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• For a great yet quick sauce, burn a red pepper, a jalapeño, a large tomato, and half an onion on the grill and whiz it all up in a blender with a little vinegar, salt, and honey. Experiment with this format, burning and blending different ingredients to make yummy sauces and condiments. • Use a pan on the grill for more delicate items. Even tossing pasta or rice in a pan over a grill will add a nice nuanced smoky flavor to the most basic dishes. • When you are done grilling for the meal, as your fire is dying, toss in a whole skin of onion, beets, or hard squash and cook them in the embers of your grill. Retrieve them hours later when the grill cools, and you'll be left with some amazingly deep flavors. Blais' Tips to Master Your Backyard Grill: • When possible, use real hardwood. Many varieties will work, from California almond to walnut. Oak is well regarded as a wood that burns long and slow. For charcoal, try not to get those categorized as "easy lighting," as they can be quite chemically constructed. • Give yourself an hour to start the fire and to get it burning hot, as you don't want to smother your food with the taste of "bad" smoke. "Good" smoke burns a lot clearer. • Cook more stuff on the grill. Pineapples, bananas in their peels, carrots that have been blanched in water first. Swiss chard and sturdy lettuces. Chef Richard Blais of Ember & Rye at Park Hyatt Aviara Resort, Golf Club & Spa is known for grilled steak, seafood, and smoky cocktails >> @ranchandcoast RANCH & COAST MAGAZINE JUNE 2023 49