Grilling Maestros

These gourmet collections are becomingly increasingly popular. And this one is very good.It's a compilation that went with the PBS series of the same name, which featured three pro chefs get down on the grill with some knockout recipes for entrees to fruits to side dishes with all the accompanying dishes and salsas, etc.Marcel Desaulniers, Fritz Sonnenschmidt and Chris Schlesinger cook up some kicked up stuff here that has creative recipes which are not that hard to prepare or find the ingredients, what with all the web resources and gourmet stores popping up all over the place.Try the Grilled Asparagus with Two Sauces (a garlic mayo and a basic lemon vinagerette) or the Cinnamon-Grilled Salmon with Citrus and Port-Soaked Dried Fruit. Outstanding example of the creative input is the Mixed Grill of Seafood with Fresh Herb Sauce and Ricotta Souffles.This is outstanding resource for those who want out of ordinary gourmet grilling recipes.

I saw about 15 of the recipes from this book demonstrated on a KQED begathon recently. The recipes are simple, elegant and fantastic. Some of the special ingredients are beyond imagination--like flavoring meats with coffee grinds before grilling and combining fruits with hot peppers. In addition the variety of food grilled will amaze you--grilled pineapples, plums, peaches. The instructions are great and so is the presentation.

My favorite Grill Maestro, Chris Schlesinger, is but one of the authors of this book but any recipe from Chris is enough for me. His humor and style with the grill and with words make this a must for all grill chefs and want to be's! I ordered this for a friend moments after I read it myself. The recipes are ones you'll look forward to grilling. The book is one you'll enjoy reading. Bravo Maestros!