This week, the answers all of your July 4th food questions on a special Snack Break episode. Jaymee is joined by Ginevra Iverson, Director of Food Network’s Culinary Test Kitchen, to give you insider grilling tips, plus tricks for grilling everything from the best burgers, crispy fish, and some exciting veggie and fruit options in the mix (grilled cabbage with lime is a big hit). Plus, yummy zucchini recipes, how to best meal prep for a BBQ party, and the best icebox cake recipes.
This week, the answers to all your July 4th food questions on a special Snack Break episode. Jaymee is joined by Ginevra Iverson, Director of Food Network’s Culinary Test Kitchen, to give you the best grill tips, tricks for grilling everything from the best burgers, crispy fish, and exciting veggie and fruit options in the mix (grilled cabbage with lime is a big hit). Plus, yummy zucchini recipes, how to best meal prep for a BBQ party, and the best icebox cake recipes.
Recipes mentioned in the episode:
Juicy Lucy: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/juicy-lucy-recipe-2105840
Grilled Cabbage: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/grilled-cabbage-steaks-with-cilantro-lime-sauce-10004006
Paneer Tikka Kebabs: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/paneer-tikka-kebabs-10035443
Zucchini Fries: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/baked-parmesan-zucchini-fries-3365019
Zucchini Corn Fritter: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/zucchini-corn-fritters-recipe-1973756
Icebox Cakes: https://www.foodnetwork.com/grilling/grilling-central-frozen-treats/amazing-icebox-cakes
Connect with the podcast: https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/food-network-obsessed-the-official-podcast-of-food-network
Follow Food Network on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foodnetwork
Follow Jaymee on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaymeesire
Follow Ginevra on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginevraiverson
Start Your Free Trial of discovery+: https://www.discoveryplus.com/foodobsessed
Find episode transcript here: https://food-network-obsessed.simplecast.com/episodes/food-network-obsessed-snack-break
[MUSIC PLAYING] JAYMEE SIRE: Hello, hello, and welcome to Food Network Obsessed. I'm your host, Jaymee Sire. And I'm so excited today because this episode is the first ever Food Network Obsessed Snack Break. Snack Breaks are shorter episodes where we'll dive into a food focused topic that's on everyone's minds.
Since it is Fourth of July weekend and everyone is getting ready for their Fourth of July parties and get-togethers, we decided to make today's Snack Break a little Q&A session about just that. So on my Instagram and Facebook pages, I asked all of you to send me your food related questions tied to Fourth of July and summertime. And let me tell you, you guys sent in some amazing questions. I cannot wait to dive into them.
And I'm going to be asking and answering your questions with Ginevra Iverson. So Ginevra is the director of Food Network's Culinary Test Kitchen. She has a ton of culinary knowledge and expertise. So I'm very pumped to have her on with me today to answer your questions.
But before we get started, I did want to say if there's something you'd like to hear about in the next Snack Break episode, please leave a comment in the podcast reviews. You can also DM me, @jaymeesire and @foodnetwork on Instagram. We always love hearing from you. But for now, let's get to today's Food Network Obsessed Snack Break.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ginevra, welcome to the podcast. We are so excited to have you on answering some of our fan questions this week on Food Network Obsessed. So welcome.
GINEVRA IVERSON: Thank you. It's really nice to be here. Thanks for having me.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah. So you are the director of Food Network's Culinary Test Kitchen. So for people that don't know what that means, take us through a day in the life of you.
GINEVRA IVERSON: Great. So it involves a lot of eating. And there's a team of us, we develop all the recipes for fn.com and FNK app. A lot of recipes from the FNK app as well. And so yeah, I direct the whole team that does the development process. Everyone that works with us is fabulous and so talented in their own right, so it's a great joyful job of getting to taste delicious food all day long.
Since the pandemic, we've all been separated, which has been heartbreaking. We all miss each other dearly. But we've been developing from home and continuing to create a ton of content from our home kitchens. It's been great and very productive. But also, there are a ton of dishes.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yes.
GINEVRA IVERSON: That's the one downfall.
JAYMEE SIRE: I can attest to that just on my couple of Food Network Kitchen live classes a month. I have to do all the dishes afterwards and I have to do all the food styling, so I have great respect for everybody that you just mentioned that is on your team. And you clearly have a lot of fun with your job. It's something different every day. And most importantly, you have a lot of culinary knowledge. So I'm very excited to lean on you for some of these Fourth of July questions, which I put out to my fans on Instagram. And Food Network help sourced some as well.
So we picked out a few. There were so many. We, of course, couldn't get to all of them. We obviously got a lot of grilling questions, which makes sense for Fourth of July. So let's start with that. Our first question comes from Kevin Lewis, who wants to know, should I buy a smoker to add to my grill collection which already includes accommodation gas and charcoal grill?
GINEVRA IVERSON: So my opinion on this is-- I mean, I maybe have a grill problem. I think I have most every kind of grill there is.
JAYMEE SIRE: That's a good problem to have, by the way.
GINEVRA IVERSON: It is. It's a good problem to have. And it's fun, because you get to pick from a lineup. But if we want to just go through quickly through the different grills and their advantages. I love a smoker, also referred to as a pellet grill. Brands such as Traeger make these. They are fabulous because you can smoke meats, you can slow cook meats. They impart great flavor. They're often digital, and the temperature is really, really easy to maintain. They're easy to start.
So you can slow cook a brisket for a really long time and not have to constantly watch the temperature and tend to it. So those are great. I would totally encourage-- if you like to smoke food, I think they're a great thing to have. You can also go with Komodo style grill, which is often people have off the green egg. It's a common one. That you can smoke in. But that is really versatile because you can also grill direct heat on top, on the grill rigs.
If you're going to be doing both things and you want one grill, I would probably say that one of the Komodo style grills would be good for you. And then, of course, we can go into propane or gas grills. Couldn't be easier. You turn it on. You don't have to worry about it. It takes very little maintenance. Good for if you're constantly cooking for a crowd or you do weeknight cooking. You just want to turn it on, call it a day. I love a gas grill for those reasons.
The other two that I really love are charcoal grill.
JAYMEE SIRE: I love it. You definitely have a grill problem. I love it.
GINEVRA IVERSON: Yes. Yes, I do. I love a charcoal grill. I think they give great flavor. You can get it rip roaring hot. Hotter than a lot of other-- than the other ones you talked about. They can really sear a steak beautifully. You get great caramelization on the outside of whatever you're grilling. And also the entry point as far as what you're going to be paying can be a lot less with a charcoal grill. So if you're just starting out and you're interested in not spending too much money, I feel like something like a Weber kettle grill is always great.
And then finally, just a lot of people have been doing wood fire grills right now. And fire pit cooking. There's a lot of setups for that. Live fire cooking is really fun, but it's time consuming. So that's my--
JAYMEE SIRE: So your answer is all of them. Yes, all of them.
GINEVRA IVERSON: All of them. They all have their benefits. Come to my backyard, and you can try all of them.
JAYMEE SIRE: I do like that the Komodo style ones, like you said, that they have the smoking abilities and the grill abilities. My friend Brian actually has one. And he also bought an attachment that-- I think it's called a SMOBOT or something, which basically it brings that automatic, that digital tracking into it so you don't have to watch it as much. So you get the benefits of all those things. I guess you could go rogue, go alone if you didn't want to use that.
But it also transforms it a little bit, which makes it a little bit less stressful for whoever is in charge of the smoking or the grilling on that particular day. All right, let's see what we have next. Super Kelly Fragilistic wants to know, what's a grill hack or trick that every home cook or griller should have in their back pocket?
GINEVRA IVERSON: So I don't know if this is a hack or a trick, but the one thing I notice whenever I'm with people that don't grill a lot is the idea of using your coals and using indirect and direct cooking. So banking coals to one side. This is specifically really with charcoal or wood cooking. Making zones. And you can do it with propane, just by heating a couple burners full heat, and maybe one is on low.
By zone cooking, you can really manage your food. You can sear really well and then you can take it to a cooler area where it's not going to flare up, whatever you're cooking, and finish it to the right temperature. That is one thing that once you master that, it makes all of your grilling problem-- it solves all your grilling problems. You don't end up getting things that are burnt on the outside, raw on the inside. And you're just able to manage flare-ups, and it becomes much less stressful when cooking over a live fire.
JAYMEE SIRE: What's an example of a dish that often calls for starting on direct heat and maybe moving to indirect heat halfway through cooking?
GINEVRA IVERSON: A million of our recipes call for indirect and direct cooking. Something like a steak where, as you sear it and the fat starts to render and starts to drip, you want to take it over to more of an indirect side so that it doesn't flare up. Because it gets that gasoline-y flavor if it just sits there and it flares up over the coals. So anything that has a fair amount of fat that's thick enough that needs some time to cook, you're going to want to do. Direct cooking to start usually, and then finish it on indirect side of the grill.
JAYMEE SIRE: By the way, I'm super jealous of your grill problem because I live in an apartment building. We do have a grill on the roof, but it is propane. So I live vicariously through all my friends that have all of the fancy grill setups. So someday, I will also have a grill problem.
GINEVRA IVERSON: It's a slippery slope. It's like, once you get started, you can convince yourself that you absolutely need one of everything pretty quickly.
JAYMEE SIRE: All right, Carlan Edelman wants to know, do you have a favorite type of charcoal to use when grilling?
GINEVRA IVERSON: So yes, I do. I like lump hardwood charcoal in general. I mean, I love mesquite, but what you can typically find the easiest is just something that's called lump hardwood charcoal. It's not the briquettes. It's not the little squares. It's very irregular in size. But it gets very, very hot. It lights easily. And then what I do do sometimes if it's going to be-- if I'm going to be cooking something for a long amount of time, I'll mix in briquettes.
So you get hot at a good high temperature, but then it's also sustained cooking time. The one thing I would say that I absolutely never use is match light briquettes or lighter fluid. What I use is what they call a chimney. You put charcoal in the top of a metal cylinder. Put newspaper underneath. It lights within a few minutes, and then you don't have to get that flavor of lighter fluid in your face.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah, I was going to ask. The reason for that is that chemical taste that-- you can't get rid of, right?
GINEVRA IVERSON: Exactly. They say it burns off. But I feel like if you don't need to use it, why?
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah.
GINEVRA IVERSON: Why use it in the first place? So it's just one less thing that flavors your food.
JAYMEE SIRE: All right, well we still have more grilling questions, but these are more focused on different meats and proteins. So Maxwell Pearson wants to know, how do you get smoky flavor in your meat using a grill and not a smoker?
GINEVRA IVERSON: So charcoal will always impart that smoky flavor, which is great. You can buy chips-- apple wood chips, cherry wood chips. Weber-- I mean, any company makes these bags. They're usually about five pounds, I believe. And they're just filled with wood chips. You soak them for a little bit, you light them on fire. You can put them in a propane grill to give it some flavor.
The other option is cooking things on cedar planks. They're really readily available. They're rectangular planks that are maybe a quarter inch thick. Not even a half inch thick, probably a quarter inch thick. You soak those. You can put food on them and then put them on the direct heat. They will toast around the side and impart a really nice flavor.
And then finally, if you happen to have a lot of space or fruit trees or clippings from anything. Sometimes I'll just put fruit wood on the charcoal, and that'll give an extra added flavor to whatever I'm cooking.
JAYMEE SIRE: Does it actually have the fruit qualities of whatever tree that is?
GINEVRA IVERSON: I mean, I don't find it to be that specific, but it does give a nice sweeter smoke as to something that-- like mesquite wood, where it's going to be a heartier smoke that's-- it's stronger. The fruit wood just gives a nice, light smoke.
JAYMEE SIRE: That's a great tip. The Great Daddu wants to know, what is the best thing you have done or added to make a burger or a hot dog shine?
GINEVRA IVERSON: I mean, that is a tough one, because there's so many versions. Right? I mean, what's anyone's-- everyone has their own favorite. The few rules I stick to with burgers-- whenever it's a beef burger, I lean towards an 80/20 blend so that there's plenty of fat in there. A lot of it renders out, but it keeps it really moist and delicious.
Another fun thing to do is to make your own blend of burger meat. So you can take beef and ground lamb and make it 50/50 or whatever percentage you want to use. However much you like lamb. Oftentimes people shy away from lamb, so it's a nice way to have a lamb burger that's not overly lamb-y.
Mix those two meats together. You can put your chorizo. I think there's just a lot of different options. There's the juicy--
JAYMEE SIRE: Love a--
GINEVRA IVERSON: --stuffed inside the burger, yes.
JAYMEE SIRE: That's definitely a great tip for grilling. I actually just did some the other day. I think it's great, because the cheese obviously is in the middle of the burger instead of being on top. And it stays very hot and melty. Even if you've pulled the burgers off and letting them rest or people are gathering and making their plates. And then they still bite into this delicious, melty, molten center of cheese and burger. And it's just, it's very delightful. I highly recommend.
But yeah, I agree with you on that. And I definitely don't use my meat grinder enough. I have an attachment for my stand mixer. And I've done some burger blends before, but now I feel like I'm feeling inspired to do that. Because it is a lot of fun. You can mix and match. I think I put bacon in there once to add a little bit of fat in there. And also obviously, the flavor. But it is a lot of fun. Then you feel like this little scientist or something.
GINEVRA IVERSON: Exactly. And you can. You could get one short rib and maybe a leftover piece of brisket or some-- raw. So people are clear that you can grind different cuts and just see what you end up liking the best. It's really, yeah, it's fun and rewarding.
JAYMEE SIRE: It is.
GINEVRA IVERSON: Be your own butcher.
JAYMEE SIRE: It is. Yeah, be your own butcher. The attachments don't cost a whole lot, so it is a great option if you want to maybe delve into that at home. Let's talk about fish, because that's also a great option for the grill. Jeff wants to know, what's the best fish to use on the grill?
GINEVRA IVERSON: I mean, anything I think that's firm fish that's not too thin is typically great. I like to always leave the skin on and clean the grill grates. Really, really well oil them. You want to dry the skin really, really well with a paper towel before you put it on and oil it lightly so it doesn't stick. And you can just grill it right on the grates. I love grilling a whole fish. Gets really nice and crispy on the outside.
You can put them on cedar planks. I think we talked about that before, but those cedar planks are also great for just low maintenance. You put your fish on the plank. You throw it on the grill, and then you don't have to worry about sticking or moving or flare-ups or whatever, and it gets wonderful flavor while staying super moist and not tearing the skin. And then grill baskets you can also use. And I'm not a huge fan of a ton of tools, but a well-placed grill basket is always helpful for certain foods.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah, no, I agree. I like the skid on recommendation. I think we did halibut tacos a couple weeks ago. And you know what the best thing is, too? I don't know if anybody-- I think I was the only one doing this, but the skin got super crispy and I peeled it off the grill. And I was just using that as a cracker. I loved it. It's so good.
GINEVRA IVERSON: Exactly. And that and salmon skin, too. Obviously people love salmon skin, like sushi. But it's delicious.
JAYMEE SIRE: It really is.
GINEVRA IVERSON: Crisp, but beautifully. Yeah.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JAYMEE SIRE: Vegetarian friends, don't worry. We have not forgotten about you. Ginevra and I are going to be answering your fruit and veggie focused questions when we come back.
Well, we don't want to leave the vegetarians out, so we have some veggie questions as well. DW Toodles wants to know, do you have a favorite summertime vegetarian main dish?
GINEVRA IVERSON: I don't have one particular. Really, it varies depending on the meal and what we're doing. I definitely love a good veggie burger, so that is a go to if it's going to be burgers and hot dogs and that sort of party. Onsite, we have a really nice-- like a grilled cabbage dish that can definitely be served as a main. It has a delicious dressing over the top. It's savoy cabbage that's-- even though we often associate cabbage with winter, I feel like this one is really fresh and bright. Lots of lime juice, and it's delicious.
And then we just also made paneer tikka kebabs. And they're-- yeah, they're really great. They're on a kebab on a skewer. And they're grilled until they're really nice and molten and crisp, and they're just absolutely delicious. So that's a fun one that just mixes it up from the regular burger or hot dog fare and throws a little spice in there.
JAYMEE SIRE: Mandy Marks wants to know, what is the best vegetable or fruit to grill?
GINEVRA IVERSON: I mean, again, anything can be grilled. I think as far as fruit goes, grilled fruit's delicious. You want to pick anything that's still firm when it's ripe. So something like stone fruit. You don't want anything that's really, really soft that's going to-- or small that's going to fall through the grill grates or that you're going-- you don't want to grill a raspberry, obviously. That's just going to end up in the fire.
But stone fruit's delicious. Pineapple is awesome. Caramelizes really beautifully, and you can have nice big planks of it that you can then grill on then chop up afterwards. The one thing I would say with fruit is that you want to clean your grill grates really, really well so there's not any leftover barbecue sauce on there before you cook fruit, because you don't want that savory flavor in with your fruit. And then oil it really well before you grill.
And as far as veggies go, I mean, I love the summertime eggplant. Little baby eggplants. Just split them in half. Cross-hatch them and grill them so they're really caramelized and then still really creamy on the inside. But really at the end of the day, I think with grilled vegetables, sometimes they get a bad rap. But you just want to cook them long enough and not too hot, because there's often the problem where they're burnt on the outside but still really raw and crunchy. So just making sure that you get some caramelization, but they're also cooked through and get to steam and get tender on their own.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah. I second the stone fruit suggestion. I love grilled peaches along with grilled pork chops or as a dessert, drizzled with some honey or maybe some ice cream as well. And pineapple I think is awesome to turn into a salsa afterwards that can go with your grilled fish if you're doing maybe fish tacos--
GINEVRA IVERSON: Exactly.
JAYMEE SIRE: --like that. Kay Bensiger says that my summer garden was producing many zucchinis daily. Any great recipes, or is there a way to freeze for future use?
GINEVRA IVERSON: I don't know about freezing. You don't want to ever freeze anything long term that isn't cooked vegetable-wise because it starts to break down too quickly in the freezer. But some of my favorite things-- I love just like a zucchini carpaccio. You can just slice it really thin. A lot of people don't eat zucchini raw, but I think when it's fresh and straight from the garden, thinly sliced, great olive oil, parmesan cheese, fresh herbs. Maybe some chopped--
JAYMEE SIRE: That sounds so good.
GINEVRA IVERSON: Yeah, it's just-- it's a really fresh way to eat it. And if you have leftovers, it marinates beautifully. You can have it the next day. I think that's always a win. And then zucchini fries are always good. Baked zucchini fries with parmesan on the outside. You bake them. Good for kids, good for everybody. I mean, who doesn't like a fry?
And then of course, we use it for noodles and zoodles. And we've also used it as almost like a lasagna sheet. So you can do rollatinis. You can stuff it with things, top it with sauce and cheese. And we have a recipe online for zucchini enchilada. And you just use a peeler. You can use a peeler to make long noodles and then wrap it around. Really whatever you want, but--
JAYMEE SIRE: That all sounds so good. I also love a zucchini. Corn fritter I think is great for the season. I just did actually a Food Network Kitchen classic with zucchini bites. So you can hollow them out and stuff them with whatever you happen to have on hand, I think. Zucchini is definitely very versatile. So I think you got a lot of options. Just check out foodnetwork.com or the Food Network Kitchen app. I'm sure there's plenty of zucchini recipes to round out your bounty from your garden.
And we are also going to link to all the recipes that Ginevra is describing in the description for this episode. So if any of these sound right up your alley, definitely check out those links so you can easily access them. And to wrap things up, we have just a couple more questions. The Spartan Fan 0899 wants to know, what is your favorite food to make on the Fourth of July? So you have a lot of different directions you could go with this one.
GINEVRA IVERSON: Yeah. For me, this is an overwhelming question. I mean, there's a million I want to make. I'm not a favorite person. I can never really figure out what my favorite thing is. But the one thing that I do do when I'm entertaining for a group is figure out a theme. And then from there, figure out what I can make ahead.
So make as many things as you can ahead and put them in the fridge, pull them out, right when you're going to be serving. But as far as an entree goes, I reckon you could do something in this large format that's easy to smoke, roast, roast in the oven, whatever it is, that you can sent and forget and come back to it when a couple hours is up and serve it either warm or at room temperature so they can sit for a little bit. I just never loved babysitting the food constantly while you're entertaining.
So things like pulled pork is great. Do a pork shoulder or a pork butt. Something like a porchetta where you stuff it the night before and you throw it in the oven. It sits, roasts for six hours. And you serve it when it's done. Same thing with brisket. I find burgers and hot dogs are fun, but you really have to man the grill constantly. Flipping burgers as people come and making sure everything's not burning. So just things that are large and easy to serve is my sweet spot for entertaining.
JAYMEE SIRE: Love a theme, for sure. I think that is a great option because it helps spark some of that creativity as well. Finally from ESKG 18, what's the best ice box recipe for hot summer days?
GINEVRA IVERSON: We have an entire ice box package online that you can--
JAYMEE SIRE: There you go.
GINEVRA IVERSON: We'll drop in a link as well. And it's an assortment of all different kinds of ice boxes, large format ones and individual ones. I love an ice box cake. I think they're easy to build. They're nice and cold for hot summer days. They can be super beautiful with fruits, fresh fruits, peaches, berries. So look at that. You can click through to that to our website and pick one of many. They're all delicious.
JAYMEE SIRE: So many more questions that we did not get to. But we cannot get to them all, so apologies if we did not get to yours. Ginevra, thank you so much for taking the time to answer some of these pressing Fourth of July questions. We do have one last question that we ask all of our guests here on Food Network Obsessed. And we usually say, what is your perfect food day? But since this is a Fourth of July themed episode, what is your perfect Fourth of July food day? So breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert. I'm putting you on the spot, so I apologize in advance. What does your perfect Fourth of July food day look like?
GINEVRA IVERSON: All right. So I'm going to go be inspired by what's happening this year. Because finally, after this year, my entire family is together. We're all going to be in one house. Cooking the entire day, probably. And so the morning is always something light. I'm a big fan of just plain yogurt, granola fruit. So that will probably be the morning.
And then we usually do something like late lunch, early dinner. My brother has, especially over the pandemic, become a master pizza maker. So we have a woodfired pizza. He's going to be doing pizzas, which is a delight. Because I also don't have to cook then. And then we always will be doing a side of grilled salmon. And then my family's Italian. My mom makes a delicious pesto. It's going to be pesto, probably sliced tomatoes from the garden. And just being together and some good wine.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yes.
GINEVRA IVERSON: That, to me, is a perfect day. So yeah.
JAYMEE SIRE: I'm with you, Ginevra. I think that it is such a broad question. But I like your idea of the theme. I like something where people can build their own thing. So maybe like a build your own taco bar. You can do different proteins that fit all the different dietary restrictions. So you could do some grilled fish, as we covered in this. Maybe a flank steak or something that can easily feet a little bit more people.
And then you could also do some grilled veggies for the vegetarians in the crowd as well. I think some of that stuff can sit out a little bit longer and still be delicious. You can char the tortillas on the grill. You could even make the salsa on the grill. As we mentioned, the pineapple sauce a little bit earlier, so. If it's on the grill, you're outside with friends and family, it's going to be a good day. Thanks again for taking the time. Enjoy your Fourth of July with your family, and thanks for talking to us on Food Network Obsessed.
GINEVRA IVERSON: Thank you so much for having me.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JAYMEE SIRE: You guys, so many great questions. Of course, we could not get to all of them. But I hope you liked today's Q&A format and have a great time cooking this weekend for Fourth of July festivities. We will link all of the recipes that Ginevra mentioned in the episode description, so be sure to check them out if something really spoke to you.
As always, thanks so much for listening. Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to your podcasts, so you don't miss a thing. And if you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to rate and review. And let us know what you'd like to hear about on the next Snack Break. That's all for now. We'll catch you foodies next Friday.