“If you have the opportunity to cook over a live fire, it’s a totally different flavor from the smokiness of the wood,’’ says Jorge Lopes, chef at the Blue Room in Cambridge.
(Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff)
G Force: Jorge Lopes
A thrill in grilling
“If you have the opportunity to cook over a live fire, it’s a totally different flavor from the smokiness of the wood,’’ says Jorge Lopes, chef at the Blue Room in Cambridge.
(Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff)
Jorge Lopes is the chef at the Blue Room in Cambridge, where he mans the large wood-fueled grill that you can see from the dining room. This week - to celebrate Restaurant Week - the special three-course menu includes grilled bluefish with spicy cucumber salad and mango chutney (all for $33.09). Lopes, 39, was born in Aveiro, Portugal, and came here when he was 7. He grew up in Milford and worked at Hamersley’s Bistro before joining restaurateur Steve Johnson at the Blue Room in 1996, when Johnson ran the kitchen. “This is the only place I’ve worked with a live fire,’’ says Lopes.
Q. What exactly is a live fire?
A. We’re using hardwood charcoal and some actual pieces of hardwood. If you have the opportunity to cook over a live fire, it’s a totally different flavor from the smokiness of the wood - more natural, clean, the action is different, it throws off a different heat. We don’t use briquettes. That stuff is not very good; it’s chemically enhanced so it has lighter fluid in it, and that’s what you’ll taste.
Q. What’s the first thing a weekend warrior should know about grilling?
A. Get real hardwood charcoal.
Q. Is it true that every grill should have places that are both hot and cool?
A. It’s good to have a hot side and a cooler side. You want to have a hot fire to sear things on. You’re putting marks on it. But at some point, you need to move it off to a little lower heat so it starts to slowly cook on the inside as well.
Q. What can you do to prevent food from sticking to the grill?
A. One of the important things when you’re grilling is to understand there’s prep work that needs to be done. You need to brush off the grill with a wire brush. You need to oil the grill, take a rag, put a little oil on the rag, and then pass the rag across the grates so it lubricates the grates. If you have a clean grill wiped with some oil, and a little oil on the food itself, you won’t have a problem with grilling.
Q. What are some tips for grilling vegetables?
A. Certain vegetables you want to blanch three-quarters of the way first. Grilled fennel - you either have to slice it thin and it will fall through the rack, or blanch it three-quarters first and then put them on the grill. Certain vegetables will burn on the outside before they’re cooked through. Squash, zucchini you can cut them up and they’ll be fine. Firmer ones like fennel, potatoes, blanch, cool them down, season with salt, pepper, a little oil, and let them get nice and marked from the grill.
Q. When you go to someone’s house, do you make it a point not to go into the kitchen?
A. I’m not here to change anyone’s habits. A lot of times if I go to someone’s house, they say, you’re a chef, how do I cook this? And I say, how you’ve always been cooking it.
Q. A large portion of your menu is grilled. Is that what everyone orders?
A. At least 50 percent is grilled. I wish I had a crystal ball so I know who is going to order what tonight. The rule of thumb for the restaurant industry is that whatever you don’t have, that’s what people want. If you’re running low, that’s what people want. I don’t know what cosmic force is at work.
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