Product Description

With so many hefty grilling books available, it's easy to get overwhelmed by elaborate recipes with ingredient lists and instructions that are many pages long. Backyard chefs may lose sight of the fact that a firm grasp of the fundamentals is an important part of every successful barbecue. Fortunately, Ardie Davis, founder of the famed Greasehouse University, helps readers get back to basics in this handy collection of techniques that every griller should know. Through 25 recipes, each illustrated with a mouthwatering color photo, Davis teaches readers methods such as grilling on a plank, in a basket, and directly on coals; he also reveals the secrets of fire roasting, grilling with a hint of smoke, fireplace grilling, marinating, grilling with brick weights, packet grilling, and stir grilling, with recipes that cover an array of foods including burgers, ribs, chicken, fish, and vegetables. With a spiral-bound, lay-flat binding and a concise but thorough introduction that covers all the basics of fire building, equipment, and ingredients, this is a perfect grillside primer. And basic techniques don't mean boring food: Grilled Flank Steak in Cumin-Citrus Marinade, Grill-Seared Scallops, Lime-and-Chile Grilled Corn on the Cob, and Rendezvous-Style Baby Back Ribs are just a few delicious stops on the journey to becoming a confident backyard griller.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #933805 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Spiral-bound
• 128 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781558323926
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
In this slim, attractive volume, outdoor cooking enthusiast Davis (America's Best BBQ) presents a varied take on the art of cooking over direct heat. Each of 25 techniques is paired with a recipe that best illustrates its merits, an approach that should raise eyebrows even among veteran grillers. While the bulk of Davis' techniques and recipes are simple (chicken grilled under a brick, burgers, roasted peppers), Davis is hardly timid; grillmasters will need a degree of trust and fortitude for Davis's Dirty Steak, in which inch-thick steaks are placed directly on the coals, and few will want to babysit Rendezvous-Style Baby Back Ribs for 45 minutes, turning them every five. As a tour of techniques, the book's variety will likely impress vets, and novices should gain some confidence with a variety of skills. Ultimately, though, Davis's guide to backyard cooking makes a better side than a main course.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
Back in the day when I was trying to make my culinary bones in the barbecue world, I sought out the wise guidance of Ardie Davis, channeling his inner barbecue shaman Remus Powers. In this book, his collected years of experience are available to everyone; this is a must-read for all barbecue adventurers. --Chris Schlesinger, chef/owner, East Coast Grill, and coauthor of Grill It!, Barbecue, and Let the Flames Begin

About the Author
Ardie A. Davis is an award-winning barbecue expert and the founder of Greasehouse University-- the fabled institution behind the coveted degree of Ph.B., or doctor of barbecue philosophy. (The rigorous degree program is now overseen by the Kansas City Barbeque Society.) Sporting a bow tie and bowler hat, Davis judges on the barbecue circuit under the moniker Remus Powers, Ph.B. He was named a Kansas City Barbecue Legend by The Kansas City Star in 2003; he also writes a monthly column in the National Barbecue News and the Kansas City Bullsheet. Ardie lives with his wife, Gretchen, in the Kansas City area.

Customer Reviews

Great for inexperienced grillers
I picked up this book because we recently bought a grill and I have been a bit intimidated by the lengthier grilling cookbooks that make grilling look complicated. This one is geared towards inexperienced cooks, who want to know the basics in very simple terms. I especially like the recipe headnotes that suggest other ingredients that can be substituted for the featured ingredient in the recipe (ex. Flash-Grilled Chicken Breasts with Orange-Maple Syrup Sauce...this technique can be used with any thin, boneless piece of veal, pork, beef, or lamb). If you consider the suggested recipe variations in the headnotes, this book becomes much more than a book of 25 recipes. The Table of Contents even lists the grilling technique next to each recipe listed: "grilling burgers", "grilling boneless chicken", "grilling fish fillets". Easy! The marinades, sauces, and chutneys within the recipes can be used for other purposes and the book suggests other serving ideas. Great book for the beginner to feel confident firing up the grill for the first time and then becoming more adventurous. I'm tempted to dive right into grilling directly on coals but will probably start with something more tame.

High on Style, Short on Content
25 Essentials is a lovely little book, with lovely balance of text and white space on each page. It is nicely bound in a lay-flat spiral design; it has slick paper, stylish illustrations, but it is a little lacking on amount of actual information included in the book. If you want an overview of techniques, without a lot of expertise required, then this is the book for you. If you want a good basic book on grilling with lots of info, then I would look elsewhere.