It looked like a great idea when Rory Schepisi did it on "The Next Food Network Star." She got her recipe landed on the cover of Bon Appetit magazine (Rory's Ribs with Grilled Corn, Cantaloupe, and Fresh Herb Salad), and it launched her into the finals of the competition. I love cooked fruit, and there I was, with a new grill pan.
So I scored myself a cantaloupe, and the experiment was on.
I web-surfed and found two other grilled cantaloupe recipes, consolidated them into one recipe file (Grilled Cantaloupe), and tested all 3. I omitted the cayenne pepper in Rory's, though. I have no business getting near cayenne anything.
The first problem was flipping the skewered chunks. Cantaloupe is slippery and fragile, so it just spins around on the skewer when you try to turn it.
Rory's half-inch slices worked better, and looked great with the grill marks.
But cooked, I thought the cantaloupe took on an almost sweet-potato-like flavor. And despite the different preparations (honey-butter, honey-balsamic, plain), I couldn't taste the difference at all. Just more sweet potato. And once again, it made a huge sticky crusty mess in the grill pan that took over a day of soaking, scrubbing, soaking and more scrubbing to clean the pan.
I'm sure grilled cantaloupe could work, with the right melon texture and ripeness, grill heat, and chef. But for now, I'm shelving this idea.
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