The Southwestern Grill [Paperback]

Michael McLaughlin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 10, 2012

Grilling, America's favorite home-grown cooking technique, and southwestern food, the country's best-loved regional cuisine, together make a sizzlingly perfect match.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

There may be 200 recipes in this fine collection, but most of them share a single basic, time-proven secret: opposites attract. For McLaughlin (All on the Grill; The Silver Palate Cookbook), that means taking the ingredients to be found near his Santa Fe home and combining them so that sweet becomes enamoured of hot, and crisp runs off with chewy. Often a marriage of fruit and spice carries the day, such as with Spice-Rubbed Venison Tenderloin with Dried Blueberry Sauce (in which berries are soaked in Tequila, mixed with beef stock, whisked with butter and spooned over meat that has been rubbed with chipotle chile powder and sugar). Or else land and sea converge and simmer in such dishes as Grilled New Mexico Mountain Trout with Cider, Bacon and Pi?on Sauce. Because grilling requires as much smoke as fire, every recipe comes with a recommended Smoking Chip Option, be it Mesquite for the Cumin-Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb or Apple for the Sweet and Smokey Corn Relish. With Frozen Raspberry Margarita Pie, and Tequila Mixed Berry Compote with Dulce de Leche, McLaughlin's chapter on desserts intoxicates nearly as much as his chapter on Cocktails and Coolers. And the extensive chapter on Salsas, Sauces and Condiments runs the gamut from a basic Black Pepper Rub to a sobering Coffee Barbecue Sauce that blends French Roast with cumin and red chilies. All in all, this cookbook provides a summer's worth of adventurous grilling.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

Prolific cookbook author McLaughlin (All on the Grill, LJ 5/15/97) offers a mouthwatering array of easy grilled dishes with a Southwestern accent, from Santa Fe Chicken Satay to Grilled Salmon Steaks with Haba$nero Butter. He includes a chapter devoted to tacos, tostadas, and "other hand foods," as well as one on salsas, sauces, and rubs; there are refreshing drinks and cocktails, too, and some unusual desserts. For most collections.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Common Press (April 10, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558321640
• ISBN-13: 978-1558321649
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,965,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light my fire!, July 14, 2000

By 

R. Hancock - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Southwestern Grill (Paperback)

Light up the grill and enjoy the bold tastes of Southwest cooking! The Peppery Poblano-Stuffed Rib Eye Steaks and the Grilled Porterhouse with Roquefort-Toasted Pecan Butter were both winners. Depending on what area of country you live, some of the ingredients may be hard to find but are worth seeking out. Several of the recipes are easy to follow and others require more planning and time to prepare. The author includes a chapter on Grilling - Southwestern style with fuels, tools, tips & techniques. The Salsa, Sauces and Condiments was another gem, including recipes for Chipotle-Peanut Barbecue Sauce and a Grill-Roasted Green Chile Tarter Sauce for seafood or chicken. If you are looking for a great new tex-mex collection for summer entertaining - buy this book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sizzle & Spice, January 13, 2001

By 

Frank Dunnigan (Santa Rosa, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Southwestern Grill (Paperback)

Michael McLaughlin's latest work is another winner. He takes us beyond the usual barbecue fare to a higher level, with a tangy, tasty Southwestern twist. (Fear not, though--there are also plenty of recipes here for those who prefer meals a little more on the mild side!) One of my favorites recipes is the one for Grilled Fish Tacos with Citrus Slaw--I put it together on a cold January day, and it was delicious. The Lime Cream Sauce, used in many recipes, is simple to make, and keeps well in a plastic squirt bottle in the fridge, thus enabling the cook to zip up a variety of other dishes with little effort. Another great entry is Chili Meatballs with Hot Jelly Pepper Dipping Sauce--a marvelous new take on the old cocktail meatballs that were glazed with a chili sauce/grape jelly mixture! The Sweet Potato-Corn Salad with Honey-Mustard Dressing is fantastic whether you use the grill or one of the alternative prep methods. McLaughlin offers a variety of beverage and dessert recipes as well, along with suggestions for pairing up different entries into a well-planned meal or party. Sidebars discuss some of the ingredients unique to Southwest cooking, and offer practical hints for distinguishing between good, better, and best--as well as what should be avoided. As usual, McLaughlin's warm writing style comes through on each and every page. This is a must-have for anyone who would like to prepare something more interesting than just grilled burgers & chicken breasts, regardless of the season.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good recipes that sound involved, but never really are, October 31, 2006

By 

Esther Schindler (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Southwestern Grill (Paperback)

I've had this cookbook for five or six years. It's not one that's falling apart from overuse, nor does the book fall open to a few favorite recipes. But I'm often surprised by how often I do turn to it -- and not just for grilling recipes.

As you'd imagine, most of the recipes here have a strong Southwest influence. That doesn't only mean chile or hot stuff; it also includes other ingredients that grow around here, such as pecans and citrus. While it would help to have a Mexican market nearby, so you can buy things like nopales and epazote, a hardy northeasterner who has a hankering for a southwest meal won't be out of luck. (You can get jicama, right? tomatillos? pine nuts? You're fine. In fact, you're fine even if you're limited to sweet potatoes and apples.)

The cookbook covers appetizers; sandwiches; main-dish salads; fish and shellfish; poultry; meats; salads and side dishes; cocktails and coolers; desserts; salsas, sauces, and condiments. The author assumes that you have a grill and perhaps a smoker, though I've found that several of these recipes can be done rather well without reaching for a matchbook. For example, I made his "sweet potato-corn salad with honey mustard dressing" as my contribution to a buffet -- for which I got a rather stern demand for the recipe -- and its sole nod to grilling is roasting off the red pepper; I could handle that with the broiler.

Several of the recipes sound as though they're going to be a big deal to pull together, but every time I use this cookbook I discover that they're simpler than they appear. For example, a recipe for cornish hens with honeyed margarita "lacquer" seems like it'll be complex -- but really, all you're doing is marinating the poultry (we used chicken, as it's what we had on hand) in a pretty good margarita recipe before you fling it on the grill. A dinner salad, hickory smoked chicken and potato salad with apples and pecans has a long list of ingredients, but once you have the chicken smoked it's pretty much "dump it in a bowl and make it look pretty."

There are several appealing recipes that I've never managed to make, although I've owned the book for years: smoked pork shoulder adobo; cornhusk-steamed salmon steaks with corn, mushrooms, and chiles; grilled tamarind pork and noodle salad with smoky vegetables. That, however, only means that I have plenty to look forward to. His recipes are good, they aren't wholly predictable or goofy, and every time I cook something from this book, I get compliments.