The Cook's Illustrated Guide To Grilling And Barbecue

Picture this (not too hard really, since it's a blazing hot summer): You want something tasty for dinner, in other words meat. It's far too hot to even consider broiling anything indoors since you already pay an outrageous electric bill, and using the oven would be the same as saying "sure, charge me more for cooling of the home I purposely warmed." On the other hand, you have a grill in the garage that takes very little time to get cook-worthy. Let the outdoors absorb the heat. What should you cook? Something simple, something complicated, something old, something new? You can always google it, but, you know how one thing leads to another, and before you know it, it's midnight and you go to bed without your dinner. Fine for you, but the wife has you sleeping on the couch after she had to order a pizza just to survive. Anyway, with this magnificent reference, you can choose recipes to quickly satisfy that meat (fish, or vegetable) hunger. If you are ambitious, you would have found a rub or marinade that you ideally started yesterday or, at least in the morning. No worries - if you didn't there are recipes that you can prepare in 20 minutes or less - like Charcoal -Grilled Pork Chops, or Beef Wellington with Port Syrup - mmm mmm tasty! How about pizza. I like pizza. There are a dozen or more recipes for that crowd pleasing favorite.On the physical build - the book is hard covered and filled with beautiful pictures of your soon to be faves. It lays open flat, allowing you to prepare, refer, prepare, etc. It's a must have library addition for the recipe ambitious grillinator.

"The Cook's Illustrated Guide to Grilling and Barbeque" is in my opinion a "must have" book for anyone wanting to learn or improve his/her outdoor cooking skills. This book, copyrighted in 2005, appears to me to be an updated and revised version of the similar "The Best Recipe Grilling & Barbeque" book copyrighted in 2001 (which I bought at the same time). After reading through both books, I do not see any reason for purchasing the 2001 book.The "Illustrated Guide" contains over 450 recipes, but those recipes are only one part of the great information this book presents. The book opens with the basics of "grilling" versus "barbequing" and discusses the differences between charcoal cooking and gas cooking. There is a lot of information and recommendations on products (cooking equipment and tools) needed for successful outdoor cooking. In the cooking chapters (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, vegetables, etc.), the "Illustrated Guide" gives much more than just recipes. The book describes how to choose the food (e.g. which cut of beef, what size chicken, etc.) and how to prepare it before cooking, including seasoning. Then, the book describes a step-by-step procedure for cooking the item; the book gives separate instructions for charcoal cooking and gas cooking.The book's "claim to fame" is that the authors/cooks perfected each instruction/recipe through extensive trial and error, and that the reader can benefit from the writers' experience and their detailed instructions.On my gas grill, I recently grill-roasted the book's "Beer Can Chicken" (for which I used lemonade- the recommended alternate to beer) and my family all agreed it was the best chicken we had ever eaten. I also recently followed the book's instuctions to select, buy, season and grill strip steaks. My family (and guest) also raved about those steaks. My steak tasted better than one I recently ate at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.Each time I've followed the book's instructions, the results have been outstanding. This book quickly pays for itself.

Printed on paper that is barely a grade above newsprint except for a few color pictures. Print is very small. It does seem pretty comprehensive. Just disappointed with the quality of the cookbook.

My go to grilling book for many years. I've had a copy at my home up north for many years and it has been essential to me. I bought another copy for my seasonal home the rest of the year, where it is equally valuable.My only caution is that you have to use trial and error regarding cooking times at various settings on your grill. I've found that no two grills are exactly the same. Nor will they cook exactly the same, so get to know your grill and then use the book as a guide. The same goes for the book's recommendations regarding internal temperatures of meats. The proper temperature differs with each person's taste. Again, use trial and error and take notes in the margins of the book so you'll remember the next time.

This book has pictures! Such a help, really it should be required of cook books. OK, so maybe not your granny's hand written cards aren't illustrated, but you know what they turn out to look like if you've eaten them anyway. I got this as a birthday gift for my favorite barbecue enthusiast. I went through it and bookmarked all the recipes I knew he'd want to try, and was pleased these included side dishes. Meat's fine and I'd be a paleo diet sort if I didn't have to have good sides. Now all I have to do is fix them while the big guy barbecues.

At first skimming through pages i thought about returning it because its black and white and allot of reading and im more of a simple person, especially when it comes to cooking.. but when i actually had time to sit down and look through it my opinion changed... theres allot of really good and helpful tips on here and some recipes i have tried that are mouth watering... im making sure to light up my grill atleast once a week on my day off, take some notes, do allitle grocery shopping and make a recipe on this book... so far im 3 weeks in and have been amazed... theres lots of variety to choose from with this book from different types of meats, fish, pizzas, and even salads... i would highly recommend this book to anyone who has the time to actually sit down and make some of these recipes because it does involve reading.

I like my cook books to have step by step instructions. I like them to have anecdotes about the history and methods of ingredients, cultural areas, and utensils. I like them to teach me how to cook, as if it were a class, and not a documentary. I do not like "money shot" food porn cook books that are all about enticing you to make your final dish look like the photo, with almost no preparation on HOW to do it. That's not a cook book, it's a paperweight. It should be kindling.That said, this book is EXACTLY what I wanted. As a long time griller, I wanted to know about my mistakes. I wanted to know how to fix them. Not just 1,000 pages on marinades, sauces or rubs... I can find that in ANY cookbook, I can find that online. I wouldn't shell out hard earned money for that. Or even want to own those books for 1 sauce recipe or 1 marinade recipe. That's ridiculous. Then you end up building a library of cookbooks based on 1 thing here and 1 thing there. I want MY library to be informative. I want to open a cookbook I haven't looked at in years, and remember why I bought the darn thing! You're not gonna get that from one of those 1,000 page books. You're NOT gonna get that from a celebrity chef or personality or even cultural book, unless YOU are obsessive as a fan.I have some of those, I'm not denying it. But when it comes to learning from a cookbook. I want at least one in my collection that puts the others to shame.That's this book RIGHT HERE! I am a long time fan of "America's Test Kitchen" and "Cooks Country", and while I find their magazine sometimes hit or miss, not always what I want to make. Their instruction is beyond measure. I always learn something new, and I always go back to them, if I want to make something that can't fail.Just got this for my birthday this weekend. And I made the grilled chicken legs recipe on my new gas grill, and let me tell you, my wife and mother in law LOVED them!It was a no fail recipe, it was perfectly easy to follow, and I am going to using that as my basis to experiment. Cause really you have to know the rules before you can break them with one of those 1,000 page books. So, for all you MEN out there (using wife's account to give this review), who think you know what you're doing. Buy this book and "unlearn what you have learned", you won't be sorry, and your Grill-Kung Fu will only get better!

Only BBQ book you will ever need.The bar has been set high with this one. Explanations are fantastic. Great gift

Just fine