THE SECRET TO MOIST GRILLED FISH AND MEATS

Living in California gives me lots of opportunities to use my charcoal grill. I love the smoky, caramelized flavors that grilling contributes. If there is one drawback, however, it is that you must be constantly vigilant to not overcook and dry out the grilled food. In my experience, shrimp are perhaps one of the most difficult to get right. Even in restaurants they tend to be overcooked, tough and dried out, and I`ve given up ordering them in most places. Even if cooked properly, a couple of minutes under the heat lamp can ruin them.

My secret for flavorful, moist and juicy shrimp is to first brine them. This technique works equally well for other fish and poultry. Basically, a brine is just a salt water solution. Other seasonings can be added to produce more flavor, but salt water is the starting point.

You might think that adding salt in any form would tend to dry foods, but here`s what happens. (You may remember this from your high school science class.) Osmosis comes into play. Basically what happens is that things like salt will, over time, equalize on both sides of a semi-permeable membrane. In this case the membrane is the cell walls of the fish or poultry. The salt on the outside migrates into the cell, bringing along with it the water from the brine. So when cooked, there is actually more moisture in the meat than if it had not been brined at all. The end result is moist, juicy and succulent meat.

Avoid leaving the food in the brine too long or the food will be too salty. This can be rectified by soaking the food in unsalted water several times which will reduce the salt content. An important caveat here: Use either sea salt or kosher salt. Ordinary table salt is just too sharp and ``chemical`` tasting to make a good brine.

Here are two of my favorite grill recipes that start with a brine. The first is shrimp on the barbie and the second chicken with a wonderful Asian-flavored glaze that you`ll find addictive.

GRILLED BRINED SHRIMP WITH GRILLED CORN SALSA

Note that we`re cooking the shrimp in the shell. This, in addition to the brining, keeps the shrimp moist. The shell imparts a lot of flavor to the shrimp meat as well. Use good hardwood charcoal to impart a sweet, smoky flavor. If possible, avoid briquettes because they often contain petroleum products.

Shrimp and Brine:

1/3 cup sea or kosher salt

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 quart water

1 1/4 pounds large unshelled shrimp (16 to 20 size) or enough for 4 shrimp per person

Marinade:

1/4 cup light olive oil

2 teaspoons finely chopped or pressed garlic

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes or to taste

2 tablespoons dry white wine

Grilled Corn Salsa (recipe follows)

Avocado slices and cilantro sprigs, for garnish

To prepare Shrimp and Brine, stir together salt, sugar and water until dissolved. Add unshelled shrimp. Cover and refrigerate 1 to 4 hours. Drain shrimp. Use scissors to cut shrimp down center of back all way to next to last tail section. With sharp knife, butterfly shrimp in their shells, making incision along length on back where shell is cut. Remove sand vein and rinse shrimp.

To prepare Marinade, combine oil, garlic, parsley, red pepper flakes and wine. Add shrimp and mix until all well coated.

Grill shrimp on both sides over medium-hot coals until just cooked through and shells are slightly charred, about 4 minutes total.

Place shrimp on plates. Top with corn salsa, avocado slices and cilantro sprigs. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 6 servings.

GRILLED CORN SALSA

2 large ears sweet corn

1 large red bell pepper, halved, seeded and stemmed

1 poblano chile, halved, seeded and stemmed

1 small jalapeno chile, halved, seeded and stemmed

1 medium red onion, halved and chopped

4 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt, freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice or to taste

2 teaspoons honey or to taste

1/3 cup chopped cilantro or basil leaves or combination

Brush corn, bell pepper, chiles and onion with 3 tablespoons olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Place vegetables on medium-hot grill and cook on all sides until just beginning to color.

Remove and cool. Cut corn kernels from cobs and place in bowl. Remove skins from bell pepper and chiles. Chop bell pepper and chiles and add to corn. Add onion along with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, lime juice, honey and cilantro. Stir and let flavors blend at least 30 minutes before serving. Cover and refrigerate up to 3 days. Makes about 3 cups.

CHICKEN GRILLED WITH TOMATO-TAMARIND GLAZE

I love the tomato-tamarind glaze in this recipe. It`s brushed on toward the end of the grilling time so that it won`t burn. It`s a delicious sauce that can be used with almost anything that can be grilled, including seafood, meats such as pork and lamb. I`m especially fond of it with grilled vegetables such as corn and potatoes.

Chicken and Brine:

1/3 cup kosher or sea salt

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 quart cold water

4 bone-in half chicken breasts

Marinade:

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon roasted garlic puree

Sea or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Tomato-Tamarind Glaze (recipe follows)

Cilantro sprigs

Sesame Spinach (recipe follows), optional

To prepare Chicken and Brine, stir together salt, sugar and water until dissolved. Add chicken so that it is covered with brine. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours or up to 24 hours. (Chicken will pick up some saltiness so you can decide how much you prefer by controlling length of time in brine.) Remove from brine. Rinse well and pat dry.

To prepare Marinade, mix together olive oil and roasted garlic and generously brush chicken with mixture. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Grill over medium coals until beginning to brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Brush with glaze generously, being careful to moderate heat so that glaze does not burn. When chicken is done, brush with any remaining glaze.

Serve immediately with cilantro and Sesame Spinach. Makes 4 servings.

TOMATO-TAMARIND GLAZE

1/3 cup packed palm or brown sugar

1/3 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon fish sauce (see Note)

1 teaspoon hot chile garlic sauce (see Note)

1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes in juice (Muir Glen preferred)

1 tablespoon tamarind paste (see Note)

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

In small saucepan, combine sugar, vinegar, fish sauce, chile garlic sauce, tomatoes and tamarind paste. Bring to simmer. Stir to dissolve sugar and tamarind.

Remove from heat and cool slightly. Puree mixture until smooth. Stir in lime juice. Cover and refrigerate up to 3 weeks. Makes about 1 cup.

NOTE: These items are available in Asian markets and Asian sections of many supermarkets.

SESAME SPINACH

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon dark sesame oil

1 large bunch spinach, stemmed and rinsed

Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper

Fresh lime or lemon juice

1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

In large skillet, heat olive and sesame oils. Add spinach and saute over high heat until spinach just begins to wilt, 1 minute. Season to taste with salt, pepper and drops of lemon juice. Makes 4 servings.

Wine Recommendations: What would be great with either of these recipes would be a fresh, fruity Gewurztraminer or Riesling from California, Germany or Alsace in France; or a Chenin Blanc from California or France in the form of Vouvray or even a nice California White Zinfandel. All often have just a bit of residual sugar to go along with their fresh aromatic fruit flavors.

(John Ash, Fetzer Vineyard`s Culinary Director, founded John Ash & Company restaurant in Santa Rosa, Calif.)

(c) 2000, John Ash. Distributed by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

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Author: John Ash