[.ca] The Barbecue! Bible (ISBN 1563058669)

From Amazon.com:
There's a world of grilled food out there, and Steven Raichlen seems to have wandered through all of it the State Department deemed "safe." No Afghanistan, for instance. No Iraq. But not to worry. Any decent conflict produces refugees, and nothing travels quite so easily as your own way with food. So Raichlen availed himself of restaurant cooks in this country where and when he had to--all to get right down to the meat of it. "Barbecue," as Raichlen points out, is a confusing word in the U.S. because it means so many things, up to and including slow-cooked barbecue with its smoky aroma and succulent charm. The word stands in for the tool itself. It's an event. It's food. It's the style of cooking. To set the record straight, 90 percent of Raichlen's recipes (there are more than 500, from drinks to appetizers to main courses, salads, and desserts, not to mention sauces and dry rubs) are for grilled foods--and that can mean cooked on a hot grill, a moderately hot grill, a relatively cool grill, or an indirectly heated grill (which is more like an oven than a grill, but that's another story). Raichlen gets into some barbecue recipes: pork ribs, for example, or beef brisket, or chicken. But the reader would be better advised to look elsewhere for instruction specific to barbecue (cooking for long periods of time with smoke at low heat). The results will be more appealing. But grilling. Well, Steven Raichlen has a lock on grilling. This book is absolutely overwhelming it is so deep, so comprehensive, so far-reaching, so all-encompassing. This isn't one of those chefs with taste memories from a grill in Barbados, now let's try to jazz it up and be clever kind of books. No. This is a book by an author who squatted in the market in Vietnam eating whole grilled eggs dipped in a special sauce, and he gives you the recipe and the technique. You could go set up your own egg-grilling stand in a Vietnamese market with this book. You could open shop in Central or South America. Or North Africa. Or the Middle East. Or Korea. Anywhere food is grilled--be that meat, poultry, seafood, or vegetables--Raichlen's been there and brought home the goods. The real goods. But there's another angle, too. Raichlen freely shares his travel experiences with you, making this a valuable travel book. And he freely shares his techniques, too, telling you exactly how he learned and all about who taught him. His book is worth it just for the section on salads and sauces. Start there and work your way from cover to cover. Hey, take all summer trying. You won't regret it. Your life will never be the same. You'll probably find yourself thinking that if one grill in the backyard is good, two is no doubt better. See? You're already on your way. Let Steven Raichlen be your guide. --Schuyler Ingle

All the basics, plus even more:
I love this cookbook -- it's one of my favourites and most-used. I didn't have any "formal" barbecuing experience, so my skills were limited to grilling hamburgers and hotdogs. Even steaks were beyond my skill level, as I always over-cooked them, and never knew how to get the outside crispy while keeping the inside rare. Thanks to this book I can cook a perfect steak, make great ribs (thanks to "indirect heat"), and even cook whole chickens. It's also encouraged me to expand my grilling horizons, so now items like plantains and cuttlefish are grill regulars. I like to choose new recipes to try, so the variety is appealing. I have no problem stocking up on new items to try a recipe -- it's not going to kill me to go out and pick up a can of coconut milk, for example. To answer one criticism that others have made, I grew up in Canada, and I had no idea that there was a style of cooking called "barbecue" (i.e. long slow cooking with smoke). To me, "barbecue" means you cook stuff on a grill, whether it be a gas grill or a charcoal grill. So, I had no confusion over the title - it said "barbecue" and it did exactly that -- it taught me to cook on a "barbecue".

A great guide to Grilling but no bible:
This is a great though misnammed cookbook. Its a matter of semantics as to what you consider "Barbeque". The author certianly explodes the concept and pushes the envelope. "Worldwide Grilling Receipies and Accompanyments" would be a more accurate title. That detail out of the way this is a great receipie book!. Hundreds of dishes from all over the world. I am rather fond of Asian food (southeast asian in particular) and there is no shortage of grills from that part of the world. Most of the other really juicey looking dishes come from South America or the Carribein. The dishes vary from simple to complex but none of them too terribally complicated. The list of ingredients can look impressive and intimidating but after you have done it a few times its really not that bad. If you feel intimidated then it means you are ready to learn. They do call for ingredients such as fish sauce and Tamarid paste that most Americans don't have stocked in their pantry. Unless you live in a big city with gormet or ethnic shops you may have some problems finding these things. But he does give sources for ingredients in the back. Also when he lists the receipies he does it in a form that is adapted to American tastes and ingredients your likely to find. He does mention the "authentic" ingredients as well just in case you feel daring. The book contains a basic discussion on gas vs charcol, grilling techniques, times and temperatures. He makes it clear that grilling is not an exact science so at times he doesn't get all that specific. From a Barbeque "bible" I would have expected a bit more explicit instruction and coverage of the actual equipment and mechanics of cooking but he covers it well enough for success. I guess thats what his other book (complete with color illustrations of technique) is for. This book is part travelog as well as receipe book. Personally I like this but some people consider it a waste of space. He goes into his personal experience with discovering some of the dishes as well as commentary about cooking style and flavor in different parts of the world (including the USA). The book is organized roughly by type of dish. Starters (think drinks and chicken wings), beef, pork, lamb, ground meat, chicken, fish and sauces. Within those catagories he tries to get something from every part of the world. As a result many of the receipies are not directly grilled, they simply relate to grilled food (kind of like cole slaw and BBQ). There worth having regardless. Conclusion- All and all I think this is a GREAT cookbook. If your a newbie to cooking AND grilling then your probably best starting off with something a little more conventional. But if your a moderatley experienced cook you should be able to hand this with no problem. Somewhat misleading title but if you take it for what it is you will not be disappointed. PS - If you like this style of book and the international flair of these dishes you might check out "Terrific Pacific" by Anya Von Bremzen. You'll find similar ingredients and flavors as well as commentary.

Book has the wrong title:
This book is about open fire cooking, not traditional barbecue. If you have a charcoal or gas grill the author gives good advice on workarounds that allow you to do more than searing meat. This is like giving someone advice on how to pound nails with a blacksmiths hand sledge; it can be done, but why not just get the right tool for the job? He pointedly fails to point out that to do the job properly you need a proper smoker. He mostly misses on his traditional barbecue recipes and you can do better elsewhere. Most of the recipes are not only complex, they are of dubious value. The book is printed on cheap paper, but is well organized. It's clear the author knows his barbecue, but it's equally clear his desire to appeal to a broad audience was the driving factor. Buy this book if you want to learn to do a semblence of barbecuing on a metal grill. If, on the other hand, you are looking for information on traditional 'low & slow' barbecue, avoid this book and get 'Smoke & Spice' or this authors 'Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades' which has all the tradition BBQ recipes in it, along with some decent rubs and sauces.

wow:
amazing depth. if you want a barbecue guide, this is the one!

Grilling repetoire:
If a cookbook can squeeze more than one recipe into my repetoire, it gets an automatic 5 stars. This book passes muster. I think this is probably the only Raichlen work worth studying. Although the How to Grill book I would get instead for those who don't know how to tie their shoes culinarily. He gets these recipes from people all over the world and many of them are outstanding. He must be very personable to coax them out of all those talents. I don't think he is a particularly great cook but he does know enough about grilling. I think this will please gourmands who want to be able to extend their abilities to the summer get-together concept, but it will be a bit over the head of your average beergutted grill jockey. Most of my nascent grilling repetoire so far consists of variations on what I found within.