6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Grilling Recipes for a Reasonable Price, March 23, 2005
This review is from: Get Grilling (Hardcover)
`get grilling' by the `food network kitchens' is the third written by the staff of the Food Network and while the first two were sound, this volume, with recipes which are just as good, succeeds where the others may tend to get lost.
This book succeeds because it provides lots of very good staple recipes for grilling, just in time for the 2005 living outdoors season. Basically, this book is not a winner because it apes Bobby Flay in trying to come up with a lot of innovative grilling recipes. It wins because it covers all the familiar recipes that are somewhere between easy and moderately challenging for the weekend griller who doesn't even bother to crack a cookbook or turn on Emeril over the long winter months. Like the earlier books, this volume has a very nice mix of recipes from a lot of different cuisines, but all of them are more variations on familiar dishes rather than outlandish dishes with rare ingredients such as galangal and Kaffir Lime leaves. I will not do a compete count and just indicate to you that the Mediterranean, including Europe, Africa, and the Levant; China; Japan; Southeast Asia; and Neuvo Latino cuisines are all represented, along with middle America and its heavy German influence on things such as brats, wieners, sauerkraut, and cole slaw.
As a non-griller, the thing I liked about this book is that it struck a very nice balance between giving the rudiments without taking up a third of the book with things some people already know and some people don't need to know. My only argument with this presentation is that they picture the `TOOLS OF THE TRADE' in four group photos and don't indicate in their discussion whether the items are cited from top to bottom, from left to right or from clockwise to counterclockwise. Tsk, Tsk.
On the much more positive side of things, the authors succeed in describe grilling as a distinctively different type of cooking, similar to, but not the same as baking, broiling, or sauteeing. They also stay on a finely impartial line between the religious factions in favor of charcoal and gas grilling. In fact, they make a very useful contribution to the charcoal camp by recommending a mix of briquettes and natural hardwood charcoal. The authors also score big with their recommendation of grilling cages. I have no idea why these have not been more broadly recommended, as they seem like naturals for doing fish and vegetables. The only Food Network show on which I have ever seen them appear was on a Martha Stewart episode hosting the owner chef of a leading New York fish restaurant. I just wish the authors had included a source for ordering these little darlings.
The authors cover the outdoor grilling / picnic scene with ten different types of dishes. These are:
Nibbles & noshes with some traditional dishes, grilled appetizers, and veggie oddities such as jicama sticks.
Little Dishes from the Grill with wings, crostini, pizzas, potato salad, kebabs, and veggie Napoleons. Note that the veggie Napoleons are done much more easily with the grilling baskets than without.
Burgers, Dogs, & Sandwiches is the chapter which clinched my strong recommendation for this book. Everyone can grill burgers and dogs, but isn't it nice to have all in one place some recipes for four different burger recipes, toppings for those doggies, and some righteous North Carolina pulled pork barbecue. This chapter alone makes me want to buy my first grill.
Chicken & other BBQ'd birds or more staples of the well-flavored grilling repertoire.
Meat of the Matter, or steaks, chops, ribs, medallions, and brochettes on the outdoor grill.
Fish and Shellfish, including smoking and planking recipes for days which are not Labor Day, 4th of July, or Memorial Day.
Salads and sides with two for potato, two for macaroni, two cole slaws, lots of tomatoes, and lots of grilled veggies. Again, this is all about basics with good variety to keep you interested.
Sauces and Rubs with a very well informed selection of regional specialities from North Carolina, Kansas City, New Orleans, Texas, and Memphis. Bobby Flay was here!
Sweets with some grilled fruit, s'mores, easy pies, and easy cakes
Drinks, including all the iced tea recipes you scramble for in you misplaced Martha Stewart books, plus some coolers, sangria, margaritas, and a warning to have enough ice on hand.
The cooking tips in the first Food Network book were, I thought, a waste of space. In this book, since the focus is very narrowly on grilling skills, the tips are just right, focusing on just enough to keep the average summer outdoor chef from cutting off your thumb or infecting his guests with ptomaine.
Like the previous two books, there is no mention of the Food Network's culinary stars. The most we get is a sly reference to the fact that these backstage cooks have rubbed elbows with the likes of show host Bobby Flay and guests such as Chris Schlesinger and Steve Raichlen, both minor gods in the world of modern grilling. The book also does less than it could to distinguish grilling from barbecuing. Yet, while the writers and editors are not in line with my linguistic prejudices, they succeed in generally limiting the word `barbecue' to long, low heat cooking involving smoke. So all is forgiven and this book heartily gets its full five stars!
As long as I am applauding this book, I can off the suggestion to all those cookbook publisher out there that they garnish no interest from me by imitating e. e. cummings by lower casing all their titles. This is a total waste of modesty and as a purchaser of about 200 cookbooks a year, has absolutely no influence on my selections or opinions, except to believe the copy editors fell asleep during seventh grade English!
If you grill outdoors, buy this book. If you only grill indoors, buy Bobby Flay's books.
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