Rob Rainford's Born to Grill: Over 100 Recipes from My Backyard to Yours
Rob Rainford was born to grill, and now he's taking grilling to a whole new level! In Born to Grill he brings his barbeque prowess to over 100 recipes and 20 complete menus from arond the world-- designed for hosting family and friends around your backyard barbeque.
For Rob, grilling is about entertaining; it's about spending time together, cooking and eating outdoors. It's also about pushing the boundaries of what you think you can do on the grill. In Born to Grill he shares his unique slant on grilling with 20 menus for you to mix and match, for both charcoal or gas grills. Born to Grill's recipes are international, influenced by Rob's travels and experiences in different countries and cultures. There are plenty of great grill classics (with a Rainford twist) but he really pushes BBQ boundaries with some true grilling originals and expert techniques, like cold smoking. Born to Grill takes you where no barbeque book has gone before, because Rob knows the grill can handle so much more than burgers and steaks. There's still plenty of beef in here, but also lamb, chicken, fish, seafood, veal, duck, a huge range of vegetables, plenty of sides, and even salads! All cooked on the grill.
Format: Trade Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher: Appetite by Random House
ISBN: 978-0-449-01563-6 (0-449-01563-7)
Pub Date: May 8, 2012
Price: $29.95
My Rambles:
This is a very beautiful cookbook with many gorgeous colour pictures. This book is definitely not for the beginner cook. The recipes sounded fantastic and were making my mouth drool but were also very time consuming. This cookbook would be great for entertaining - you could make some very impressive things from it.
I feel that it should have some cook/prep times listed - I want to know how long this is going to take approximately.
Overall - I'm excited to try some of the slow cook meats! There is a great little tutorial at the beginning that talks about direct and indirect heat.
If you take a look inside the book (see above) you can see some of the amazing pictures and it even includes the index so you can see what all is going on inside the book.
My one issue is that the book isn't organized by type of food - side, main (chicken, beef, pork, fish, seafood), dessert, but rather by what Mr. Rainford considers to be Menu's. Most of the menus are 80% meat and 20% side/drink/dessert/other. It makes it somewhat difficult to find a recipe you want. I often want to just browse a section to see if something jumps out at me. This way I have to go through the index.
I thought I would share with you the two recipes I made: Grilled Middle-Eastern Patties and Sweet Fennel and Citrus Apple Salad! I would like to point out that The Mr., who does not like salad, loved this and has asked me to make it again!
Grilled Middle-Eastern Patties
Beef, chicken or turkey all work well in these tasty patties so use whatever ground meat you prefer
- 2lbs (1kg) ground beef, chicken or turkey
- 6tbsp (90ml) finely chopped fresh cilantro
- 4tbsp (60ml) grated onion (I finely chopped)
- 2 jalapeno or serrano chilies, seeded and diced
- 4 cloves garlic, finely grated (I used my garlic press)
- 1 tsp (5ml) each ground coriander, ground cumin, ground cinnamon, ground allspice, freshly ground black pepper
- Kosher salt to taste
- Canola oil for greasing
- 24 slider buns
- Combine ground meat, cilantro, onion, chillies, garlic, and spices.
- Make a tiny patty and grill it off so you can taste it to ensure the flavor and seasonings are to your liking. (I didn't bother)
- Make 24 even-sized mini round patties and place them in the fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up.
- Fire up the charcoal grill and prep the grill for cooking over indirect heat. You need a medium-high temperature of around 350F (180C) to grill the patties. For gas grills, preheat the grill to medium-high then turn off one burner to achieve indirect heat. Oil the grate with canola oil. (I would next time make regular sized burgers - they were tasty!! Also, as I kinda don't have a BBQ, I just used my panini press *grin* to cook the burgers)
- Grill your patties for 3-4 minutes on each side on direct heat. Then move them to the indirect side for an additional 5-6 minutes.
- When the patties are done, remove them to a clean plate and allow to rest. While the patties are resting place the buns on the grill to warm them, then assemble the sliders -- they're great served with homemade mayo (recipe included in the book) -- and enjoy!
- 2 medium oranges and 2 medium grapefruit
- 1/4 cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 2tbsp (30ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1tbsp (15ml) liquid honey (I only had Agave so that is what I used!)
- 1 fennel bulb, quartered and thinly sliced
- 2 granny smith apples, cored and cut into matchsticks
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1tbsp (15ml) balsamic glaze (I used an aged balsamic instead rather than making the glaze)
- Using a sharp knife, peel the oranges and grapefruit, removing all the pith (that's the white stuff under the skin). Slice the oranges and grapfruit into 1/8-inch (3mm) thick rounds. Set aside. (I would remove the segments and chop them up next time - we found eating the rounds to be difficult)
- Whisk the oil with lemon juice and honey in a large bowl. Add the fennel and apples and toss with the oil mixture until well coated. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Arrange the citrus fruit in a large circle on a serving platter, alternating the orange and grapefruit rounds. Season with salt and pepper. Mound the fennel mixture in the center of the circle and spoon any remaining dressing from the bowl over the citrus fruit. Drizzle with the balsamic glaze.
Balsamic Glaze
The glas will keep for 1 week in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before using. If you store it in a squeeze bottle in the fridge, place the bottle in a bowl of hot water to warm the glaze up quickly.
- 1 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 small sauce pot
- Place the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan over low heat. Simmer until the vinegar develops a syrup-like consistency. Simmer time will depend on the width of the saucepan.
- To test if it's ready, dip a teaspoon into the glaze, making sure to coat the back of the spoon. Let cool slightly then, with your index finger, draw a line through the glaze on the spoon. If the line stays in place, the glaze is ready.
Thanks Random House!
