[Spit-Project] Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way

[Johnna Holloway]

A couple weeks back I posted a link to a NYT article that mentioned
the new book Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way.

Here's the review of the book that appeared in yesterday's NYT's book 
review:

Francis Mallmann is a megastar in South America, a Patagonian prince
with restaurants in Argentina and Uruguay, TV shows and the lot. I’d
never heard of him until I went to his Buenos Aires flagship, a posh,
sexy library in a neighborhood that made “Fort Apache, the Bronx” seem
cheery. But what do you know? Like some other French-trained celebrity
chefs known for their intricate food, Mallmann just wants to go to the
country and grill.

As SEVEN FIRES: Grilling the Argentine Way (Artisan, $35), his new book
written with Peter Kaminsky, seductively illustrates, his ain’t no
block-party barbecue. Mallmann cooks on parrillas (grills), chapas
(griddles) and infiernillos (bi-level fires), in hornos de barro (wood
ovens), rescoldos (piles of ash and ember) and calderos (cauldrons), and
— the holy grill — on the asador, an iron cross upon which a whole
butterflied animal is impaled. Mallmann cooks with the elegant purity
achieved only after attaining a mastery of complicated food. Inspired by
these recipes, a grill-crazy friend called a metal shop to have an
infiernillo made. My husband started thinking whole cow. I craved
Mallmann’s burnt flavors, from caramelized oranges with rosemary to
flattened sweet potatoes charred in butter. Bobby Flay
be very afraid.

What makes Mallmann so punk is that he makes six ingredients taste
better than 20. (His honey gremolata has already become the sauce
equivalent of a hit summer song I can’t stop singing.) He also
reconnects us to the primal simplicity and visceral pleasure of cooking
over a fire — though his recipes can be made over charcoal or in a grill
pan, too. A salad of tomatoes
and fennel becomes a different course when charred. In many ways, “Seven
Fires” was the simplest book I read (cow-flaying aside), and by far the
most inspiring.

The other BBQ that rec'd a review was:

Adam Perry Lang is at the opposite end of the grilling spectrum, a
blingy S.U.V. to Mallmann’s muddy old Land Rover. SERIOUS BARBECUE:
Smoke, Char, Baste, and Brush Your Way to Great Outdoor Cooking
(Hyperion, $35), written with J. J. Goode and Amy Vogler, is what to
give the man who has yet to actualize his outdoor kitchen, or at least
his ceramic egg cooker. (If all you have is a Weber, you’re going to
have to step up your game.) Adam Perry Lang went from the kitchen of
Restaurant Daniel to running Manhattan’s Daisy May’s BBQ, but he never
dumbed down. He’s making bacon, but it’s caramel-smoked. A recipe for a
whole pork shoulder calls for an injection, a mustard moisturizer,
seasoning blend, wrapping mixture and barbecue sauce. A girl can dream.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/books/review/Cooking-t.html?_r=1

Johnnae