This weekend I was watching reruns of Alton Brown’s Good Eats (one of my all time favorite cooking shows), and I caught an episode that was completely dedicated to cooking with alcohol…well, mainly wine and beer. Lately I have taken an even more increased interest in incorporating these flavors into my own cooking, so I quickly hit the record button on my DVR. Coincidentally, Alton proceeded to breakdown the science behind two specific recipes that I have been experimenting with extensively myself; wine marinated lamb steaks and beer bread. But that wasn’t the nugget of information that piqued my interest.

This Thanksgiving I made my way to the Denver area to visit my brother, and I decided to touch upon the topic of grilling at high altitudes (5000-8000 feet above sea level). At higher altitudes, there is lower air pressure and as a result the boiling point of water drops. At sea level, water normally boils at 212′ F while at 7,000 feet water boils at 198′ F due to the fact there is less pressure to inhibit the boiling of the water (this can fluctuate due to the additives in the water, barometric pressure, etc). Another side effect of the high altitude is the liquids will evaporate more quickly so you’ll need to take this into account as well.