Zane State College held a “Grillin on the Patio” event on Monday, July 8th, on the patio just outside of the College Hall. There were blue skies and lots of sunshine for everyone in attendance. With the grills fired up and ready, once all of the guests arrived Chef Marco Adornetto assisted by his former student, Keith Scott who owns and operates Scott’s Diner in New Concord, Ohio along with his wife and children, gave everyone a brief tour of the Kitchen facilities at Zane State.
While everyone was gathered in the kitchen Chef Marco explained how the different items that they would be grilling were prepared and seasoned before going on the grill. For the event, they were planning to grill New York Strip Steaks, Ribeye for sandwiches, shrimp skewers, vegetable skewers, and full racks of ribs. Chef Marco prepared grilled chicken wraps for everyone as a snack while they were waiting for the other foods to cook.
Back out on the patio, Keith Scott loaded racks of ribs onto one grill as Chef Marco placed the Strip Steaks on the other. “There is only one temperature to grill at, and that is high” stated Chef Marco, “I don’t cook on the grill at any other temperature”. After a few minutes on each side, the ribs were ready to be coated with Scott’s Diner House Dressing, before Chef Marco cut the ribs into sections to be served to the guests.
“My grandparents owned Lee’s Kitchen in Cambridge and I worked with my grandfather to come up with our House Dressing and we took it to market, fortunately, my grandfather got to see it go to market before he passed. Chef Marco was actually my inspiration for coming up with my own seasoning that I use in my Diner today” stated Keith Scott a 2008 Zane State Culinary Arts Alumni.
After the ribs were served, it was time to move on to the steaks that Chef Marco checked with a meat thermometer along with tapping on each steak to test how springy they were which he stated was a good way to tell if the steak was ready. Each steak was prepared with a little bit of Kosher salt and some other seasonings before being placed on the grill for approximately 5 minutes per side (depending on the steak). After removing the steaks from the grill Chef Marco proceeded to cut them into quarters to be served.
While the steaks were being prepared, vegetable skewers were placed on the open grill, and the Shrimp skewers were brought out to be placed on the second grill. The Shrimp skewers were seasoned with a little lemon juice, and other seasonings before hitting the grill. Once on the grill the skewers only took a few minutes to cook.
Chef Marco explained the importance of keeping things simple, “I tell my students all of the time when grilling, keep it simple, you would be surprised how far you can go with just some simple seasonings and cooking things properly”.
After the shrimp and vegetables, it was time for the Ribeye steaks that were cut thin and placed on the grill for use on steak sandwiches. The Steak sandwiches were put together on freshly grilled sandwich buns with lettuce and tomato and cut in half to serve.
After lunch, each guest got a bottle of Scott’s Diner House Dressing as well as Maria Adornetto’s Seasoning which were both used in the foods prepared for the day.
The variety of flavors and the simplicity of preparation for each dish made it clear that grilling doesn’t have to take hours and less is truly more when it comes to the things you need to make a great steak meal on the grill. Thanks to Chef Marco Adornetto and Keith Scott and his family for making such a great afternoon of tips and tricks for a great grilling experience.
