Real Lemonade from A Summertime Grilling Guide
To celebrate the release of A Summertime Grilling Guide from The Splendid Table, I am attempting to grill my way through the book’s many surprising recipes. To catch up on previous dishes and read extended journal entries, you can follow my blog here.
The closest I have come to preparing real lemonade in the past is purchasing the frozen concentrate from the nearest grocery store, adding water and stirring. Unlike the first few recipes, the trek to the grocery store was uneventful as there is no question about what a lemon is; they are easy to find.
For real lemonade, you start with Simple Syrup. The recipe for simple syrup in the book is very easy and produces enough syrup for 2 pitchers of lemonade. 1 cup sugar plus 1 cup water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. A Summertime Grilling Guide has a variation for Giner-Lemon syrup which I am sure we will get to use in later entries.
To prepare the Lemonade, you need 4 medium lemons halved and juiced. A few of the people had heard the “cook to cook” tip in the book about rolling the lemons along the counter top while applying a bit of pressure which will result in the lemons producing a bit more juice but no one had heard about placing the lemons in the microwave for 10 seconds for the same result. I did both but since this is the first time I have juiced lemons, I can’t really tell you if they produced any more juice than normal. I will take Lynne & Sally’s word that they did.
Add the juice with the simple syrup along with a qt of water to the pitcher and cool. I garnished the lemonade with lemon chunks. I think the recommended slices would have looked better. And in a shameless bit of commerce, I served the lemonade in the Personalized Pitcher and Pint size glasses from Pretty Good Goods. The Lemonade was fantastic and did send a shiver down my back as Lynne described. I am not sure if that was from the Lemonade or from the cooler weather since it was raining outside. The Lemonade was wonderful and had a group of 5 beer drinkers asking for a second glass. Probably would serve well with a little Vodka to a group of adults on a hot summer day.
All in all, a very tasty summer drink that I will repeat often!
