So I get these zucchini and squash ans slice them 1/2" thick and toss
in oil with S/P. I grilled them for around 10-15 minutes. Looked
great but man, SO BITTER! Like paint thinner. What did I do wrong?

" > wrote in
ups.com:

> So I get these zucchini and squash ans slice them 1/2" thick and toss
> in oil with S/P. I grilled them for around 10-15 minutes. Looked
> great but man, SO BITTER! Like paint thinner. What did I do wrong?
>
>

From how you described it you did nothing wrong. Was the grill clean?
Perhaps there was some burnt charcoal residue on the grill? That could give
it a bitter taste.

Clean gas grill.

wrote:
> So I get these zucchini and squash ans slice them 1/2" thick and toss
> in oil with S/P. I grilled them for around 10-15 minutes. Looked
> great but man, SO BITTER! Like paint thinner. What did I do wrong?

1/2 inch thick for 10-15 minutes seems excessive. Were they charred? Did
you grill them indirectly? I generally cut the ends off and slice them down
the middle, do the oil and salt & pepper treatment. They *might* take 10
minutes if I grill them over indirect heat. More like 5 minutes if I do
them directly over the hot lump coals. Same thing with yellow (crookneck)
squash.

Maybe the squash (zucchini *is* squash) was picked too late. How big were
the zuc's? Mine always come out tasting very mildly sweet. I only buy
medium-sized ones, no larger than a large pickle-sized cucumber. Much
bigger than that and they may have too many seeds which would result in them
tasting bitter.

Jill

> wrote in message
ups.com...
> So I get these zucchini and squash ans slice them 1/2" thick and toss
> in oil with S/P. I grilled them for around 10-15 minutes. Looked
> great but man, SO BITTER! Like paint thinner. What did I do wrong?
>

Did you taste them before you grilled? It sounds like you grilled them a
long time (to my taste anyways :-) ), but I suspect they were bitter before
you started. I bought some recently, and while the smaller (and younger)
ones were wonderful, the larger zuke and the larger crooked neck were both
bitter when they were raw. Didn't even cook them after that. Had the same
experience with a cucumber recently too. Maybe they were left on the vine
too long.

kimberly

On 18 Jul 2005 10:09:48 -0700, wrote:

> So I get these zucchini and squash ans slice them 1/2" thick and toss
> in oil with S/P. I grilled them for around 10-15 minutes. Looked
> great but man, SO BITTER! Like paint thinner. What did I do wrong?

Were they home grown? I've never experienced it with store bought,
but sometimes home grown zucchini has a bitter taste (I think it's the
skin) no matter how young it is.

IOW: it was bad luck... so try again. I don't think your cooking time
had anything to do with bitterness, but I'd cut down on it because I'm
not a fan of mushy zucchini or crooknecks.

wrote on 18 Jul 2005 in rec.food.cooking

> So I get these zucchini and squash ans slice them 1/2" thick and toss
> in oil with S/P. I grilled them for around 10-15 minutes. Looked
> great but man, SO BITTER! Like paint thinner. What did I do wrong?
>

I like to cut my zucchini thinner than that. I use a V-slicer on them
and make about 1/4 thick long slabs not coins... also same treatment
for baby eggplants. I marinate these slabs in a italian salad dressing
or another vinegrette style dressing that strikes my fancy that week
(if the dressing has parm cheese in it all the better). I usually grill
up a marinated mixed batch of veggies red bell peppers strips, Halved
largish button mushrooms, zukes or eggplant. I marinate the veggies
about 30 to 60 minutes...depending on how hungry I am.

I find that if the zukes are over 8 inches long they taste bitter. And
I avoid buying zukes too much longer than my hand.

I get the grill good and hot first and then cook them up fast...takes
maybe 6 minutes and I get nice grill marks that way. Once the zuke
slices are kinda limp is the way I like them.

I also baste/brush the veggies in the vinegrette as they grill. I use a
new fangled silicon pastry brush...for heat reasons I've tied one brush
to a thinish wooden dowel to extend it's handle about 1 foot. I like
the silicon brush as it is easier to clean and spreads the vinegrette
better than my older BBQ brush.

Whole grilled cherry tomatoes are supposed to be good too....I'm not
much for stand alone cooked tomatoes though, so haven't tried that yet.
--
It's not a question of where he grips it!
It's a simple question of weight ratios!

A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut.

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?