Cookbook review: Project Fire by Steven Raichlen

Project Fire by Steven Raichlen available in bookstores May 1, 2018

Grillmaster Stephen Raichlen continues his exploration of the subtle art of grilling with Project Fire. It’s a subject Raichlen has pursued many times before, most recently in his book Project Smoke, which the author calls a companion book to this title.

As an avid amateur chef and lifelong fan of barbeque, I approached this new book with eagerness.  I have some experience with open flame cooking, but my old grill rusted out a couple years ago and I have only recently started researching replacement grills. I took a trip to a big box hardware store to look at new grills and I was wholly overwhelmed, which is why I felt this book preview arrived at a fortuitous time.

Raichlen starts with the basics of seven steps to grilling nirvana, which begins with selecting the appropriate grill for you. He walks us through the various types of grills available, from simple $15 charcoal grills to incredibly elaborate (and incredibly expensive) smokers and grills. Over the book’s first sixty or so pages, Raichlen tackles the benefits of various styles of grills, why you might want more than one grill, the benefits of direct or indirect grilling, and the best ways to maintain your grill.  Side notes titled “grilling hack” offer tips on everything from safety to how best to clean or oil your grill.

Raichlen makes a case for cooking every part of your meal on the grill, including drinks, salad, appetizers, sides, proteins, and dessert. And if you’re cooking all of your dinner on the grill, why not cook every meal on the grill?  The bbq master divides later sections of the book into methods for cooking breakfast and components of other various meals such as pizzas, breads, veggies, and tofu.

When most people think about grilling, they think proteins. The largest part of this book -- six chapters-- is related to recipes and how-to’s for beef, pork, lamb, ground meat, poultry, and seafood. Like any good cookbook or DIY book, photographs are essential.  Not every recipe has a photo, but many do, and some others have several photos to walk the reader through step-by-step instructions. While many of the photographs make the food look appealing, some photographs of blackened food on a dark background leave me questioning how a better wasn’t chosen.

Perhaps the best part of this book is the extensive supply of less-than-obvious recipes that can help expand your grilling reperitoire. Raichlen covers the basics as well, but to paraphrase an Oldsmobile slogan, these are not your dad’s grill recipes. Some personal favorites from my “you can do that on a grill?” approach are the bacon-grilled onion rings (p 76), grilled wedge salad with smoked blue cheese dressing (p 98), the Caveman Porterhouse (p 127) in which the steak is grilled directly on the coals, swine apple kebabs (p 163), Yakitori (p 214), and smoke roasted carrots with spiced yogurt (p 266).

Give this book to anyone new to grilling for the early chapters, or to experienced grillers for the later chapters containing exotic, your-neighbors-aren’t-grilling-THIS recipes.