Hot Grill: Summer in the City

A hot dog or burger cooked in a frying pan during winter simply cannot compete with one grilled outdoors in the heat of the summer; they are almost different foods! And consequently, one of the most popular summer activities for many Brooklynites is cooking outdoors. Brooklynites will go to extravagant lengths to get grilled things into their lives, from traveling great distances with wagons loaded with grill gear to fitting humorously tiny grills or hibachis on the smallest of balconies (and sometimes fire escapes). Those fortunate enough to have backyards or patios are known to devote disproportionate amounts of outdoor space to mammoth grills that include burners for cooking and other frills.

And thank goodness they do, as a walk down the street upon a summer evening immersed in the experience of that mouth-watering smell of grilled food is pure delight for the rest of us. Yet, while I am a cofounder of Brooklyn Public Library’s monthly Cookbook Club, I must admit that the art of grilling has been a weak area of my skill set up to this point: however, since I am resolved to learn more of the art and its history and improve this condition after I retire, I decided to browse around the outdoor grilling cookbooks in the library’s collection to see what we have to offer.

According to the Food Network, “The history of grilling begins shortly after the domestication of fire, some 500,000 years ago. The backyard ritual of grilling as we know it, though, is much more recent. Until well into the 1940s, grilling mostly happened at campsites and picnics. After World War II, as the middle class began to move to the suburbs, backyard grilling caught on, becoming all the rage by the 1950s.” While camping and picnics are still popular opportunities to grill if you can stake a claim to a site early, my list will focus on more localized grilling endeavors. Whether grilling is a serious hobby or new discovery, our cookbooks will provide new twists and flavors for you to apply to your outdoor grilling acumen.

1,001 Best Grilling Recipes: Delicious, Easy-to-Make Recipes from Around the World is noteworthy because of its great index which helps navigate the many recipes and ingredients. Clear instructions make it a good choice for beginner and advanced home chefs.

Vegetables on Fire: 50 Vegetable-Centered Meals from the Grill by Brooke Lewy is a good choice for vegetarians or for anyone expanding their repertoire beyond hot dogs, burgers and chicken. All of the books on this list include vegetable recipes. If you are really stuck inside or cannot have a grill outdoors there is also an indoor oven version for each recipe.

The Big-Flavor Grill: No Marinade, No-Hassle Recipes for Delicious Steaks, Chicken, Ribs, Chops, Vegetables, Shrimp, and Fish by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby is unique because of its focus on using flavor enhancers such as rubs to speed up the prep time required by marinades.

Martha Stewart’s Grilling: 125+Recipes for Gatherings Large and Small by Martha Stewart is good for new grillers--like both Martha, before she began writing this book, and me. She explains how to choose a grill and how various woods create different flavors among other basics, as well as more advanced recipes. She also includes cocktail pairings!

How to Grill Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Flames-Cooked Food by Mark Bittman is another title that starts out with the very basics for newbies and the recipes are unique for indicating whether direct or indirect fire is needed, which is very useful. And as is typical of Bittman’s books, he makes a point of indicating whether parts of the recipe can be made ahead of time and if there is a vegetarian option.

Kebabs: 75 Spectacular Recipes for Grilling by Derrick Riches and Sabrina Baksh focuses on what has always been popular street food all over the world. Many Americans only know the overcooked vegetable with undercooked meat attempts but the authors describe the tools and techniques to create a wide variety of perfectly cooked kebabs.