GLOBAL GRILLING
Sizzling Recipes from Around the World
By Jay Solomon
The Crossing Press
116 pp. $10.95

Cookbooks with an international recipe collection are not as popular as they once were. Today Americans are ever more educated about global tastes and seem ready to delve into books devoted to a single foreign cuisine, and to go the extra mile to get authentic ingredients.

Yet unlike when Global Grilling was published, nearly two decades ago, going that “extra mile” is likely to be just that—driving one additional mile to your local Asian or Hispanic market. Reflecting the difference between then and now, some recipes in the book give the choice between more or less authentic ingredients, such as fish sauce and Worcestershire sauce, making them incredibly flexible templates, depending on what you have in your cupboard or is stocked on the shelves of your local grocery store, or depending on how authentic you want to go.

There’s something appealing and refreshingly light about a global flavors cookbook, especially one as slim and non-encyclopedic as Global Grilling. With over 100 recipes, it’s a great book to dip into and explore a range of flavors, yet there is no presumption that you will learn a cuisine inside and out while using this book. On the other hand, with the world at your finger tips, you are guaranteed to have fun exploring different taste profiles in easy-to-follow, uncomplicated recipes. (The word fun came up more than once when club members described their experience of using the book.)

There are many themes in Global Grilling—from satay, yakatori, fajitas, jerk, tandoori, teriyaki, curry, souvlaki, and more. True to its global name, American foods are also included, such as Chicken with Cornell Basting Sauce, named after a sauce created in the kitchens of Cornell University in Syracuse, New York, where the author operated a restaurant for many years; Blackened Catfish with Red Beans and Rice, a Cajun favorite converted to the grill; and the Native American–inspired Grilled Turkey and Red Chili Succotash (who knew that succotash was originally a Native American dish?).

One of the themes I picked up and ran with, or some might say got stuck in, is the author’s variations on using boneless, skinless chicken breast. I was most attracted to the flavor profiles in the poultry chapter, and so found myself returning to it time and again. After making a few recipes from that chapter, I realized the author had provided a great formula for easy and flavorful weekday meals: You create a marinade, plop the chicken strips in it (using strips, rather than using the whole breast, allows for more marinade penetration and very quick grilling time), and then grill it. All you need is some rice and perhaps a salad.

Among the members in the local Randolph, VT–based DCCC club, favorites are the Bourbon-Spiked Campfire Beans, Gado-Gado with Foil Wrapped Vegetables, Rum Soaked Calypso Beef Salad, Blue Cheese Burger with Beet Horseradish Catsup, Evil Jungle Grilled Chicken with Fresh Basil, Chicken Teriyaki and Avocado Sandwich, Salata Mechouia, Mint Tzatziki, and East-West Scallops with Cilantro Aioli.

From farther afield, member Bev Morrow reported that her Denver chapter enjoyed the Grilled Jalapeño Polenta with Green Tomatoes, Grilled Antipasto with Basil Oil, Lime-Peanut Chicken with Jasmine Rice, and Rum Soaked Calypso Beef Salad.

I would definitely cook from this book again, and one of the first recipes I’d turn to would be Jay’s Jerk Chicken, yet another recipe following the chicken-breast-strips-in-marinade formula. It’s one of the recipes from the book that the author says he still makes regularly, twenty years on.