The Best Recipe: Grilling and Barbecue

Rating:
Summary: Loads of info here
Review: Several months ago my Dad passed on to me about 10 of his old Cooks Illustrated magazines to read. They didn't seem very impressive on the outside, no glossy photos or pictures to look at. But I leafed through the magazines and just loved the no nonsense feel of the magazine. So when we bought a grill and I saw that Cooks Illustrated did a Grilling Recipe book, I knew I would get it...and all the positive remarks the book had also encouraged me. It arrived, and gee, it still didn't have pretty color photos either, but I got over it quickly and reminded myself that I didn't need to see how a chicken leg looked for the 100th time anyway. There are plenty of illustrations though, which are helpful when they describe a technique for you to do, such as making hamburger patties so they don't turn into tennis balls on the grill. The book provides a separate recipe for each food, depending on whether you are using a charcoal or gas grill. How many times have you bought a cookbook and made a recipe and afterwards thought, "that really wasn't very good, why did they put that recipe in there, just for filler?"? Well, with Cooks Illustrated you can be confident the recipes were thoroughly tested and tasted, and if it didn't taste good, it wasn't included. To me, understanding why a recipe works (and this book explains why they do), makes it easier for me to cook, and it expands my knowledge of cooking, so I can use what I learned on other meal preparations. I had never heard of brining myself until this book, and I tried the brined pork chops on my grill...YUMMMY, nice and juicy and simple to do. I bought another grilling cookbook at the same time, How to BBQ by Raichlen, and I have compared the instructions/recipes for different foods and often they are similar but do have variations of methods. If I could only keep 1 of the 2 books, I would keep this one due to the information it gives. For example, one page has 4 paragraphs on salt. There is kosher, sea salt and regular table salt. If a recipe told me to use kosher salt in the past, I would just pick up my old salt shaker and use that instead. This book tells you what the difference is and so I finally bought some kosher salt for the spice rubs. It might not make a huge difference in the long run, but the kosher salt is inexpensive and I want to continue and try to improve taste. I'm not knocking the other book I bought, and I prefer to have options available to me, but to me this book provides you with a foundation on which to build on, so when other books tell you to do something a certain way, you can use what you learned from Cooks Illustrated to make somebody elses recipe a little better. Go for it, don't just follow a recipe, learn how and why it works the way it does!

Rating:
Summary: Loads of info here
Review: Several months ago my Dad passed on to me about 10 of his old Cooks Illustrated magazines to read. They didn't seem very impressive on the outside, no glossy photos or pictures to look at. But I leafed through the magazines and just loved the no nonsense feel of the magazine. So when we bought a grill and I saw that Cooks Illustrated did a Grilling Recipe book, I knew I would get it...and all the positive remarks the book had also encouraged me. It arrived, and gee, it still didn't have pretty color photos either, but I got over it quickly and reminded myself that I didn't need to see how a chicken leg looked for the 100th time anyway. There are plenty of illustrations though, which are helpful when they describe a technique for you to do, such as making hamburger patties so they don't turn into tennis balls on the grill. The book provides a separate recipe for each food, depending on whether you are using a charcoal or gas grill. How many times have you bought a cookbook and made a recipe and afterwards thought, "that really wasn't very good, why did they put that recipe in there, just for filler?"? Well, with Cooks Illustrated you can be confident the recipes were thoroughly tested and tasted, and if it didn't taste good, it wasn't included. To me, understanding why a recipe works (and this book explains why they do), makes it easier for me to cook, and it expands my knowledge of cooking, so I can use what I learned on other meal preparations. I had never heard of brining myself until this book, and I tried the brined pork chops on my grill...YUMMMY, nice and juicy and simple to do. I bought another grilling cookbook at the same time, How to BBQ by Raichlen, and I have compared the instructions/recipes for different foods and often they are similar but do have variations of methods. If I could only keep 1 of the 2 books, I would keep this one due to the information it gives. For example, one page has 4 paragraphs on salt. There is kosher, sea salt and regular table salt. If a recipe told me to use kosher salt in the past, I would just pick up my old salt shaker and use that instead. This book tells you what the difference is and so I finally bought some kosher salt for the spice rubs. It might not make a huge difference in the long run, but the kosher salt is inexpensive and I want to continue and try to improve taste. I'm not knocking the other book I bought, and I prefer to have options available to me, but to me this book provides you with a foundation on which to build on, so when other books tell you to do something a certain way, you can use what you learned from Cooks Illustrated to make somebody elses recipe a little better. Go for it, don't just follow a recipe, learn how and why it works the way it does!

Rating:
Summary: The first book I reach for when I grill.
Review: This book is great. I have a hereditary defective gene which makes me burn everything (or undercook stuff like chicken, which I then burn trying to finish it) I put on the grill.
This book is terrific. It discusses equipment without being dated. It gives recommended tempuratures, techniques, lore, and basic procedures which has transformed me from a grill-incompetent pyromaniac to a confident griller. It covers procedures for both gas and different types of charcoal fires for each type of meat as well.
I eat a lot of grilled chicken breasts and the simple information in here has helped me to "break the cycle, stop the arson." With the easy procedures in this book I can now cook chicken breasts plain, without brining, basting or marinading, and they don't come out dry, but tender and juicy. That's a feat!!! : )....

Rating:
Summary: Absolution for an Accidental Arsonist
Review: This book is great. I have a hereditary defective gene which makes me burn everything (or undercook stuff like chicken, which I then burn trying to finish it) I put on the grill.
This book is terrific. It discusses equipment without being dated. It gives recommended tempuratures, techniques, lore, and basic procedures which has transformed me from a grill-incompetent pyromaniac to a confident griller. It covers procedures for both gas and different types of charcoal fires for each type of meat as well.
I eat a lot of grilled chicken breasts and the simple information in here has helped me to "break the cycle, stop the arson." With the easy procedures in this book I can now cook chicken breasts plain, without brining, basting or marinading, and they don't come out dry, but tender and juicy. That's a feat!!! : )....

Rating:
Summary: The Best Grill Book I Have Found
Review: This is by far the best cookbook for the grill that I have found. Every recipe that I have tried was received with rave reviews. The instructions are easy to follow and the meals are consistently good.