August 2007 Cookbook of the Month: Cast Your Vote Here

[Katie Nell]

Grilling in August... I know this month has the potential to be controversial, but I hope the choices are broad enough that they will still appeal to the apartment dwellers (I'm one too)! With the help of some fellow Chowhounders and looking at past threads, I focused this month on authors with plenty of side dishes and recipes that could adapt to the indoor grill, in addition to having great outdoor grilling recipes.

Please cast your vote for ONE of the following authors:

-- JAMIE PURVIANCE; some book choices include Weber's Big Book of Grilling, Weber's Real Grilling, Weber's Charcoal Grilling

-- STEVEN RAICHLEN; some book choices include The Barbecue Bible, BBQ USA, and How to Grill

-- CHRISTOPHER SCHLESINGER AND JOHN WILLOUGHBY; some book choices include License to Grill, The Thrill of the Grill, Let the Flames Begin

Please add your votes to this thread. Voting will be open until July 14th. I'll announce the August cookbook of the month on July 15th.

Thanks for participating!

[melly]

BBQ Bible

[Katie Nell]

SCHLESINGER AND WILLOUGHBY WILL BE THE AUGUST COOKBOOK AUTHORS OF THE MONTH! FEEL FREE TO COOK FROM ANY OF THEIR BOOKS. FIRE UP THOSE GRILLS PEOPLE!

And stay tuned for a suggestion thread from a new organizer in late July/ early August! Thanks for all of support- couldn't have done it without you! :-)

[Rubee]

Great. Thanks as always for all your hard work Katie!

I didn't have a preference since I don't have a grill, so I didn't vote. But, as always, happy to cook along! I'll be cooking from a book by S&W that I've had for a while and always wanted to explore - "Big Flavors of the Hot Sun - Hot Recipes and Cool Tips from the Spice Zone". This will be a fun month. Thanks again.

[JoanN]

Terrific idea. Maybe I will as well. I have both that and Thrill of the Grill (with no grill), but never really explored Big Flavors either. Great opportunity.

And thanks, Katie, one more time, for a great tenure.

[cbh]

I vote to evict Steven Raichlen (oops, watching too much reality TV). Anyway my vote is for Raichlen.

[oakjoan]

cbh - rotfl!

I'm not that big a grill fan (inferior grill, not much room, etc.) but will vote for Schlesinger and Willowby.

[bxgirl]

I realize that this is a bit off-topic, but is there one list of all the past Cookbooks of the Month? I guess I could do searches for each month, but if there is a link to a list of all the books, I would appreciate it.
Thank you

[beetlebug]

Here are all the mother threads starting with September 2006 (the first month of this project)

Sept - Marcella
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/325712

Oct - ABB
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/330177

Nov - Bayless
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/339027

Dec - Greenspan
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/347476

Jan - Zuni
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/355995

Feb - HSSS
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/366679

March - Leite's
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/376081

April - Arabesque
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/387069

May - Sunday Suppers
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/397079

June - Country Cooking
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/406983

July - Nigella
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/416938

[bxgirl]

Thank you so much. That is really so helpful.
Bxgirl

[martin1026]

Raichlin's How to Grill-not a ton of recipes (like the BBQ Bible), but so clearly explained, it is hard to screw them up. Just a great cookbook that happen to use the grill as the cooking medium.

[The Chowhound Team]

Pardon the interruption folks, but please keep responses here focused on your vote for the August Cookbook of the Month. Anyone who wishes to vote is welcome to - no prior participation is necessary nor, of course, is it necessary for anyone to participate if they choose not to do so. This is intended to be a fun and voluntary project.

If anyone wishes to discuss the procedures for the "Cookbook of the Month" generally, please feel free to start a thread about it on the Site Talk board.

Here's to firing up the barbecues (or the grill pans, as the case may be) in August!

[onefineleo]

Beetlebug makes a great case. Good work. Based on her post, I did a little looking on line. My vote goes to "The Thrill of the Grill".

Thanks so very much Katie. We so appreciate what you are doing to keep this project going strong.

[RGR]

I own an easel-style copy of "The Thrill of the Grill," so that would work best for me. However, I don't mind getting a book from the library, so I'm fine with any of S&W's other books or anything by Raichlen.

[LulusMom]

Schelsingeer and Willoughby - License to Grill, which somehow I own but have never tried.

[Candy]

If I do anything it will be froom Raichlen's Barbecue Bible. We grill year round so I;m not very excited.

[THenderson]

steven raichlen

[emily]

Raichlen

[beetlebug]

For once, I have a solid opinion, not just based on library availability. My vote goes towards CHRISTOPHER SCHLESINGER AND JOHN WILLOUGHBY. My request for the vote is it does *not* go towards "License to Grill." This is my most dog eared, falling apart cookbook I owned. My preference goes towards "Let the Flames Begin" because I do own this book but haven't used it because of my fondness towards LTG.

As pointed out by NYchowcook, Schlesinger is the chef/owner of East Coast Grill. If you search the Boston board, you will find numerous postings on this popular chowhound restaurant.

1. These are innovative grill cookbooks v. books on grilling. There are also different techniques including hobo pack grilling, bbqing and smoking and just straight grilling.

2. Along with the main grill product, there are also numerous recipes for sides, drinks and desserts.

3. There is a wide assortment for fish, seafood and veggie main dishes. Many of the recipes appear to be deceptively simple but maximize the flavors of the ingredients themselves.

4. The authors will often pair mains and sides and also make suggestions as to what else to serve to complete the menu.

5. The recipe serving sizes range from 4 servings to large parties.

6. The recipes are well written, well explained and thorough without being annoyingly so (for example, the authors give instructions as to the temperature of the grill, including what the coals should look and feel like.

7. Out of the numerous recipes that I've tried, there hasn't been a single dud. My one minor complaint is that he has huge serving sizes. Often times, his serves 4 will really serve 6-8. I just halve the recipes now.

8. The authors have a fondness for local ingredients so it is easy to see what is in season and adapt from there. Also, Schlesinger appears to have been heavily influenced by Asian cooking because there are many recipes that incorporate Asian flavors and modified for the grilling technique.

9. These books should be fairly easy to find from the library system. And, if anyone is in the Boston area, you can buy signed cookbooks from East Coast Grill in Cambridge.

[jsaimd]

HRISTOPHER SCHLESINGER AND JOHN WILLOUGHBY; look interesting

[MMRuth]

I'll vote for this one as well - not much of a griller, but will have access to an outdoor grill the first week of August, so I'll have a chance to try some recipes in the great outdoors.

Thanks Katie Nell for doing this over the past months!

[NYchowcook]

Schlesinger gets my vote, particularly because he is co-owner of iconoclastic East Coast Grill in Cambridge, MA, and has a distinctive style, that would be fun to explore.

Let the Flames Begin, or Thrill of the Grill would be my top choices based on PW reviews. I don't own any of his, but will reserve at my library.

If we have a runoff, or perhaps for Sept we could consider Cheryl & Bill Jamison -- Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining, Border Cookbook or Born to Grill, for example. Or a Southwest/spice type book like Border Cookbook, Clifford Wright's Some like it hot, Baja (by Deborah Schneider) or Dishes from the Wild Horse Desert (South Texas -- by Melissa Guerra)

[pikawicca]

Since I have "Thrill of the Grill," I'll vote for Schlessinger and Willloughby.

[OldDog]

STEVEN RAICHLEN

[Carb Lover]

I'll vote for Christopher S. and John W. I don't know much about their books, so I'll go for whichever.

[JoanN]

I vote for Thrill of the Grill. (1) I have it. (2) Everything I've made from has been terrific. (3) Lots of the recipes can be adapted to a home broiler (I, too, live in a city apartment without access to a grill).

[King of Northern Blvd]

I will vote for Raichlen as I have at least 3 of his books.

I will participate though whatever the choice. Thanks Katie for all of your hard work!