The long weekend means it’s time to break out the grill

If you’re going to break out the grill this holiday weekend, be sure to do it the right way with Project Fire Laura Brehaut

Live-fire flavours are the hallmark of some of the world’s best restaurants. From Spain’s Victor Arguinzoniz to Argentina’s Francis Mallmann, inventive chefs are breathing new life into an ancient technique.

Driven by a “voracious hunger for bold flavours and innovation in grilling,” home grillers, too, have moved far past main course proteins and the odd sizzling side, author Steven Raichlen says.

Salads, breads and pizzas, desserts and drinks are now all fair game for the live-fire treatment – a fact that the grill master illustrates in his 31st book, Project Fire (Workman Publishing).

In an extensive introduction, Raichlen covers what to look for when buying a grill, selecting fuel, assembling tools, and choosing a grilling method.

Using tradition as his starting point, he offers an overview of the five classic techniques – direct grilling, indirect grilling, smoking, spit-roasting, and grilling in the embers – followed by modern modifications.

“It was fun to explore new twists on those old methods. So things like salt-slab grilling, plank grilling, leaf grilling, and hay grilling. Just all of the crazy flavour-rich variations that people come up with,” Raichlen says.

“I’m hoping this will give people a lot of new ideas and new ways of looking at grilling. How to cook foods you might not have ever thought of cooking on a grill, like a salt slab brownie or grilling the ingredients for sangria.”