Barbequing, for some people, is all about the gear. But British cookbook author James Whetlor is not impressed by your Big Green Egg or your Traeger Grill. You want a tandoori oven? Just go to Home Depot.
"You buy one big flowerpot and a couple bags of sand and two terra cotta pots, and you've got yourself a tandoor," he advises.
More specific instructions for safely building homemade grills and smokers can be found in Whetlor's The DIY BBQ Cookbook, out this spring from Hardie Grant. It illustrates simple ways of cooking outside by, for example, digging a hole in the ground. Or draping skewers over cinderblocks. All you need is a simple square of outside space and fireproof bricks or rocks. You do not even need a grill, Whetlor insists. There's a movement you may have missed, known as "dirty cooking."
"It's like cooking directly on the coals, that's exactly what it is," says the James Beard-award winning writer (who, it should be said, disdains the term "dirty cooking" as offputtingly BBQ geek lingo.) "You can do it brilliantly with steak. You've got nice, really hot coals; just lay steaks straight on it."
Brush off the ash and bon appetit! When a reporter mentioned she'd be too intimidated to drop a a steak directly on the coals, Whetlor said not to worry.
"You should get over it," he rebuked. "Remember that you're cooking on embers, what you call coals in the US. You're not cooking on fire. You should never be cooking on a flame, because a flame will certainly char or burn. Whereas if you're cooking on embers, you have that radiant heat. It will cook quite evenly and quite straightforwardly. And it's no different than laying it in a frying pan, essentially."
Whetlor is attentive to vegetarians in The DIY BBQ Cookbook, including plenty of plant-based recipes. He writes at length about mitigating BBQ's environmental impact. For example, by using responsibly-sourced charcoal. And he is careful to acknowledge how BBQ developed for generations among indigenous and enslaved people.
"I am standing on the shoulders of giants," he says, citing the influece of such culinary historians and food writers as Adrian Miller, Michael Twitty and Howard Conyers. "Any food that we eat, I think we should acknowledge the history and the tradition and the culture behind it. Because it just makes it so much more interesting, and it makes you it makes you a better cook because you understand more about it. "
And today, he says, building your own grill and barbequing outdoors is a surefire way to start up conversations and connect with something primal: to nourish our shared human hunger for a hearth.
9(MDAxODcyMTgzMDEyMTgxMTY5NjYxN2I4OQ004))
Transcript
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
For some people, barbecuing is all about the gear. You might have a backyard expert in your own life who can't stop evangelizing about a certain grill or smoker. Well, NPR's Neda Ulaby spoke to an advocate of a more minimalist approach.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: The British cookbook writer James Whetlor is not impressed by your Big Green Egg or your Traeger Grill or your fancy-schmancy anything. You want a tandoori oven? He says just go to Home Depot.
JAMES WHETLOR: You buy one big flower pot and a couple of bags of sand and two terracotta pots, and you've got yourself a tandoor.
ULABY: Whetlor's new cookbook, "DIY Barbecue," shows you how to safely cook outside by digging a hole in the ground or draping skewers over a cinderblock - no beach or backyard necessary, just a square of outside space, food and summer tunes, ideally...
WHETLOR: American '70s rock classics.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RAMBLIN' GAMBLIN' MAN")
BOB SEGER: (Singing) Yeah, I'm going to tell my tale. Come on.
ULABY: You do not even need a grill, Whetlor insists. And he's won a James Beard Award. There's a whole movement you may have missed, he says, called dirty cooking.
WHETLOR: It's like cooking directly on coals. Like, that's exactly what it is.
ULABY: Like laying your food right on the charcoal.
WHETLOR: You can do it brilliantly with steak. You got nice, really hot coals. Just lay your steak straight on it.
ULABY: Brush off the ash, and bon appetit. I told James Whetlor I'd be intimidated to stick a steak straight on the coals.
WHETLOR: You should get over it. You should be able to - I think you can do it.
ULABY: Whetlor also includes lots of vegetarian recipes in his book. He writes about barbecue's environmental impact and how it developed among Indigenous and enslaved people.
WHETLOR: Any food that we eat - I think we should acknowledge the history and the tradition and the culture behind it because it just makes it so much more interesting. It makes you a better cook 'cause you understand more about it.
ULABY: And today, he says, barbecuing outdoors is a surefire way to start up conversations, to nourish our shared human hunger for a hearth. Neda Ulaby, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
300x250 Ad
300x250 Ad