Gastro Grilling

March 3, 2014
Grilling and BBQ expert Reader (Hot and Sticky BBQ) brings the heat in this collection of more than 135 foodie-focused recipes for the grill. Though he’s quick to point out that “gastro does not imply pretentious,” many of his recipes say otherwise: baked sweet potatoes are injected with buckwheat honey, spiced rum, and orange juice; escargot is drizzled with cognac, then placed atop sliced brie, drizzled with garlic chive butter, and grilled on a plank drilled with indentations; and an entire mackerel is grilled atop hay soaked in beer (“not for the amateur... there will be flames”). That’s not so say his recipes aren’t mouthwatering: smoked risotto with fire-roasted squash, and steak roll-ups with porcini mushroom rub, roasted garlic and portobello mushrooms are toothsome and relatively simple to prepare, as are appetizers like brown sugar butter-crusted shrimp. But a great many other dishes, such as grilled lamb kidneys with prunes and port wine reduction require a certain amount of determination on the part of the cook, both in terms of sourcing as well as prep. Yes, there are stuffed mushrooms and a teriyaki flank steak, but they are in the minority. It adds up to a middling but inspired effort—readers will likely find themselves wishing they could simply order many of Reader’s dishes than attempting to prepare them.