Anyone can learn to cook outside over a fire with this dazzling guide to setting up an outdoor kitchen, featuring practical tips and 80 recipes from the award-winning chef of Hartwood in Tulum, Mexico.
Chef Eric Werner cooks nearly every dish served at Hartwood over wood fire, without gas or electricity, and when he's not at the restaurant, he's making delicious meals for his family, grilled in his own backyard outdoor kitchen. In this book, Werner shares the secrets to and recipes for simple, unrestricted, foolproof outdoor cooking in a way that reimagines the way you cook at home.
Whether you already have a grill or have never cooked outdoors before, The Outdoor Kitchen provides all the tools and inspiration you need. Featuring step-by-step blueprints for constructing your own outdoor kitchen plus variations and modifications for store-bought grills, this handbook shows you how to build a high heat quickly and achieve a perfect sear.
The recipes range from grilled meats, fish, and vegetables to marinades, quick pickles, cocktails, and desserts, including: - Grilled Lamb Chops and Burnt Cherries - Rib Eye for One with Onion Jam - Salmon and Almond-Tarragon Salsa Verde - Grilled & Pickled Zucchini - Grilled Romaine with Smoked Fish Dressing - Burnt Strawberry Ice Cream
Whether you're cooking for yourself or your family on a weeknight or entertaining guests on the weekend, all the recipes are straightforward, with just a few ingredients and simple methods, for dishes that emphasize fresh flavor and the magic of wood-fired cooking.
Eric Werner knows how to cook over fire. He’s been doing it since he was a kid. His father was outdoorsy, so they would grill meats outdoors whenever possible. Dinner at roadside grills, fresh fish, caught by ice fishing, grilled right there over the ice for them to eat. His school cooked meals over an open fire, so he learned to feed students before heading off to culinary school. Although he didn’t finish, he still went on to work in several impressive professional kitchens, where he just kept learning. But when it was time for him to open his own restaurant, he went back to what had always inspired him—cooking over open fire. And now he wants to inspire us to cook over an open fire too in The Outdoor Kitchen.
Werner has a lot of strong ideas about what works best as a grill. His years of experience have taught him what works best to keep the fire going at the temperature that’s best to cook over. He understands how the flow of air affects the flames, how to draw the best flavors of the meats and vegetables, how to work the subtleties of the grill to create rich dishes with an intricate balance of smoke and sweetness. And now he is sharing everything he’s learned with us, starting with his design for the perfect grill and following up with 80 recipes that anyone can use to master the flavor that open-fire cooking can bring.
In order to make Werner’s grill, you’ll need an ironworker, but in an age of artisans, that shouldn’t be too hard to find. And then you can create your own outdoor kitchen to master live-fire cooking yourself. (Wait, don’t stop reading yet. If you don’t want to have your own grill created from scratch, Werner offers ideas for hacking the grill you already have. It’s the cooking that’s more important than the grill.)
Of course there are recipes for meats and fish. But there are also vegetables and sides, desserts, and even some cocktails that can be constructed using these open-fire cooking techniques. You know there is are steaks (Filet Mignon with Herb Butter, New York Strip with Poblano Worcestershire Sauce, Rib Eye for One with Caramelized Onions).. And chicken (Butterflied Chicken with Toasted Mustard Seed Oil, Chicken Legs with Onion and Smoked Date Jam). And pork (Hartwood Spiced Spareribs, Cast-Iron Pork Chops with Honey Vinegar).
But there are also recipes for lamb, duck, quail, for chicken stock, for soup. Salmon with Almond-Tarragon Salsa Verde. Jerk-Smoked Shrimp on a Stick. Quick Sauerkraut, Cauliflower Steaks with Beer-Raisin Glaze, Grilled Corn, Sweet Potato Pancakes with Grilled Applesauce. Burnt Strawberry Ice Cream. Concord Grape Cheesecake. Smoked Chocolate Mousse. (I just need to say that one again. Smoked! Chocolate! Mousse!) Smoky 211 Margarita. Bloody Mary. Burnt Blood Orange and Bourbon Cocktail.
The Outdoor Kitchen is a beautiful cookbook. The photography is stunning, picture after picture of beautifully charred foods, vegetables and meats from the breath-taking Whole Fried Fish to the gorgeous eggplant for the Eggplant Dip with Smoked Dates to the mouth-watering Porterhouse Steak with Butcher’s Salt. And if you want to know what kind of cookbook this is, there is a bookmark you can use to mark your place, made of leather. Okay, so it’s probably man-made leather, but to add that beautiful finishing touch to a cookbook makes you understand that this is not just a book filled with recipes. It’s a work of art.
I’ve received a free copy of The Outdoor Kitchen from Ten Speed Press in exchange for a free and unbiased review.
The Outdoor Kitchen offers both a marvelous adventure into the world of live fire grilling as well as recipes that will elevate your cooking if you choose to stick with the grill you already own. The book is divided into two sections. The first provides detailed instructions for constructing a live-fire grill. The second section offers the most extraordinary grilling recipes for meats, fish, vegetables, desserts and cocktails - yes, cocktails. The Outdoor Kitchen takes grilling to another level. This book goes beyond slapping a steak onto the grill with a new marinade. It makes use of cast iron pots and pans, griddles and even features cooking in the embers of the fire. This cookbook is the perfect hostess gift when invited for dinner or a long weekend. Thank you to Ten Speed Press for sending me a free copy to provide a free and unbiased review. When I’m not cooking from The Outdoor Kitchen, I will enjoy reading and learning from the recipes.
This cookbook is filled with beautiful pictures. In part one, the author talked about his outdoor kitchen and has a section on building your own grill with the help of an ironworker that will last for generations. Then, it follows up with recipes that are mouthwatering. While I don't grill outdoors on a regular basis, I can see someone that grills often outdoors utilizing this cookbook. I found many recipes that I can roast in my oven. I think this book would make a great gift for the outdoor grilling enthusiast. I received a free copy from Ten Speed Press in exchange for a free and unbiased review.
From the beginning where they teach you how to build your own outdoor grill to the end where you find delicious recipes for dessert, this is a beautiful, informative cookbook. The recipes look delicious. Unfortunately where we live, we cannot cook outdoors but I am going to definitely try to adapt some of these wonderful recipes for indoor use. I adore the pictures of the recipes. Made my mouth water reading it.
I've received a free copy from Ten Speed Press in exchange for a free and unbiased review.
Gorgeous pictures, drool worthy recipes and easy instructions for setting up your outdoor grill. At a time when most of us are staying at home, not only will you be dreaming of cooking outside in lively surroundings, you will also be inspired by what you can create in your own backyard.
I’ve received a free copy from Ten Speed Press in exchange for a free and unbiased review.