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License to Grill follows the Thrill of the Grill, the award winning cookbook Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby wrote in 1990 that was a breakthrough in making cooking over a fire a gourmet kind of thing. License to Grill stands fully on its own as an updated manifesto. It provides all you need to know about equipment, fire building, what to cook, and how to do it. In this, their fifth collaboration, the flippant, expert, creative team of Schlesinger and Willoughby have a grand time. Their recipes, shouting with flavor and simple to prepare, draw you into the fun. The book starts with soups and salads, then carries on to beef, poultry, and lots of seafood and veggie dishes. Sections on Hobo Packs (cooked in foil), skewer recipes, and desserts are appealing. The chapter on barbecuing and smoke roasting is outstanding. Would that the type was easier to read, but that's the only fault to be found with this zesty book.
Barbara Kafka, author of Roasting: A Simple Art
"Chris Schlesinger is one of those natural cooks who cannot put a spoon wrong when it comes to flavor..."
Ferdinand Metz, president, Culinary Institute of America
"Grilling brings out the essence of food and Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby expertly capture this..."
Book Description
Chris Schlesinger and John "Doc" Willoughby single handedly raised America's grilling consciousness in their award-winning The Thrill of the Grill. Now they're back with the second generation of grilling expertise and over 200 recipes packed with bright, loud flavors. In their uniquely engaging, informal style, Chris and Doc share their grilling secrets and lead us through the daring, challenging, exciting, yet casual world of live fire cookery.
This is grilling designed for the novice or pro, the duffer or dedicated man, woman, or child. In addition to covering the basics, Chris and Doc add several new, lighter dimensions to their grilling canon, with more grilled vegetables, more seafood, more pasta, and more surprisingly grillable fruit. Vibrant and adventurous, the recipes combine fresh herbs, chiles, citrus, and spices with that indefinable grilled flavor to create dishes that both satisfy and intrigue.SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE BOOK INCLUDE:An in-depth grill briefing, including tips on easy fire starting, answers to the ten most frequently asked grilling questions, five keys to easy grilling, and -- for those who can't bear to put the grill away when winter comes -- a guide to fireplace grilling.A chapter devoted to grilling on skewers, with hints on how to meld flavors and cook ingredients evenly, along with recipes like exotic Grilled Lamb Skewers with Apricots, Simple Grilled Swordfish Skewers, Grilled Lamb and Potato Skewers with Tomato-Green Olive Relish, and Grilled Chicken Skewers with Coconut-Ginger Sauce.A section that showcases the uniquely thrilling Hobo Pack Cookery, otherwise known as Boy Scout cooking, with recipes like Eggplant and Tomato Hobo Pack with Lemon and Garlic, and Chicken Hobo Pack with Garlic, Lemon, and Herbs.A wide selection of salads and pasta dishes, such as Grilled Artichoke and White Bean Salad or Linguine with Grilled Shrimp and Black Olives, which use grilled fish, meat, and vegetables to add smoky-great flavor.For you heat freaks, a chapter of high-heat dishes, from Chile-Coated Chicken Thighs with Couscous and Tomato-Raisin Relish to Grilled Shrimp with Most-Hot Lime-Chile Booster.Slow and low" barbecue and grill-roasting, where classic barbecued brisket becomes MediterraneanStyle Slow-Roasted Beef Brisket, and innovative dishes like Corn Bread-Stuffed Barbecued Game Hens with Bourbon-Shallot Sauce come off the grill with deep, smoky flavor.A bevy of side dishes that go great with grilled food, from K.C.'s Bengali-Style Spinach to SweetPotato Steak Fries with Your Own Catsup to grilled Corn with Lime and Chinese Roasted Salt.Dozens of condiments, pickles, and spice rubs that build flavor fast with very little effort.
Packed with practical grilling instructions, anecdotes, and inventive recipes that join simple pleasure with culinary adventure, here's a book that has direct appeal to anyone who's ever wanted to put food over fire, Whether you're a novice looking for your initial License to Grill, an accomplished live fire devotee ready to earn your Ph.G. (Doctorate of Grilling), or you just want to spend some time hanging out by the fire, this is the book for you, So go ahead, unleash your 'griller instincts" and give yourself License to Grill -- permission to fool around with live fire, odd a smoky sear to your dinner, and generally turn cooking into the best part of your day.
About the Author
Chris Schlesinger is the chef/owner of the award winning East Coast Grill in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Back in Eddy in Westport, Massachusetts, and the 1996 winner of the James Beard Award for the Best Chef in the Northeast.
Excerpted from The Thrill of the Grill by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby. Copyright (c) 1997. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
WHAT IS GRILLING ANYWAY? To begin with, we need to get one thing straight: Despite the fact that everybody and his or her brother refers to a cookout as a "barbecue," grilling is not barbecuing. These are two very different techniques and, in fact, are at opposite ends of the live fire cooking spectrum. To make it simple, barbecuing consists of cooking tough cuts of meat by exposing them to the smoke and indirect heat of a very low fire for a very long time. The idea is not only to infuse the meat with smoky flavor, but also, through long cooking, to break down the tough connective tissues and make the meat tender. Among other cooking methods, barbecuing is most similar to braising. Grilling, on the other hand, is a high-heat method in which rather tender foods are cooked quickly over the flame of a very hot fire. Grilling is similar to sauing, with the added benefit of the smoky char that comes from cooking directly over live fire. When food is exposed to the direct heat of the flames, a seared crust develops on its exterior, and it is this flavor-packed crust- rather than the fuel used for the fire, as many believe-that is most responsible for the characteristic grilled flavor.
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