Customer Reviews

Weber's Way to Grill: The Step-by-Step Guide to Expert Grilling (Sunset Books)

5 star:		(98)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book includes all of the basics of grilling with charcoal or gas, complete with lots of pictures so you can see exactly how to set up the grill for the type of food you will be grilling and what the coals should look like. How to use the vents, how to use a rotisserie, and needed tools and equipment.

The very best part of this book is the recipes. It does include the classics like pulled pork, burgers, steaks and ribs but also has a lot of great recipes with ethnic flavors. Kofta in Pita Pockets with Cucumber and Tomato Salad, Lamb Meatball Pitas with Chopped Salad and Minted Yogurt, Pork medallions with Asian Black Bean Sauce, Thai Shrimp with Watermelon Salsa, Shrimp Po'Boys with Creole Remoulade, Vietnamese Shrimp Pops with Peanut Sauce, Baja Fish Wraps with Chipoltle-Lime Slaw, Tandoori Chicken Breasts with Mango-Mint Chutney, Chicken Involtini; chicken breast rolled with prosciutto and basil.

Not feeling ethnic, how about Hickory Smoked Turkey with Bourbon Gravy? There is a Bacon-Wrapped Turkey Breast with Herb Stuffing that uses a great "braided" technique for the bacon that completely encases the turkey breast. Soda-Brined Pork Loin with Cherry-Chipoltle Glaze. Hard Cider Simmered Brats with Apples and Onions.

I could go on and on and have not even touched on the fruits, vegetables and grilled bread. There are many great burger recipes for beef,lamb and turkey. Each recipe and technique is very well illustrated with pictures. They have recipes using planks, smoking papers and even a cast iron skillet on the grill.
40 beef recipes
22 pork recipes
27 poultry
35 for seafood
27 vegetable
10 fruit
21 rubs
20 marinades
14 sauces

I'm not much of a cookbook guy, but until a few days ago, Weber's Big Book of Grilling was to me what The Joy of Cooking has been to my mother and grandmother. If you have a Weber grill, you just *have* that book.

I also have Weber's Real Grilling and Weber's Art of the Grill: Recipes for Outdoor Living, but they've never been used like the Big Book of Grilling.

Where am I going with this? Well, it may be sacrilege, but Way To Grill is quite possibly better than the Big Book. And I don't say that lightly.

Way to grill gives you everything you could possibly need to take your grill beyond burgers and hot dogs. The recipes are relatively easy to make, and almost always call for common items. But more importantly, there's some emphasis on technique. In all likelihood, this is as close as you're going to get to learning how to grill, without standing next to someone who will teach you.

The book itself is well made, and like the other Weber books, has excellent pictures and very comprehensive instructions.

If you own a grill -- gas, or charcoal -- you really need this book.

As all true grilling afficiandos know, this is the fifth book that Jamie Purviance and the Weber folks have produced that is chock full of recipies and grilling tips to maximize the quality of what we cook on the grill. The first four, "Weber's Art of the Grill", , "Weber's Big Book of Grilling", "Real Grilling" and "Charcoal Grilling are all in print, are reasonably priced and are avalable here at Amazon.com. IMHO, all belong on the cookbook shelf because of the quality of the recipies, as well as the simplicity of preparing them.

So, why buy this book? There are several reasons:

RECIPIES
Nomatter what else is in a cookbook, if the recipies aren't capable of producing goodies that excite the palate, are overly complex or overly time consuming, the book is of questionable value. "Way to Grill" is full of flavorful, simple recipies which address nearly every conceivable type of food, including veggies and desserts. There are also recipies for rubs and sauces which experienced grillers know lie at the heart of flavorful foods.

DETAILED "HOW TO DO ITS"

Want to know how to butterfly a flank steak or a boneless leg of lamb? Want to know how to do various meat rollups just bursting with flavorful fillings? Under the heading of "Way to ...", there are over 300 examples of techniques such as "Way to Rotisserie a Chicken", "Way to Bone a Prime Rib Roast", "Way to Pickle Onions", "Way to Dry Brine a Turkey", etc. The detailed photos and texts accompanying these "Way to ..." entries are hugely informative, and, IMHO, are worth the purchase of the book for themselves alone. But, as noted, there are all those fantastic recipies.

MANAGING FIRES

Grilling is different from indoor cooking, because the griller is working with live fire. Jamie has covered every detail of managing the fire from start to finish, with necessary focus on the safety aspects of fire, fuels, etc.

ORGANIZATION

It is obvious that a lot of thought and effort went into the organization and layout of this book. Recipies and other information are easy to find and clearly expressed.

It should be noted that all of the previous Purviance/Weber books have played to rave reviews. if you check the reviews here on Amazon.com, you will see that all have gotten consistant five star ratings, and for good reason. Anyone, from a novice to the most experienced grillers, can produce consistantly excellent meals from the recipies contained in this book, and the others in the series as well.

In his preface, Jamie notes how his grilling techniques have evolved over time. I suspect that is true for many of us who "fire up" year round. But some prospective buyers of this book may be considering a first foray into grilling or barbecueing. For those folks, my advice is to take the plunge; start with something simple, like a burger. One bite and self confidence soars.

For more experienced folks, get the book for the "Way to ..." stuff, as well as the recipies.

Because I grill year round, even in our harsh Northern Michigan winters (I did ribs for my visiting sons a couple of weeks ago when the temp was in low single digits and snow was heavy), our home tends to be a popular gathering place. Folks just plain like good food with that just off the grill flavor. I know this from experience, and I am just as confident that folks who buy and use "Way to Grill" will experience the deep personal satisfaction of placing flavorful food in front of friends and family.

I read cookbooks and have several of the author's other books. Sure, I like to cook, but I enjoy reading the tips, food history, anecdotes and recipes to get ideas. The recipes are presented in a logical, easy-to-follow format with pictures of the final products. Along the way, there are callouts with tips like how to prepare skirt steak or how to take the edge off fresh onions for salsa. In general, the meat recipes each include a sauce, relish, or other accompaniment -- so, you're not just left with a slab of meat.

This book may be light on the anecdotes but it is chock-full of tips, tricks, and advice. The entire first chapter is for beginning grillers: charcoal or gas? What are essential tools, What is smoking? How/why do I use a rotisserie, and more. Then, right into the Red Meat chapter and some recipes. Like a lot of grilling books, the book is divided into chapters featuring various types of food (red meat, pork, poultry, seafood, veggies and fruit).

Following the recipes is an entire chapter devoted to 'Resources'. I think this section is worth the price of the book for anyone new to grilling. For each of the major categories (chapters above), there is a subsection here covering must-have knowledge like how to choose the best cuts of meat, a grilling guide for common cuts -- just how long and what type of heat should I use to cook a 4 lb beef tenderloin? -- and my wife's favorite section: 'When is it done?'.

Not a lot of books include a grill maintenance schedule -- this one tells you what you should do on a regular basis to keep your baby performing its best. For those who may be a little leery about cooking with an open flame, there are sections called 'Safety' and 'Selecting the Right Grill.'

What about for the seasoned griller? In addition to many interesting recipes (I have not had the opportunity to test all of them, but I have marked over 20 more that I will be trying in the coming months), there are sections for Rubs, Marinades, Sauces (and corresponding Way More Rubs, Way More Marinades and Way More Sauces). This reference gives newbies a nice list of common preparations, complete with a key: this one is good with poultry... red meat, not so much.

Everything in the book is color-coded: are you in the mood for Southwest-style chicken? Grab yourself the Southwest rub, marinade or tomatillo salsa with an orange square next to it and use as-is or build from there. Teriyaki for seafood? No problem: marinades... blue square... go. Interested in grilling veggies? Flip to the green section of the book.

For me, the true measure of any cookbook (or any reference book, for that matter!) is the index. Someone spent a lot of time ensuring that things would be easy to find in this book -- there are separate indices for Recipes and Techniques and the "Duck Breast Tacos" are listed under both 'T' for Tacos and 'D' for Duck.

After years of turning out some of the best meals imaginable and creating meal after delectable meal, I figured that my wife had more or less paid her dues. I have always cooked; love to cook, but to be fare and honest, the burden of planning, preparation and serving had always fallen on her shoulders. After so long, did you realize that simply planning meals, day after day after day can become quite a burdensome chore? Anyway, a few of years ago I began taking over more and more of the cooking chores. We have reached a point now that I am the primary cook and more importantly, the primary planner of our meals. At least 60 percent of all the cooking that I do is done on one grill or another.

This review is on Weber's Way to Grill but in reality it is also on two other grill cookbooks, Weber's Big Book of Grilling and Weber's Art of the Grill: Recipes for Outdoor Living.

Now I have quite a number of cookbooks and a goodly number of them deal with grilling. I want to state right now that I have seldom met a cookbook that I did not like or learn something from. As an example, I love all of Bobby Flay's books covering this subject. I have learned much from them and have added many recipes to my arsenal. Flay though often times includes ingredients such as spices, herbs, cuts of meat, etc., which are not only difficult to find in our area, but are rather expensive. I am one of those people that is more than willing to fork out money for spices and such that are necessary and enhance dishes, but some of his stuff is simply not what I use with my everyday cooking.

Anyway, as far as the work being reviewed here, this is by far one of the best I have used, and one of the volumes I put into constant use. Now I will tell you that I do use it in conjunction with Weber's Big Book of Grilling. Between the two I have yet to come across a situation that I could not handle. I would be hard put to tell you which one of these books to purchase first.

This book, the actually one being reviewed here, gives you a concise step-by-step guide to your grilling needs. (Just as the subtitle tells you). It contains over 1,000 step by step photographs and well over 160 different recipes, many to most of which I have tried and have yet to have a failure. One of the sections I found most valuable is the one on sauces and rubs. My wife and I are big on sauces and this work was loaded with good and tasty ideas.

The book is broken down into various sections which include:

Grilling Basics (Many of these comments are indeed basic, but I find a review from time to time is helpful).

Red Meat (Plenty on preparation, rubs and sauces)

Pork

Poultry (one of our favorite sections)

Seafood (The techniques here are worth the price of the book alone)

Vegetables (A section is constant use in our household)

Fruit

Resources (cooking guides for just about everything are found here)

The question always comes up as to which of the two books to purchase first; Webers's Way to Grill or Weber's Big Book of grilling. I will reluctantly stick my neck out here and recommend the one being reviewed here. I think perhaps it is just a bit more instructive that the Big Book. Really though, I would hate to be without either of them. The third book mentioned at the beginning of this review, Weber's Art of the Grill, is a great book, but mainly filled with recipes and not technique. I would hate to be without it too, but if I had to give up one, it would be this one.

Another consideration that should be made is that the book being reviewed here, Way to Grill, leans more toward the charcoal grill and less toward the gas. Techniques can be easily adapted for both but the Big Book tends to address both methods more than this one. As I use both charcoal and gas I have the best of both worlds here.

Anyway, if you are a beginning griller, an expert at the art, or as many of us, somewhere between these two extremes, this is most certainly a book you need to have on your kitchen shelf.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

I have a great collection of cooking books, from Ramsay to Flay. But I have got to tell you this is the best. It is thick and absolutely full of pictures and step by step guides.

I recently replaced my gas grill with a charcoal one. This book has invaluable information about grilling techniques and ways of arranging the coals etc. However this is not just a book for charcoal grill owners. Everyone with an outside grill should own this book. The recipe's are varied and there are plenty of them too.

The pork tenderloin with cherry chipolte glaze is really tasty! I can't wait to try the Argentine beef skewer recipe tomorrow night.

Jamie Purviance's new contribution to intelligent grilling and barbecuing arrived yesterday and it is stunning. Absolutely stunning. There are over 1100 full color photographs, many arranged in storyboard format to demonstrate technique instead of the usual practice of explanation, in sometimes lengthy language but always in vague sketches or unfocused snapshots. I always hate reading about a dish in a grilling book but never seeing what it looks like; that's okay for menus but not cookbooks. Thankfully, that's not the case here. I was amazed to see Purviance captured in many of the photographs that illustrate how to prep foods, arrange the charcoal, position the meat, and the like. Clearly this important task wasn't neglected; it wasn't assigned to a model to imitate what a chef does--Chef Purviance actually performs these tasks! That kind of honesty we all need from a cookbook.

Like the visual style of the book, the writing is clear and uncluttered with jargon. I would say that Purviance has done it again-this is his fifth book on grilling, I believe, and they all have been marvelous-except that this one elevates the whole genre of grilling and barbecue books. It is a genre-buster. Hardly a secret, grilling and barbecue books are notoriously weak on preparing their readers for, ironically, their preparing to grill. Sure, many grilling books explain temperatures and methods, but never the prep work necessary for successful grilling. If they make the attempt, it's uneven and selective. No doubt the reason for that absence is the enormous time and expense such a commitment would require. Well, Purviance and his team of mighty food stylists and photographers have pulled together a production that no other has: a readable, sensuous account of how to grill and smoke the foods we most want to tackle--preparation, production, presentation--but simply don't know how. Do you know how to grill pineapple upside-down cake? What about grilling broccoli? What's the secret for keeping pork tenderloin moist on a rotisserie? Purviance removes the guesswork with a playful, energetic conversation with grillers, both seasoned and novice.

It's another freezing day here, with furnaces blazing and windshields being scraped. Nevertheless, Purviance's WEBER'S WAY TO GRILL: THE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO EXPERT GRILLING has given me the moral courage to conquer the cold and start the grill with that new recipe I circled on page 101. I will be following his step-by-step prep work, however, from my warm indoor kitchen!

Chef, journalist, and nationally acclaimed grilling expert Jamie Purviance presents Weber's Way to Grill: The Step-by-Step Guide to Expert Grilling, an all-around how-to cookbook jam-packed with more than 160 recipes, dozens of marinades and sauces, and an immense amount of tips, tricks, and techniques for grilling everything from steak to baby back ribs, turkey, fish, and more. Over 1,100 photos illustrate every stage of the techniques, making Weber's Way to Grill easy to follow and use, regardless of personal grilling experience. Weber's Way to Grill is a "must-have" for anyone new to grilling, and even veteran grillers are sure to acquire new, useful and delicious ideas!

I've managed to purchase almost all of the Weber Grill books and find this one to be a compilation of many great recipes and provides great tips for grilling meats and vegetables. A handy book to plan your meals by.

Usually I hesitate to buy accessories that have a manufacturer's name on them. They generally turn out to be overpriced, rebranded versions of things made by other companies. I make an exception to this when it comes to things from Weber, particularly books like this one. They get the right people involved, they put lots of money into making sure it is high quality, and they don't overcharge for the end result.

That's definitely the case with this book. It is full color, oversized, heavyweight glossy paper, and even has color-coded bleeder tabs to make it easier to flip right to your favorite section. A full index, table of contents, and good organization make everything easy to find.

It covers equipment, cleaning, prepping, sauces, rubs, fruit, meat, vegetables. There are sections on grill maintenance, safety, and how to select the best seafood. All step by step, with lots of great photographs and clear, easy to read descriptions along the way. Even at 320 oversized pages, it is a wonder that they were able to fit all of this in, and with a ton of recipes too.

This is a great book. It is fun to read, easy to follow, and astonishingly comprehensive.

Highly recommended.

Sean P. Logue, 2009