Why You Should Be Grilling With Mayonnaise

For many of us, summer doesn't officially commence until we fire up the grill. This is the season of outdoor parties and cookouts, as those of us self-professed grill masters and weekend warriors deftly show off our live-fire cooking skills in front of family and friends. That is, until the grill flares up and those beautiful steaks are reduced to charcoal and we're peeling them off the grill through a cloud of smoke.

 

It's an all-too-common tragedy played out in backyards everywhere. What if there was an easier way?

 

My challenge was always fish, which would glue itself to the grill whether I oiled the fillets, or the grill racks, or both. But then I noticed chef Michael Cimarusti lightly brush delicate halibut fillets with mayonnaise before grilling. Yes, mayo — the stuff of cafeteria bologna sandwiches and picnic potato salads. Cimarusti, who knows his fish, is chef and owner of Providence, No. 1 for the last few years on Jonathan Gold's 101 Best Restaurants List. He uses the technique at the restaurant, and when I asked him about it, he explained the mayonnaise keeps the fish from sticking to the grill.