This Month

Written by two Americans, Chris Schlesinger chef/patron of the East Coast Grill and John Willoughby, executive editor of Gourmet, Barbecue is a serious contender as the book on barbecuing. In other words, if you only want one – this is it.

It tells you everything, and more, you’ll ever need to know about what is considered man’s domain. There’s no getting away from it – barbecuing is a chap’s favourite and (possibly more often than not) only stab at cooking. Or as the authors put it rather more elegantly, “(it’s) not just a way of cooking food, it’s a central part of a near-mythic social rite known as the backyard cookout……traditionally performed by dads who at other times have tended to treat cooking as a foreign realm of endeavour.”

Actually they’re rather coy about what these dads do. Grilling aka “cooking food quickly over the coals of a hot fire” is what Barbecue is about. Barbecuing is a far more complicated American South technique that involves cooking food slowly over indirect heat and smoke….etc but let’s not get too hung up here. And guess what, once you start calling it grilling, it seems so much simpler and straightforward.

Various other techniques, smoke- and ash-roasting, building, starting and managing fires and choosing fuels are also explored in detail. There’s even a section Knowing when Food is Done - may I suggest it’s required reading for every dad? As for the recipes – not only do they make you want to rush out and strike a light but they’re also wonderfully photographed. Frankly, they’d stretch the capabilities of most dads I know but then the moms probably do the preparation whilst the all-important Firing Up takes place.

Divided into inspiring headings as Things with Wings, On a Stick, Water Dwellers and Sips and Sweets, these are light, fresh recipes – spot on for outdoor eating. As well as Chicken with Apples & Sultana Vinaigrette, Grilled Lemon-Pepper Mackerel or Cumin Salmon Fillets - our chosen recipes, think salt and pepper prawns with hot and sour coleslaw or chicken and fig kebabs with parsley-pine nut relish.

This is food for a hot summer’s day. All we need now is the weather.

COOK FROM THE BOOK

Chicken with Sultana Vinaigrette
Grilled Lemon-Pepper Mackerel
Cumin Salmon Fillets