Planet Barbecue!

NOTE: Steven Raichlen will sign copies of the book and give a presentation at the Dayton Books & Co store on the Green, June 23, 7:00 pm 9:00 p.m. 4453 Walnut Street Dayton, OH.

The most ambitious book yet by America’s bestselling, award-winning grilling authority, Steven Raichlen, PLANET BARBECUE! (Workman Publishing, May 2010, $22.95) takes you on an unforgettable journey of smoke and fire along the world’s barbecue trail. For this comprehensive study of the most ancient, popular, and universal cooking method, Steven Raichlen visited dozens of countries on six continents, collecting more than 300 of the world’s most compelling, authentic, and explosively flavorful recipes from every corner of the globe.

PLANET BARBECUE! is designed to take America’s smoke-crazed, live fire–obsessed passion for grilling to the next level. With more than 600 color photographs, essay snapshots of each country, grill master profiles, and extensive technical information throughout, this is an unprecedented marriage of food and culture. PLANET BARBECUE! goes deep into how the traditions of each country evolved through its own local flavors and grilling techniques. It will introduce readers to some of the world’s most colorful grillers, from a Uruguayan chef who grills over seven different types of fires to a Japanese yakitori master whose simple grilled chicken is a true work of art. Each technique is fully explained—and many recipes are illustrated with step-by-step photos—so you can bring sizzling international flavor to your own backyard.

Experience the planet’s most distinctive grilling. Here, for example, are some of the ways the world does pork:

• From the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany comes spiessbraten, thick pork steaks seasoned with nutmeg and grilled over a smoky beech wood fire.
• In the Puerto Rican countryside, pit masters make lechon asado—pork shoulder studded with garlic and oregano, basted with annatto oil, and spit-roasted over charcoal.
• South Koreans specialize in sam gyeop sal—grilled sliced pork belly spiced with chili sauce and served in cool, crisp lettuce leaves.
• In Bali, Indonesia, you’ll experience sweet soy–glazed baby back ribs.
• And in Cape Town, South Africa, it’s sosaties—pork kebabs with dried apricots and curry.

And so it goes for beef, fish, vegetables, shellfish, dessert, and even coffee.

In addition to the recipes using traditional grilling methods, PLANET BARBECUE! showcases dozens of ingenious, outrageous (and eminently doable) ways to use your grill, including:
• Australia's lamb grilled on a shovel
• Argentina’s gaucho style beef ribs roasted on stakes in front of a campfire
• Canada’s trout grilled on a log
• Colombia’s lomo al trapo (Salt-Crusted Beef Tenderloin Grilled in Cloth)
• From the Charentes region of France, éclade de moules (mussels grilled on a bed of blazing pine needles). Do try this at home.

Barbecue in 60 countries, on six continents, through a million years of human history. You'll never look at grilling in quite the same way.

What a planet—what a book!

About Steven Raichlen
Journalist, TV host, and multi-award winning author, Steven Raichlen is the man who redefined our notion of barbecue. His internationally bestselling books (more than 4 million copies in print) include The Barbecue! Bible and How to Grill. Each week, millions of viewers tune in to his Primal Grill and Barbecue University on PBS and his French-language Le Maítre du Grill in Quebec. A former Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellow with a degree in French literature, and founder of Barbecue University at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Raichlen has won five James Beard Awards and three IACP/Julia Child Awards. He lives and grills with his wife, Barbara, in Coconut Grove, Florida and on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Planet Barbecue: An Electrifying Journey Around the World’s Barbecue Trail
By Steven Raichlen
Workman Publishing, Paperback, 656 pages, 978-0-7611-4801-2, $22.95