Customer Reviews

The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining: Spirited Recipes and Expert Tips for Barbecuing, Charcoal and Gas Grilling, Rotisserie Roasting, Smoking, Deep-Frying, and Making Merry

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was absolutely thrilled to get a chance to read this new cookbook. I don't entertain as much as I'd like, but I love to eat simple and hearty foods everyday, and this book has some amazingly creative ideas for things that just about anyone could make, but I never would have come up with on my own.

The book starts with spice blends, rubs, marinades, salsas, relishes and sauces, and has some great ideas for spice mixes you can make in advance and keep on hand, and loads of tips for getting the best flavor and texture out of your food. Blazing Hot Guava-Habanero Hot Sauce, and Scandinavian Sugar and Spice are just two of the great recipes you'll find in this section.

Then they move on to some really fun sounding party drinks and appetizers to get the party started (Gingered Thai Iced Tea, anyone?).Toasted Pecan and Blue Cheese spread, Cheddar Chutney Puffs, and Caramelized Brie are three of the mouthwatering recipes.

Then comes the meat of the book, literally. Pizzas, Tapas, Sandwiches, Fish, and each major kind of meat each get a large chapter, followed by salads, pastas, and then desserts (White Chocolate Custard Ice Cream - oh my!).

This is a huge and highly useful book. I love that the ingredients are just exotic enough to make things interesting, but not so exotic that I can't find them in my small town. They have a wonderful mix of uniquely American foods and loads of neat foods with an ethnic twist.

This book was written to clear up some misunderstandings about grilling, and it exceeds in a winsome and delightful fashion!

Many wrongly think anything on a grill = grilling. This is dispelled and corrected with this book, so get it to learn on!

It is about flavor at the right temp to match with the ingredient being cooked, and here is the full range of methods and equipment: planking and big-pot frying and boiling and charcoal and gas and fire-pit and rotisserie and smoking and deep frying, et al.

It is a big collection well done! Idea is to dine and cook together outside and enjoy, so exploring new recipes, new methods, new equipment, will inspire and delight the cook and the fed, plus there are recipes for sides and desserts which require inside type preparation. It's almost 600 pages of advice and inspiration to take the journey.

From the plethora of offerings here thus far, I've sampled only a few but they were outstanding: Salmon Fillets with Chile Honey Butter; Grilled Lamb Chops with Dill Yogurt Sauce; Grilled Eggplant Sandwiches;

The pleasure from trying these mouth watering delights is the vast untried collection that now awaits.

This is truly nice addition to the seasonsed griller as purchase or gift, as well as for the novice or in-betweener. Only downer which would have spiced up this offering is some color photos.

The Jamisons have done it again. If anyone knows grilling and bbq-ing and entertaining it's this amazing couple. This book is a great collection of classic recipes, many with an unsual twist. Not to mention the drinks, the rubs, marinades. Ilove to entertain out int he backyard, and I think it's the best book on outdoor entertaining perhaps ever. It's a party from the very first page. I can't recommend it enough.

To say this book is complete is an understatement. I bought this book after using their "Smoke & Spice" book for several years. "S & S" is strictly about low and slow cooking of beef and pork, while this one is much more broad, with excellent recipes and ideas for entertaining. If you're mainly concerned with making great BBQ pork and beef, I'd start with the "Smoke & Spice" book. The rubs and sauces recipes are super. But my guess is you'll soon graduate to this book if you like outdoor cooking and like to entertain.

With 850 recipes, including 200 sauces and rubs, big and thorough are the operative words for this James Beard Award-winning team's latest (after "Good times, Good Grilling").

They begin with solid definitions of the various outdoor techniques. Grilling, for instance, is always done over direct heat, with the cover up. Does that mean you can't make beer can chicken? Sure you can, but don't call it grilled. Actually in the Jamisons' version it's smoked and takes leisurely hours.

Then there's rotisserie roasting, planking, and big-pot frying (corn dogs, catfish, fried Oreos) or boiling or steaming (blue crabs, lobster). But the majority of receipes employ their favorite cooking method - grilling. There's even a skewered grilled cheese sandwich appetizer and grilled fruit parfaits in addition to authoritative instructions on grilling burgers, steaks with mouthwatering sauces, suckling pig, ribs, game, and poultry of all kinds and cuts.

In addition to Smoked Beef Tenderloin, Ground Lamb Kebabs with Black Olive and Lemon Relish, and Planked Salmon, the Jamisons also include chapters on drinks, vegetables (Middle Eastern Peppers with Pomegranate Sauce, French Fries, Lacquered Tofu and Vegetable Skewers), breads, salads and desserts.

Geared to entertaining, most recipes serve six or more. The tone is opinionated, knowledgeable and friendly and we amateurs are encouraged to be creative and reflect our own flair and taste as long as we can refrain from doing anything scandalous, like flattening burgers with the spatula.

There are menus scattered throughout as well as boxed party tips, variations, and sidebars. Recipes cover an international gamut and all occasions from holiday parties to backyard picnics. A primer on grills and smokers explains what to look for and even includes brand names.

Dare I say it? This could be the only American outdoor cookbook you'll ever need.

--Portsmouth Herald

A fantastic find for backyard entertainment, learning more about grilling, roasting, smoking, etc just as the titles says. Do you love to cook, experiment, and play creating with food? The authors have a wonderfully delivery of information, technique and a style that appealed to my senses. They mention where some of their creations came from while traveling, camping and grilling around the world. A wonderful way to experience people, places and culture whether in your own backyard or far away from home.

List from back of dj:
89 Spice blends, rubs, marinades, and mops
76 Barbeque sauces, salsa, and relishes
22 Dips and spreads
43 Burgers
33 Great Steaks
58 Chicken dishes
154 Things to do with Seafood
25 Perfect sunset drinks
20 Recipes for Ribs
41 Luscious Desserts

And there is the description that cinched the deal for me, I wanted some different spice blends, rubs and marinades to play with. Have a yen to try Buffalo - pg 405 "Peppered Buffalo Steaks", gives a description of, some history and mail-order source. Venison is on the next page. Pulled pork, pg 328, talks about the cut of pork, gives the rub next, a vinegar mop and then proceeds to walk you through the process with party tips and other suggestions to finish out the process.

No photos, tip boxes are highlighted for quick reference, packed full of useable info.

If you love to share food, family, backyard fun, or just close company this book has infinite possibilities available. Great fun to try out the ideas, recipes and suggestions to discover food.

Enjoy the sunsets, shared with others!!!

This is by far, the best cookbook we own. It is huge, and contains every recipe you could ever want or need for rubs, marinades, sauces, every kind of meat, great sides, and even cocktails...this book is like a textbook for grilling because it teaches you so much about every which way to use your grill. We have given it as gifts and everybody has loved it and even bought it for their friends and family as gifts! Buy this book and you can throw away any other grilling books you own.

I have grilled for years and consider this book to be the best I ever. All of my guest comment about the great recipes. We have given this book as a gift to many of our friends and family. If you only have one grilling book on your shelf it has to be this one.

Have not by any means read, or tried, the whole book. But the section on equipment is very helpful. The entire book looks really very good, as are all of their books. This is one of the 2 weeks of the year in which it is nice, as opposed to cooking ON the sidewalk sort of heat where I live. So outdoors is great.

I was just a tad disappointed in the pizza and bread section. The reason was strictly me, I am sure. But I have been really into hand making bread in particular for about 30 years. I usually bake them on a pizza stone in the oven. I recently saw a wood fired pizza baking BBQ sort of thing at the barbeque store- and I have tried to convince my husband to build me one, for my now once-a-month loaf, for 15 years. No luck. So when they mentioned this device in equipment, I was hoping they would check it out and try some. Perhaps for the next book?

It is important to know the difference between indoor and outdoor cooking techniques. This book is recommended for novices to outdoor grilling recipes, techniques and the tools you would need to barbeque, grill, deep-frying and using rotissere supplies. This book starts from the basics and can be used as an resource for broiled, grilled and deep-fryed meals for your family.