Great Year-Round Grilling in the West: The Flavours, the Culinary Traditions, the Techniques Book

Part II: Flavor Boosters: These chapters give general information on how to enhance the flavors of grilled foods.

Chapter 2: Marinades, Rubs and Brines

Both brines and marinades tenderize food as well as flavor it, but they require time to penetrate the fibers. That’s why herb and spice rubs have become so popular during the past decade. The introduction to this chapter will discuss how these different forms of flavor enhancement work, and each region’s volume will discuss appropriate ingredients to use.

Chapter 3: Sauces for Basting and Topping

Many foods are basted with a sauce during at least the last part of the cooking time, and many times complementary sauces and toppings are served with foods. The chapter will begin with discussion of what to baste when, and all of the recipes will be annotated with foods for which the sauce is appropriate. There are specific sauces listed with many recipes; the ones in this chapter are more general and most of this chapter will be region-specific.

Part III: In the Beginning: These two chapters are for little dishes to serve at cocktail parties or as appetizers for a seated meal.

Chapter 4: Hors d’oeuvres and Appetizers

Grilled hors d’oeuvres are as varied as slices of toasted bruschetta topped with fresh tomatoes to Thai chicken satays with peanut sauce. What differentiates hors d’oeuvre from appetizers is the use of cutlery, although when appropriate the headnotes will discuss how to serve an appetizer as an hors d’oeuvre.

Chapter 5: Soups and Salads

Grilling adds its flavor to the main ingredients that go into soups, and in the same way small salads can be topped with grilled fare or include grilled ingredients.  The salads in this chapter are small appetizers rather than the larger salads in Chapter 11.

Part IV:  The Main Event: Each recipe will be annotated with suggested side dishes, and if those side dishes are in the book they will be cross-referenced.

 Chapter 6: Fish and Seafood

The introductory material is this chapter will vary regionally to highlight the species used most often. There will be charts giving substitutions for different types of fish as they are divided into families.  

Chapter 7: Chicken and Other Poultry

The chapter begins with a section on how prepare chicken so it cooks best on the grill. Detailed instruction will be given so cooks know how to cut up whole chickens, how  to bone chicken, and how to butterfly it. The poultry recipes include duck, quail and game birds as well as chicken and turkey. 

Chapter 8:  Beef and Game Meats

This chapter begins with a chart of what cuts of beef are best for grilling, and general guidelines on cooking beef. There will be another chart listing game meats, and which can be substituted for which in recipes. 

Chapter 9: Lamb, Pork and Veal

In a way similar to the presentation in Chapter 8, there will be charts to help in the selection of cuts to grill of these animals.  In addition to featuring three different types of meat, this chapter will also contain information on how to substitute one for the other.

Chapter 10: Burgers of All Types

Today saying burger is no longer synonymous with saying beef; a burger is really any chopped food that is grilled and then served on a bun. The recipes in this chapter will start with vegetarian burgers and then progress through fish and seafood burgers to all types of meats.

Chapter 11: Grilled Entrée Salads

This style of dish – with grilled protein on top of cold vegetables, lettuces, and fruits – has become much more popular in past years. As with the burger chapter, the salad chapter will contain a wide range of options for the starring ingredient.

Part V: Combination Cooking: This part of the book is geared more to winter cooking when having the oven or slow cooker on adds welcomed aromas to the house.

Chapter 12: Grilling with Roasting

These recipes are all ones for thick steaks or other large cuts of poultry, meat and fish that are started by cooking them on the grill to impart flavor, but are then finished in the oven at a low temperature. In this way the exterior of the food is not overcooked before the interior reaches the proper temperature.

Chapter 13: Grilling with Braising

Traditionally meats are browned on top of the stove for stews and roasts that are then cooked by gentle heat of braising. By searing the meats on the grill the flavor from the grill permeates the finished dish.  The recipes will include everything from pot roasts to lamb shanks and pasta sauces.

Part VI: On the Side: These chapters are for the secondary parts of the meal, but if the entrée is very simple then these little dishes can become the star.

Chapter 14: Breads and Pizzas

There’s a lot more in the world of grilled breads than ubiquitous garlic bread, and those recipes are the ones that will appear in this chapter. Grilled pizzas are also growing in popularity, so the chapter will begin with a discussion of making the perfect pizza dough.  Options for topping those pizzas will vary by region.

Chapter 15: Vegetables

If a grill is lit it seems senseless to use another cooking method for complementary components of the meal. Grilled vegetables are as varied as kebabs of peppers and onion and heads of radicchio, and side dishes like polenta can also be grilled.  Many of the recipes can also become vegetarian entrees, and this conversion will be discussed in the introductory text.

Chapter 16: Non-grilled Side Dishes

This is another chapter that will be primarily regional options, with some standards like a homey mac and cheese and great potato salad included in all. While the focus of the book is on grilling, to make it as user-friendly as possible all aspects of the meal should be represented.

Part VI: Sweet Endings: It’s possible to grill certain components of great desserts if not the whole recipe, and added to those recipes will be ones that can be reheated effectively on the grill.

Chapter 17:  Grilled Desserts

Dessert pizzas made with fruit that is grilled in advance of topping the crust form the basis for this chapter. There will be a chart of different fruits that grill well, and for how long they should be grilled.

Chapter 18:  Treats to Reheat

Such foods as fruit cobblers or the biscuits forming the base of strawberry shortcake can’t be cooked on the grill, but these recipes will teach cooks how to use the grill as an oven to reheat desserts.

Appendix A: Metric Conversion Chart

Appendix B: Glossary

Appendix C: Yields of Common Ingredients