6 Fantastic Foods for Outdoor Kitchens

07Nov

• By: Diamond Decks
• Decking Tips

An outdoor kitchen is a lovely place to spend your time. It is a beautifully furnished space where you can enjoy nature and delicious home- cooked meals. You can escape the heat of the conventional kitchen into an open-air environment where things just seem a little less hectic. However, you may struggle to figure out what to cook in your new outdoor space, and what many people forget is that you can cook just about anything. If you’re having trouble, here are the 6 best foods for outdoor kitchens.

1. Pizza
   Believe it or not, pizza may be the most easy and versatile dish you can make in your outdoor kitchen. This is due to the fact that you can bake your pizza on the grill or, if you’re lucky enough to to have one, in your brick oven. To make a grill pizza, you will first need to make your dough, it will need a couple hours to rise at least, so you may want to do this the day before. Then you must brush the heated grill with olive oil and bake the crust on its own for a few minutes. It is not until after the crust has been browned and flipped that topping will be added. It’s probably best to cook meat before putting it on as a topping because the toppings won’t have time to cook, only warm up. When your cheese melts, the pizza is ready. Brick ovens are a little bit more difficult to use– with extra tools like a pizza store and peel in play– but also more fun.
2. Hamburgers
   Hamburgers may seem like an uninventive choice for outdoor kitchen cooking, but they are a classic for a reason. There are so many things that you can do with the basic idea of a hamburger. There are so many unusual ingredients and flavors you can add to make the dish seem brand new. It may help to decide on flavors from a different cuisine that you would like to incorporate into your burger. However, the most important step to making a memorable burger is to start from scratch with some 100% ground beef. No frozen patties. Grilling hamburgers will never be boring as long as you keep your mind open.
3. Shish Kabobs
   Kabobs are another dish made for the outdoors. The beauty of the shish kabob is that it is both portable and easily customizable. If you’re having a dinner party, or if you have future chefs for children, a fun way to present dinner is with a make-your-own kabob station. Set out all of the meats and vegetables, and let people personalize their food. For truly tasty kabobs, allow the meat to marinate for a while before you set it out for your guests for kabob construction. Remember to either keep the meats cool, or instruct your guests to work quickly so that no one ends up sick. Also, have people design their kabobs to stand out from each other so that everyone ends up with the dinner that they built. If you’re vegetarian, leave the meat out of the equation, add in more veggies, and you’re good to go.
4. Chicken
   You can make an upscale meal with a beautiful, whole chicken as the main course in your outdoor kitchen. All you need is a cast- iron skillet and a grill. After firing up the grill, you should place sliced onions at the bottom of your skillet, followed by your chicken. The herbs and spices you use to flavor your chicken are entirely up to you. Then, you place the skillet on the grill and let it cook for a few minutes. The result is delicious.
5. Salad
   If you don’t feel like cooking, a salad might be the way to go. Outdoor kitchens are great for salad because they have sample counter space for slicing and prepping all of your ingredients. A salad doesn’t always need to mean lettuce and croutons. You should feel free to mix things up. Regardless, salads are easy to make, and always refreshing.
6. Cobbler
   This is another unusual food to find being cooked outside, but it’s is a sweet ending to any meal. The process is fairly simple. There are two different ways of going about making grill cobbler, but the essential difference is whether the crust is on the top or the bottom. With that detail aside, what you need to do is heat up the grill, and then either start working on the crust or the filling. It is perfectly acceptable to use pre-made biscuit dough for the cobbler, but you can make the crust as well. The filling can be as simple as fruit, sugar and a little flour, but it can easy be spiced up as well. Then, you put your ingredients into a pan and grill. Very easy. Very good.

Are you ready to have your very own outdoor kitchen? Diamond Decks will cater to your every need. We have many beautiful styles of kitchen to compliment any home. Contact us today.