Fire Food: The Ultimate BBQ Cookbook

I thought I knew a little bit about BBQ, turns out I knew nothing. Christian's book is a "go to" for me when I'm getting ready to cook for company. I've learned a lot about the basics and ditched my old propane grill for something with a lot more flavor!

This is a terrific BBQ book! I have a collection of barbecue and grilling books, and this is a lovely addition. He’s got nice strong flavors, and there are some dishes and methods that are fun things I hadn’t thought of before. There are both grilling and smoking recipes in the book. The author has a whimsical, easy-breezy, high-energy tone.There are beautiful, inspirational photographs throughout. It’s a very giftable book with cool, recessed cover lettering, and nice thick pages.My thoughts and pics of the recipes I’ve tried:1-2) Za’atar and Honey Glazed Spatchcock Chicken – p 94. We love spatchcock chicken on the grill. Super moist and it cooks through perfectly. The za’atar and honey flavor are beautiful.2-3) Babaganoush – p 140. I never thought of making babaganoush down in the coals! It’s a total game changer. The smoky flavor is brilliant.4-5) Grilled Watermelon and Feta Salad – p 162. Oooooh. I think this is my favorite thing in the book. It tastes so special. It’s the kind of salad that everyone is competitive over, rather that giving the polite, “No. You go ahead. I insist.”6) The Perfect Butt – Pulled Pork – p 44. Great pulled pork. I wrapped it in the butcher paper, but skipped the foil til the rest, so it could keep absorbing the smoky flavor.7-9) Baby Back Ribs with Szechuan Mopping Sauce – p 58. Yummy ribs. The Szechuan peppers are a nice background note here. It’s not overly spicy at all.9-10) Breaking the Law! Breaking the Law! Baked Beans – p 155. These are very unusual baked beans. Half of the volume of the dish is vegetables.9 & 11) Dirty Carrots with Maple Syrup and Cumin – p 139. This is the only one we’re not crazy about. I thought it was too much char, but my fire might have been hotter than his coals.12) French Toast Grilled Cheese – p 21. Wonderful. Everyone loved this super decadent breakfast.13) Crab Cake Sandwich with Avocado and Corn Salsa – p 28. Delicious. The recipe makes way more of the tropical salsa than will fit on those burgers, so someone gets a refreshing, light lunch the next day.14) Smoky, Tangy, Cheesy Meatbally Sub Sandwich from SmokyCheeseBallVille – p 36. Total yeah. My kids loved this. The marinara has a big puttanesca vibe with the garlic, capers and anchovies. This should be planned as a linner, because it’s plenty filling for lunch and dinner.Some others I have flagged to try: Korean Philly Cheesesteak – p 25 * The Ultimate Cheeseburger – p 77 * Butterflied Wild Venison Haunch in Oyster Sauce – p 88 * Prawn Tacos with Grilled Watermelon Salsa – p 99 * The Perfect Steak – Smacked Ribeye – p 100 * Scallops with Grilled Pineapple and Chorizo – p 114 * Beach Bar Grilled Octopus – p 122 * Dirty Loaded Lobster Rolls – p 128 * Dirty Oyster Taco – p 131 * Hank’s Poutine – p 171*I received a copy to explore and share my thoughts.

I love cooking books and I buy loads of them, so many that I have to hide them from my wife! The reason for buying so many is that I cook quite often each week and I like to try different dishes each time. I do a lot of cooking outdoors on my BBQ so I also have a lot of BBQ books.What I like about this book is it's not your traditional BBQ book, it has a wide variety of recipes covering breakfast, mains and side dishes using a wide variety of meats, veg and fish alongside some fantastic ingredients. The book really is a showcase for what you can cook on the BBQ.Great hints and tips at the start are handy for cooks of all abilities. The recipes are well written, easy to follow and should deliver great results. The first DJ BBQ book was a great book, this one is even better. Highly recommended.Attached is a photo of a Halloumi Burger I cooked from the book. Tasted epic!

Very disappointed. Firstly this bok inky covers cooking with coals. You are soon told that if you want to cook with gas to go in to the kitchen. The ingredients are all hard to find, (Asian pear, turkey wings, etc) and a fair number of the recipes take a number of hours to cook. One uses a combination of six different types of meat ground in to a burger. Photos look nice and and in sure they would taste nice too but if you don't had access to a wide variety of ingredient, lots of time on your hands and a love of coal barbeques then look elsewhere

Lots of nice recipes but aimed at people is using charcoal bbq’s, the recipes can still be used with a gas bbq but it might be better to get a book such as the Weber ones that give advice on cooking on a gas and charcoal bbq.

MUST HAVE for the out doors guy or girl. But if you’re a blokey bloke like me and love to entertain, especially that summer BBQ time, and you want to do something a little bit special and even simple!! Then get this book!!!As soon as I received this book I just could not put it down. I read it front to back and just saying Wow to myself. It was late in the evening so I had to wait until the following day to start cooking and so I did... 8am I put on the hot smoker on and cooked a lamb for about 6-7 hours with dirty onions and well just buy this book it’s amazing!! The lamb!! Oh the lamb!!

Having bought DJ BBQ’s first book, and it being a huge part of my new found love of BBQ and cooking outside in general, I was always going to buy this new one. What I wasn’t expecting was just how fresh and new it feels. No rehashing existing old recipes. All done with the infectious humour we’ve come to expect from his recipes.Cooking tips and content -10/10Music recommendations- 7/10. Could do better.