Charred & Scruffed: Adam Perry Lang, Peter Kaminsky: 9781579654658: Amazon.com: Books

Amazon.com Review

Guest Reviewer: Gabrielle Hamilton on Charred and Scruffed

Gabrielle Hamilton is the author of Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef.

At my restaurant we've now cooked pretty extensively from Perry Lang's Charred and Scruffed and read it from cover to cover. And while I would consider all of us experienced meat cookers, every cook here has been pretty radically enlightened by it.

Charred and Scruffed is a game-changer. It blows open the whole over-saturated category of grilling and will change your meat cooking forever, whether you're a beginner or a hardy veteran of cooking meat with fire and smoke. In this book, Perry Lang teaches you to be an active griller--to abandon the idea and aesthetic of the rigid, perfect, crosshatched grill mark like you find at an Outback or Wendy's--and to instead really move the meat around the grill in a way that it builds up more and more surface area, getting as much char and flavor on every micro-inch of its surface as possible. He prepares the meats by opening them up, either by hand--kind of pulling apart rib roasts or cracking the backs of chickens and stabbing the birds repeatedly (!)--or by cutting shallow, diamond-hatch scoring into the surface of leaner cuts to create more places for crust and char to form, thus letting more flavor develop. And creating more surfaces for the seasoning salts, herby and acidic bastes, and unbelievably delicious and sensible “board sauces” made right on the cutting board with the juices of the meats themselves, to adhere and cling to. Why no one has thought of the board sauce is a mystery and an example of Adam Perry Lang's genius. After basting the meat frequently throughout its cooking time with a basting brush made of a bunch of herbs--both beautiful and purposeful--you finely mince the tip end of the herb baster brush--which has softened in the heat and released the herbs' fragrant oils--and stir that right into the juices from the rested grilled meat. It is a stroke of brilliance. Utterly freaking delicious and simple and smart.

I first caught on to the obsessive genius of Adam Perry Lang and his relationship to meat over ten years ago when I wrote a piece about him for Saveur magazine. At the time he was the chef at Robert's Steakhouse on the west side of Manhattan, which served the best meat in New York City. Everyone who came to know it agreed that it blew the city's famed steakhouses out of the water. At the time Adam was aging meat weeks and even months longer than anyone, anywhere. His walk-ins had an elaborate setup of thermometers, fans, humidifiers and stainless steel metro shelving--and a fastidious date and time labeling system as well. He rotated huge racks of beef, attending to the temperature, humidity and “velocity,” as he called it, of cool air circulating in the room with a near mania. He was obsessively sourcing meat, flying out to see growers and buyers and packers throughout the Midwest and Texas to understand everything he could about grass and grain and corn. At the same time, just to give you a sense of his energy, he had opened Daisy May Bar B Que and was competing on the national barbecue circuit. And winning!

All this to say, there is no single person or team working with meat today who knows more or who has more to share and to learn from.

This book is suited for professionals and amateurs alike, men and women, from back yard pit masters to fire-escape kettle-grillers, for dads whose favorite weekend activity is centered around the Weber to die hards who will find themselves shoveling a path to the grill deep in winter just to cook from its pages.

Review

“Perry Lang has rewritten the rules of grilling. His latest book, Charred & Scruffed, is a bible for a new kind of charcoal-fired religion.”

–Bon Appetit

“Full of serious barbecue how-to with plentiful photos.”

–Better Homes & Gardens

“If you know a person ready to get his—or, hello, her—Ph.D. in grilling, this will blow his (or her) already expanded mind.”

–New York Times Book Review

“In this book, [Adam Perry Lang] shares the creative theories and techniques that have made him a perennial award winner on the national barbecue circuit.”

–Martha Stewart Living

“A whole new way of looking at grilling.”

–Orlando Sentinel

“Well-written and easy to follow recipes . . . nothing short of revolutionary.”

–Austin Chronicle

“Inspiring and loaded with great tips.”

–Charlotte Observer

“Adam Perry Lang is the Yoda of grilling. This is his third book on the subject and his most in-depth yet.”

–The Daily

“A perfect handbook for savory summer foods, with new techniques for cooking meat, fish and poultry on the grill, plus tips and tricks for fantastic sides.”

–FoodandWine.com

“A new sort of twenty first century barbecue. . . . Any serious backyard barbecuer who follows these recipes will very quickly leave the rest of neighborhood pit masters wallowing in ashes.”

–Booklist

“New grilling techniques for achieving crunchy crusts, succulent meat and perfect side dishes. If this sounds complicated, it isn’t. [Perry Lang has] made it easy.”

–Providence Journal

“An elegant and inventive barbecue cookbook.”

–Library Journal

“No one knows more about cooking food over fire than Adam Perry Lang, and his techniques are all here.”

–David Chang

"Breaks newgrilling ground with well-written recipes."

--Fine Cooking

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Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars

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“ For me if a book has a few really good ideas it's great by me at this point in my life. ” Edwin A. Cohen | 9 reviewers made a similar statement

“ All in all I highly recommend this book to any budding backyard BBqer. ” Hockey1973 | 7 reviewers made a similar statement

“ Buy it & let me know what you think! ” Dale R. Warner | 3 reviewers made a similar statement

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great recipes and very creative but should come with a disclaimer! May 13, 2012

By Kevin Ascolillo

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Adam Perry is an adventurous chief and he comes up with some great ideas for the BBQ aficionado.
However some of his most interesting recipes (finishing salts,spackles) require a dehydrator and a convection oven which I do not own. Otherwise it is a good read with some great recipes. If you have a dehydrator and a convection oven and love to BBQ this book will not disappoint.
Note: The "four seasons blend" was much less salty with 1/2 cup of sea salt.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't grill without it! June 18, 2012

By Toothslueth

I came across this book at a bookstore and based on a few recipes I decided I had to have it. It is a way to take your grilling to the next level. Mr. Lang has a solid understanding of BBQ iand can present it in a very Alton Brown manner. I have already made 4 of the recipes and they were a huge hit!!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent addition to cookbook collection June 13, 2012

By beckygardens TOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Length: 4:25 Mins

Among the tons of grilling and barbecuing cookbooks available it takes a special cookbook to stand out. Charred and Scruffed is just such a cookbook. Full of recipes, pictures, and techniques- techniques I've never heard of or seen, this is a book not to be missed.

The front of the book has tons of information about how to grill. Then there are wonderful recipes, including the meat, but also sides, rubs, sauces, salts, etc. Many of the techniques are accompanied by pictures, there are pictures of the end product, pictures of the steps, and pictures of the very handsome and slightly scruffed author.

I've been using my meat thermometer wrong, plunging it into the meat and reenacting the shower scene from "Psycho." This book tells me how to float my thermometer to get the proper temperature. He addresses some of the basics, from knowing how hot the fire is to explaining indirect heat, but done is a very understandable way, with pictures.

I did see where some of the salts and spackles do need a dehydrator or convection oven as mentioned by another reviewer. At first I thought one could use a regular oven with the usual conversion from a convection, either increase the heat by 30 degrees or cook for 1/3 longer, but as I read the recipe I realized it's the fan that's the important part. If you want to get a dehydrator I suggest the Nesco/American Harvest FD-80 Square-Shaped Dehydrator we find new uses for it all the time, fruit leather, jerky, dog treats, and now tomato spackle!

A lot of our summer grilling is going to come from this delightful and delicious book! Yummy

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