Summer's Harvest

Living in the southern part of the country is really a wild ride. We aren’t talking tornados and tsunamis but it’s been raining like cats and dogs for a week now. No complaints from me for the cloud coverage we are getting to enjoy, but if it keeps up like this, we are gonna need to invest in some red light therapy to get our Vitamin D levels up.

Welcome back to The Meat Platter. We are glad to have you!

Everybody’s tomatoes are suddenly becoming their entire personality.This happens every year around late May. A grown man who previously showed zero interest in produce suddenly starts talking about heirloom tomatoes like he apprenticed under a Tuscan farmer for six years. And honestly? He’s not wrong.

Because a really good summer tomato is one of the few foods that actually lives up to the hype. Especially in the South, where this time of year starts producing tomatoes that taste dramatically different than the pale grocery store hockey pucks we’ve all been pretending to enjoy since January.

One of our favorite ways to incorporate those juicy red fruits (tell us you already knew!) is in a Tomato Pie. Our buddies at Southern Baked Pie have a pretty awesome version if you’re looking for something quick, but there’s really nothing like homemade!

There are a few more days to enjoy our May playlist- JK, you can literally access it and any of our others anytime on our Spotify. We’ve really enjoyed the unknown this one has brought to our listening ears and hope to carry that into the rest of the Summer.

We aren’t sure what’s in store for June but we are feeling some “toes in the sand” type tunes but not the ZBB kind. That song…face palm.

The reason charcoal smells so good when it first catches has to do with lignin — a natural compound in wood that releases aromatic smoke molecules as it burns.

Basically, your brain is chemically programmed to think fire-cooked food smells incredible. Which honestly explains a lot about dads standing around grills staring at meat silently for 45 minutes.

One of the more interesting cuts showing up in butcher cases lately is the Denver steak. Cut from the chuck, heavily marbled, and significantly cheaper than ribeye while still grilling incredibly well. The trick: cook it hot and fast like a ribeye.

• Grill temp: 500°F+

• Pull temp: 125°F

• Rest: 8–10 min

• Slice against the grain or you’ll ruin the whole thing

It’s especially good over charcoal because the fat content handles live fire extremely well.

Why are we carting giant closed coolers to parties every weekend? Why are we we watching ice melt in a galvanized metal buckets? WE. DESERVE. BETTER.

We are always looking to upgrade the ordinary and this Yeti Tank does that excellently. A necessity? No. But when you need it? I’ll take 10.

Fresh corn starts converting sugar into starch almost immediately after it’s picked.

Which is why local summer corn tastes dramatically sweeter than corn that traveled halfway across the country before hitting the grocery store. Basically, the faster you cook it after buying it, the better it gets!

Speaking of Summer produce, we feel lucky to live in the Southeast with such bountiful fresh vegetables and fruits at our finger tips. And in Georgia, we are particularly privileged by our access to fresh peaches.

The Peach Truck took their own love of peaches and made it more readily available to the masses and we love them for that. Peach season is upon us so reserve your spot now.

Bulky food savers are things of the past! Not really, there will always be a reason for the bigger and better but if you are like us and don’t have the room for another appliance, you should check out this handheld FoodSaver mini. It’s teeny tiny, works like a charm for a quick marinade and is hella affordable. Win. Win. Win.

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Why don’t grills ever get lost?

—Because they always know where the meat-up is.