Perry P. Perkins - Grilling: A Home Chefs Guide

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Copyright 2018 by Perry P. Perkins
ISBN Print Edition: 1986491358
ISBN-13: 978-1986491358

Stone boiling, earth ovens, open-hearth...these are among the oldest cooking methods of the human race. But, before any of those couldexist, the oldest (and the only one still universally popular) is live fire.

For most of human history, over a live fire was only way to cook ameal. According to anthropologists, humans have been cooking in this fashion over a million years.

In fact, the popular evolutionary theory is that cooking with fire iswhat allowed the huge step forward of mankind, from the rest of theanimal kingdom, by providing the extra nutrition and surplus caloriesnecessary for generating larger brains, and long lifespans (allowing the populations of those who cooked their food to grow at an exponential rate,compared to those who didn't if, for no other reason that, they had more time tomake whoopie!)

Cooking makes food more digestible, kills off bacteria, and every society in the world does it. From the Inuit of the frozen Arctic to the hunter-gatherers of sub-Saharan Africa, humans are sustained byfood that has been physically and chemically changed by heat. A 5000-year-old Iceman (known as Otzi) discovered in 1991 in the Italian Alps, carried his fire with him, in a birchbark box holdingembers wrapped in maple leaves. He also carried a fire-starting kit ofiron pyrite, flint, and tinder.
The fire, in various permutations, was the focal points of most humanhomes. In fact, word "focus" (IE: the point at which all things come together) derives from the Latin for fireplace.

A sacred fire is often a place for the offering of prayers, herbs, food,and other sacrifices, and, as the fire was an absolute necessity fornomadic peoples, the "fire-keeper" was a position of great honor (and responsibility) to nurture the hot coals from one fire to the next.

The hearth-fire was the center of family activity for my own NativeAmerican ancestors, as well, carried from camp to camp in a specialhorn or bundle of bark. And every meal was cooked over coals carried from the central fire, to individual living spaces.
Cooking, eating, and storytelling took place around the fire at the endof the day. Some ancient tribes of Africa still maintain strict rules about who can (and can't) tend the fire, or even walk between it andthe living space of the fire-keeper. It's that important.

An estimated three billion people still cook their meals over open fires, and even in America, most people have some form of outdoor grill that's used for family events and celebrations.

The sound of crackling embers, the mesmerizing glow of lickingflames, and the seductively smoky flavor that only live fire can impart,resonate with an important and revered part of our collective humanmemories, linking us back the very dawn of our species.In mastering fire, and the cooking of food over it, we sparked ourown unique evolutionary path.
We are, you and I, the cooking animal.

o Authors Note 5
o Table of Contents 7
o What is a Home Chef 8

o PART ONE: GRILLING
Chapter One: Grilling11
Chapter Two: FIRE!21
Chapter Three: Mastering the Grill33

o PART TWO: RECIPES
Chapter Four: Appetizers59Chapter Five: Pork on the Grill 71 Chapter Six: Beef & Lamb89 Chapter Seven: Bird 137 Chapter Eight: Fish & Seafood169 Chapter Nine: Veggies205 Chapter Ten: Sauces, Rubs, & Mops 223

o Resources 231
o Index 247
o Authors Biography 255

We are entering the age of the "Home Chef", a title that's available tonearly everyone, regardless of age, or financial standing.
That's what this book is aboutbecause something amazing hasbegun to happen in the last two decades, something that has never before happened in the history of cookinginstead of growing wider, the gap between the home cook and the professional chef hasactually begun to narrow, and continues to narrow exponentially with each passing year.
The time when these specialized skills were limited to those whocould afford the cost and time required for culinary school are quickly passing into history.

Part autobiography, part call-to-arms, revealing the rapidly evolvinglandscape of cooking in America. "The Home Chef" is a manifesto on how to cook real food in our own kitchens, and moreimportantly...why we should.

Filled with insider tips & tricks from the professional kitchen,hundreds of links and resources to (free) cooking education videos, and easy to follow instructions from a professional cooking instructor, The Home Chef is culinary school for the home cook.

Grilling. Its the most primitive of all the cooking methods. Pictureour ancient ancestors spearing chunks of raw meat on sticks andgathering around a communal fire to roast their meal.

Bayon Temple is a well-known and richly decorated Khmer temple at Angkor in Cambodia. Builtin the late 12th century, it houses the most preserved Angkor Gastronomic art, carved on the southwall of the temple. A legacy of Khmer cuisine and civilization, Bayonese in that time applied many advanced technique of cooking; including steaming, barbecue, and grilling. Here we see ahog or wild boar being dehaired in boiling water as the open fire is prepared.

What would summer be without the sights, and sounds, and smells ofmat searing to perfection over glowing coals?
Not to get all scientific, but that specific aroma and flavor occurs onlywhen foods are cooked in temperatures in excess of 350F, which is also known as the Maillard reaction.*

Grilling technically means youre cooking food fast and hot anddirectly over fire i.e. the direct method. Meats exposed to this typeof cooking can only be cooked for a short amount of time before being burned (the time is usually between an hour or less).

Barbecue on the other hand is cooked low and slow. Meats beingbarbecued are cooked for a long period of time (2 hours up to 18 hours) by the smoke and heat produced from the burning of woodor coal.