Weber’s Way to Grill includes all of the basics of grilling with charcoal or gas, complete with lots of pictures so you can see exactly how to set up the grill for the type of food you will be grilling and what the coals should look like. Learn how to use the vents, how to use a rotisserie, and needed tools and equipment.
The very best part of this book is the recipes. It does include the classics like pulled pork, burgers, steaks and ribs but also has a lot of great recipes with ethnic flavors. Kofta in Pita Pockets with Cucumber and Tomato Salad, Lamb Meatball Pitas with Chopped Salad and Minted Yogurt, Pork medallions with Asian Black Bean Sauce, Thai Shrimp with Watermelon Salsa, Shrimp Po’Boys with Creole Remoulade, Vietnamese Shrimp Pops with Peanut Sauce, Baja Fish Wraps with Chipotle-Lime Slaw, Tandoori Chicken Breasts with Mango-Mint Chutney, Chicken Involtini; chicken breast rolled with prosciutto and basil. Not feeling ethnic, how about Hickory Smoked Turkey with Bourbon Gravy? There is a Bacon-Wrapped Turkey Breast with Herb Stuffing that uses a great “braided” technique for the bacon that completely encases the turkey breast. Soda-Brined Pork Loin with Cherry-Chipotle Glaze. Hard Cider Simmered Brats with Apples and Onions.
I could go on and on and have not even touched on the fruits, vegetables and grilled bread. There are many great burger recipes for beef, lamb and turkey. Each recipe and technique is very well illustrated with pictures. They have recipes using planks, smoking papers and even a cast iron skillet on the grill. As all true grilling aficionados know, this is the fifth book that Jamie Purviance and the Weber folks have produced that is chock full of recipes and grilling tips to maximize the quality of what we cook on the grill. The first four, “Weber’s Art of the Grill”, “Weber’s Big Book of Grilling”, “Real Grilling” and “Charcoal Grilling” are all in print, are reasonably priced and are available here at Amazon.com. IMHO, all belong on the cookbook shelf because of the quality of the recipes, as well as the simplicity of preparing them.
So, why buy this book? There are several reasons:
RECIPIES
No matter what else is in a cookbook, if the recipes aren’t capable of producing goodies that excite the palate, are overly complex or overly time consuming, the book is of questionable value. “Way to Grill” is full of flavorful, simple recipes which address nearly every conceivable type of food, including veggies and desserts. There are also recipes for rubs and sauces which experienced grillers know lie at the heart of flavorful foods.
DETAILED “HOW TO DO IT’S”
Do you want to learn how to butterfly a flank steak or a boneless leg of lamb? Want to know how to do various meat rollups just bursting with flavorful fillings? Under the heading of “Way to …”, there are over 300 examples of techniques such as “Way to Rotisserie a Chicken”, “Way to Bone a Prime Rib Roast”, “Way to Pickle Onions”, “Way to Dry Brine a Turkey”, etc. The detailed photos and texts accompanying these “Way to …” entries are hugely informative, and, IMHO, are worth the purchase of the book for themselves alone. But, as noted, there are all those fantastic recipes.
