Pizza on the Grill by Karmel and Blumer

Pizza on the Grill (expanded)
by Elizabeth Karmel and Bob Blumer [641.824 Kar]

Another example of a culinary book that grabbed my attention on our New Books display at the downtown library. I love pizza. I love cooking on the grill. Combining the two has to be a sure-fire win, right? The authors open with some general background on how to prepare pizza for grilling on both gas grills and charcoal grills, including special handling for gluten-free doughs. Then, they launch into over 100 pizza recipes, broken into categories: Classics, Marvelous & Meatless, Seaworthy (seafood), Porkilicious, Tastes Like Chicken, Big & Beefy, Morning Glories and Sweet Thangs (dessert pizzas). They then include a small section on Nibbles & Noshes (appetizers, salads, side dishes and finishing touches to go alongside your gourmet pizza). Finally, they finish with a 30-page section of recipes for a variety of pizza doughs, sauces and other standard elements that will go into the larger world of pizza creation.

Nearly half of the main pizza recipes are accompanied by gorgeous full-page photographic illustrations, making this book almost as fun to simply read, as to consider trying the recipes. If you like grilling, and don’t mind doing some experimentation, I recommend giving this one a try. Although their cooking recommendations include cooking the pizza directly on the wire rack of a charcoal grill, I recommend following their alternate suggestion, of using either a pizza stone or a cast-iron pizza pan. Otherwise, all their instructions are fairly simple and easy-to-follow. Happy grilling!

[ official Pizza on the Grill page on the official Elizabeth Karmel web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

BBQ 25

BBQ 25
by Adam Perry Lang [641.578 Per]

Fun and helpful little cookbook, in an interesting format. This is, essentially, an adult "board book", with thick stiff pages and highly glossy illustrations. Perry Lang breaks down the basics on preparing BBQ with beef, pork, chicken, lamb, seafood and miscellaneous items. Included are essential ingredients and techniques for rubs, brines, marinades and bastes, and lists of the essential tools needed for each dish. Some of his techniques for both direct and indirect grill cooking seem intriguing, including a method that involves the meat visiting the grill twice -- once while exposed to the smoke, and the second time while wrapped in foil. All his illustrations are extremely helpful. I really enjoyed this BBQ cookbook, and look forward to trying out some of his ideas. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ official Adam Perry Lang web site ]

Have you read (or seen) this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.