring High School in 1978 and earned an associate's degree in culinary arts from Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Calif. He served an American Culinary Federation chef's apprenticeship and started his career climb.
"Things were going along beautifully, the business was growing and thriving," Wright recalled.
Then, in January 1995, he elected to have surgery to correct a defective heart pacemaker lead. When he awoke five days later from a coma, among other sensory malfunctions caused by temporary oxygen deprivation, he was blind, his memory was impaired and he could not use his hands.
Being organized became a necessity to help him adapt and function during his slow and continuing recovery.
"I knew that I wanted to keep the business. Food was my identity. In my family, everyone cooks," the descendant of a Civil War cook and classically trained chef explained.
After much discussion and soul-searching with his wife, Debbie, who didn't cook at all when they were wed eight years ago, Wright decided to alter the business' structure to provide a limited off-premises menu and to specialize in handmade hors d'oeuvres and finger foods. He still sometimes must decline jobs that seem too large or complicated. But when that happens, he says, he often can recommend other caterers or suggest ways that clients can do things for themselves.
"It's a blessing to work from home," Wright said. "I can go at my own speed; and although I do want to make a profit, it's feasible to keep the business going without having to worry so much about profit."
Wright decided to try teaching after his wife, who is a registered nurse, suggested that it might be good therapy. He said he had reservations at first. But he thought that his own traumas had given him insights that might help the special-needs students he'll teach through the county's therapeutic recreation services program.
"I thought, 'I sat in a chair for two months. I can do anything,''' Wright recalled.
He'll also instruct nonhandicapped students in cooking out as well as preparing ice cream and other light summer fare because, he said, "I just have a love and passion for food that I enjoy sharing. It sounds cliche, but we get happiness through food."
Aside from training employees, this will be his first formal experience with showing and telling others how to cook, Wright said. But recently, he seemed perfectly at ease with demonstrating, gingerly sidestepping his children, Daniel and Emily's, bright pink sandbox on the way to his grill.
"You can grill almost anything," he asserted, including homemade pizza, which he's done.
"The secret is to put on your sauce, your cheese, then your other toppings, in that order, to prevent it from becoming soggy," he said. And you need to do it in a hooded grill.
On this debut cookout, Wright first used a terry cloth towel to lightly coat the grill's cold grates with salad oil.
"I like towels for grilling," he explained, because they're versatile, absorbent, can be laundered and reused and are less likely than paper towels to catch on fire. Things, like flare-ups, can go wrong fast when you're grilling, he observed.
Making sure his spritz bottle filled with plain water was handy, Wright set the grill at high temperature and allowed a few moments for it to thoroughly heat.
"You usually start with the meat when you're cooking several foods. You need to get the grill good and hot to sear the meat and tighten it and seal in the juices. Then you turn the heat back down."
Searing is especially important to prevent low-fat cuts, such as the skinless, boneless chicken breasts he was preparing, from becoming overly dry. Wright said he also likes to grill fish, which is generally low in fat and well-suited to being cooked quickly. When grilling beef ribs, he recommended that they be simmered for about an hour or until done before you grill them. Otherwise, he warned, you'll end up with leather.
If you have grilled leftovers, they can often be recycled into delicious second-day meals, Wright said. For example, cut grilled hamburgers into 1/2-inch cubes or strips to add exciting smoky flavor to a stir fry or use the burgers to flavor vegetable-beef soup. Use grilled chicken to elevate a Caesar or chef's salad to entree status. Or add sliced grilled hot dogs to turn baked beans into a quick, hearty main dish.
"Whether it's commercial or your home kitchen, watch your cash register and trash can," Wright advised.
He lowered the temperature and moved the seared chicken breasts to the side of the grill to continue cooking while he filled a grill basket with roughly 1/8-inch thick slices of onions and Italian squash, marinated in vegetable oil and lightly sprinkled with seasoning salt to accent their fresh, natural flavor. He said that the basket is a useful grilling gadget because it prevents small items from falling through the grate and allows you to turn delicate foods, such as fish fillets, without tearing them.
Finally, on the stove in his commercial, licensed kitchen, Wright sauteed fresh, chopped garlic in clarified butter, and brushed it on thick lengthwise slices of homemade French bread. He then grilled the slices outdoors, explaining that it's easier to grill hunks of bread and cut them than to handle small individual slices.
The meal was completed with a Be Our Guest specialty, a delicious, light, fruity punch, whose ingredients Wright wouldn't reveal; a crisp Caesar salad; and Wright's newest passion, homemade pasta - for this occasion, fresh spinach linguine.
Ever mindful of presentation, Wright used fresh sage leaves from his garden to adorn the serving platters and echo the lavender in his table coverings and vase.
Wright will teach a grilling class open to anyone, 11 a.m.- 1 p.m., June 28 at the Brambleton Center. The $8 fee includes lunch. To register, call 772-7505. He'll teach a class for seniors, age 50 and up, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. July 25 at Mountain View Center. That fee is $14 and also includes a meal. Call 981-2679. Be Our Guest Catering can be reached at 776-1655.
Recipes for:
GRILLED ITALIAN CHICKEN BREAST AND VEGETABLES WITH FRESH SPINACH LINGUINE
GRILLED HAWAIIAN POUND CAKE A LA MODE
GRILLED SWORDFISH WITH CORN AND PEPPER SAUTE
COOL AND SWEET CABBAGE SALAD
GRILLED STEAKHOUSE SALAD
REFRIED BEAN BURGERS WITH CHIPOTLE PEPPER
Summer & Smoke will run weekly in the Extra section throughout the cookout season. If you have a great grilling recipe or other grilling-related information that you'd like to share, send it, along with your name and a phone number where you can be contacted, to Summer & Smoke, c/o the Features Department, The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010.
First, get organized
Good organization is the first step to great outdoor grilling. Here's Wright's basic checklist to help you save steps:
TAKE TO THE GRILL:
Spray bottle filled with plain water
Salt (for seasoning and/or quelling flare-ups)
Clean towels or rags
Pot holders
Sturdy grill brush
Charcoal or gas
Lighter or charcoal starter
Vegetable oil or nonstick spray
Aluminum foil (preferably heavy duty)
Pan(s) to hold cooked foods
Trash receptacle
Ashes or sand for extinguishing charcoal
Long-handled tongs
Long-handled spatula
Two large meat forks (such as used for carving)
Marinade brush(es)
Grill basket
Sauces and marinades
Cook-out foods tend to be spread between refrigerator, counter tops and grill. Writing out a menu of everything you plan to serve will help you coordinate condiments and serving accessories and ensure that no food item is forgotten.
LENGTH: Long : 175 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: PHILIP HOLMAN/Staff. 1. Try grilled marinated chickenby CNBand grilled vegetables on a bed of fresh spinach pasta for a savory
summer supper. 2. ``You can grill almost anything,'' says Roanoke
caterer Lee Wright (above). 3. Adding a little seasoning salt to
grilled vegetables (below) enhances the taste. color.