Adam Perry Lang - The Artisanal Kitchen: Barbecue Sides: Perfect Slaws, Salads, and Snacks for Your Next Cookout

The powerful flavors that are the goal of every griller can easily overwhelm your palate. In order to fully appreciate the main dish, you need some contrasts in texture or temperature. The smooth and creamy dishes in this chapter balance the barbecue without getting in the way of flavor. In addition to tempering the mouthfeel of big, brawny barbecue recipes, these costars can add an unctuous quality that completes lean dishes such as fish or beef or pork tenderloin. And who doesnt love the combination of crispy, salty, and hot? Think about it. You can imagine barbecue without coleslaw, or baked beans, or macaroni and cheese. But no french fries, or crispy fried anything? Does not compute.

Serves 6 to 8

Parsleys flavor and texture pair well with anything that has that special fifth taste known as umami, which we find in mushrooms, a particularly fine partner for all kinds of meat. This happy pairing has something to do with the texture of cooked mushrooms: smooth and moist, just like the collagen in meat when it has been lovingly cooked for a long time at the right temperature.

Note the use of beurre manibutter kneaded with flour. It adds enough stick to sauces to hold them together without overreducing.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup finely chopped shallots

2 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled

Sea or kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper

Juice of 1 lemon, or to taste

2 tablespoons dry white wine

6 cups small firm white button mushrooms

A sprig of fresh thyme

1 cup chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth

2 cups heavy cream

teaspoon thinly shaved frozen beurre mani (see )

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Cut 2 tablespoons of the butter into -inch cubes and refrigerate. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a 4-quart pot over medium heat until it bubbles gently. Add the shallots, garlic, and a pinch each of salt and white pepper and cook until the shallots are just translucent, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the lemon juice and white wine, bring to a boil, and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and thyme, stirring well, then add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, and cook until reduced by half.

Add the cream, bring to a simmer, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the beurre mani, stirring until incorporated, and simmer very gently for 10 minutes, or until well thickened.

Meanwhile, wrap the parsley in a double layer of cheesecloth, run under cold water, and squeeze dry (rinsing the parsley will cause some of the chlorophyll to leach out and prevent it from giving the cream a greenish tinge).

Taste the mushrooms and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Swirl in the cubed butter piece by piece until incorporated, then remove the pot from the heat and stir in the parsley. Adjust the acidity with a little more lemon juice if necessary, and serve.

Note: To make beurre mani, blend cup all-purpose flour with 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened. Transfer to an airtight container, or shape into a log and wrap in plastic wrap and then foil, and freeze until needed. The butter will keep for at least a month.

Serves 8 to 10

While there are a million recipes that start with the instruction chop the shallots and saut until golden, there are too few that focus on this relative of garlic and onions. The oniony flavor and aroma of shallots seem to caress every iota of flavor in grilled food, especially meat. They bring out sweetness and savoriness simultaneously. Batter-fried crispness punches it all home.

Vegetable oil for deep-frying

5 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon garlic salt

2 pounds shallots (about 20 shallots), sliced inch thick and separated into rings

1 quart milk

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Sea or kosher salt

Preheat the oil to 350F in a deep fryer (see ). Meanwhile, combine the flour and garlic salt in a large bowl and mix well. Put the shallots in a medium bowl and pour the milk and eggs over them, stirring to combine.

Gently lift out the shallot rings a handful at a time, with some of the milk and egg clinging to them, and toss with the seasoned flour; the shallots will be a bit sticky and clumpy. Put the fryer basket into the fryer, drop in all the floured shallots in an even layer, and immediately put a second fryer basket on top to compress the shallots and submerge them in the oil. Fry until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Carefully remove the shallots from the basket and drain briefly on paper towels, then transfer to a rack and season with salt. Serve immediately.

Note: If you dont have a deep fryer and two fryer baskets, heat 3 inches of oil in a large, deep pot and cook the shallots in batches, adding them in clumps to the hot oil to make free-form cakes, or fritters.