- Joined
- Aug 11, 2003
- Location
- Rocklin, CA
Hello there. I've got a new grandson to enjoy so I have not been around much but wanted to post the interview I did with Adam Perry Lang. I thought you might find some of it interesting.
There's a link at the end for the recipes of Adam's I posted. I don't have permission to publish them anywhere but my blog. I hope you'll understand.
I remember the first time I ever heard of Adam Perry Lang (APL). It’s a moment in time I will always remember. An episode of “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” where Michael Symon raves about the giant beef ribs at Daisy May’s in New York City will always be one of my favorite episodes.
The day after I watched that episode I set out to create my version of APL’s ginormous beef ribs. Since that day I have been a huge fan of APL. And with the release of “Charred & Scruffed,” APL’s third cookbook he cement’s his position as the premier expert in live fire cooking.
Look I know this is quite a statement, there are lots of great grilling and barbecue chefs and backyard cooks everywhere, but I’m talking about live fire. Not just cooking over fire or coals, but cooking IN the fire or ON the coals. This book should inspire every person who loves to cook outdoors to get out of their grilling/barbecue box.
Charred & Scruffed is like to other barbecue/grilling cookbook on the market today. What’s great about the recipes in Charred & Scruffed is the cooking doesn’t just break all the rules of grilling and barbecue it creates all new rules. The techniques are so different they might not even be rules. At times I thought some of APL’s stuff were figments of my imagination.
Barbecue is not where you might expect a classically trained French chef to stake his claim to fame but for Adam it all makes sense, “French cooking gave me a lot of struture and reinforced a good work ethic,” he told me recently during a telephone interview. ” It surrounded me with people who are really serious about cooking and I can never lose that. I take it with me where ever I go.”
Where does the inspiration for a book like Charred & Scruffed? “I get my inspiration from cooking,” he said. But what about cooking a beautiful steak directly on the charcoal? “I don’t exactly know where I heard about doing it but I had never really experienced it myself. It was from there I started looking at the slower burning, immensely hot Bincho charcoal from Japan because it gave off so little ash. It just sort of compelled me and pulled me into it,” he told me. “From there I just sort of backed it up into lump charcoal which is a lot more accessible and affordable for the average griller. I came up with the idea of using the hair dryer to remove the ash from lump charcoal. Plus it almost works like a forge.”
I asked Adam about all the “rules” he breaks in his newest cookbook, “It’s not like a set out to break myths or break grilling standards. There’s nothing I’d rather do than go along with what works but I always, but I am always just questioning things. I think barbecue and grilling in general has so many laws that go unexplored and I try to make sense of them in my own way.”
When I mentioned to APL that I don’t ever remember a cookbook that generated as much talk on BBQ forums as “Charred & Scruffed” he explained why BBQ forums were so unique, “It means a lot to me that so many people on the BBQ forums like the BBQ Brethren are talking about my book,” he explained. ” The interesting concept is the use of the word brethren, I think it rings so true because we are all part of this community.
“There’s no french cooking forum, there’s no Asian cooking forum, at least none that I’m aware as active and passionate as the BBQ forums. It’s the BBQ and Chili Pepper forums that elicit so much discourse. It means a lot to me that someone would respect the things that I’m saying and talk about them,” Adam continued. “But more so it’s great because one of the hard things about writing a book is beause when you are constantly cooking you’re evolving. At a certain point you try and make a statement but you’re stilling growing. I’m proud to say that Serious Barbecue and BBQ 25 have their own place but have completely different approaches to barbecue and I came up with Charred and Scruffed for my third book. I still have a lot of books in me and they’ll just sort of come out, in time, as I continue to cook and see things around me.”
One of my favorite chapters in Charred & Scruffed is the very last chapter. Salt has always been an important part of BBQ but APL’s chapter on Finishing Salts takes it to a whole new level. I asked Adam why he included finishing or flavored salts in a book about barbecue and grilling.
“I’m all about flavor. I wondered why people, even people who are into food, salt their food before they even taste it and discovered a couple of things that facinated me. Salting food before you taste it actually starts the salivation process, it’s almost like getting your mouth primed to eat. That made sense to me. You can take food that is seasoned properly but without the right amount of salt it doesn’t activate your palate. So that’s one of the reasons I’m a big fan of when I’m slicing a big steak adding a litte salt before it’s served, Chef Lang said.
“So the concept of adding these flavored salts again for BBQ there’s bold flavors involved so besides just the salt I wanted soemthing that’s not going to complete with what you already have going on but to compliment it,” he continued.
“One of the things I talk about in the book is bridging flavors. Something like the lemon thyme salt for fish, it’s just another way to add some floral qualities. Or even using something like a vinegar salt, that came about from seasoning french fries with salt and then spraying with malt vinegar and then loosing the crispiness of the fries. By taking the liquid out and leaving the acid behind we are able to accomplish the same thing.”
“Everyone talks about fire being primal. Fire forces you to watch it. When fire is happening you have to be attentive, you have to watch it. You can’t just light it and walk away. It forces you into a group. You can talk about any type of situation, when you are forced into a group and it’s just a little bit more special. Fire commands your attention to pull everything together and during that pulling together you get to hang out with friends,” Adam said when asked why barbecue was such a great way to spend time with friends and family.
“Charred & Scruffed” is like no other barbecue/grilling cookbook you’ve ever read. It’s hard to really explain how different it is, but Peter Kaminsky in his introduction sums it up pretty well:
“This is a new an different kind of barbecue book because it is about intention, not tradition. Most collections of barbecue recipes try to help the home grillmaster achieve the same results as a beloved old-time barbecue stand on a little-traveled country road…rather than simply trying to duplicate the flavor that blue-ribbon pitmaster learned form his daddy and his granddaddy, Adam Perry Lang has devoted a trained chef’s palate and sensibility to answering the question “How can I take this great legacy and make something new of it?”
“Charred & Scruffed” is not just a collection of recipes with a few pages of “how-to” tossed in for good measure. This is a cookbook that’s meant to challenge everything you know about cooking with fire. If you can’t get passed those stereotypical “rules” about cooking outdoors this is probably not the book for you. However if you want to expand your knowledge and learn to cook meals that build layers of flavor while spending time with friends and family then buy this book.
Recipes
Edit: I seem to have cut and pasted from an older version. I'll correct the typos as soon as I can.
There's a link at the end for the recipes of Adam's I posted. I don't have permission to publish them anywhere but my blog. I hope you'll understand.
I remember the first time I ever heard of Adam Perry Lang (APL). It’s a moment in time I will always remember. An episode of “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” where Michael Symon raves about the giant beef ribs at Daisy May’s in New York City will always be one of my favorite episodes.
The day after I watched that episode I set out to create my version of APL’s ginormous beef ribs. Since that day I have been a huge fan of APL. And with the release of “Charred & Scruffed,” APL’s third cookbook he cement’s his position as the premier expert in live fire cooking.
Look I know this is quite a statement, there are lots of great grilling and barbecue chefs and backyard cooks everywhere, but I’m talking about live fire. Not just cooking over fire or coals, but cooking IN the fire or ON the coals. This book should inspire every person who loves to cook outdoors to get out of their grilling/barbecue box.
Charred & Scruffed is like to other barbecue/grilling cookbook on the market today. What’s great about the recipes in Charred & Scruffed is the cooking doesn’t just break all the rules of grilling and barbecue it creates all new rules. The techniques are so different they might not even be rules. At times I thought some of APL’s stuff were figments of my imagination.
Barbecue is not where you might expect a classically trained French chef to stake his claim to fame but for Adam it all makes sense, “French cooking gave me a lot of struture and reinforced a good work ethic,” he told me recently during a telephone interview. ” It surrounded me with people who are really serious about cooking and I can never lose that. I take it with me where ever I go.”
Where does the inspiration for a book like Charred & Scruffed? “I get my inspiration from cooking,” he said. But what about cooking a beautiful steak directly on the charcoal? “I don’t exactly know where I heard about doing it but I had never really experienced it myself. It was from there I started looking at the slower burning, immensely hot Bincho charcoal from Japan because it gave off so little ash. It just sort of compelled me and pulled me into it,” he told me. “From there I just sort of backed it up into lump charcoal which is a lot more accessible and affordable for the average griller. I came up with the idea of using the hair dryer to remove the ash from lump charcoal. Plus it almost works like a forge.”
I asked Adam about all the “rules” he breaks in his newest cookbook, “It’s not like a set out to break myths or break grilling standards. There’s nothing I’d rather do than go along with what works but I always, but I am always just questioning things. I think barbecue and grilling in general has so many laws that go unexplored and I try to make sense of them in my own way.”
When I mentioned to APL that I don’t ever remember a cookbook that generated as much talk on BBQ forums as “Charred & Scruffed” he explained why BBQ forums were so unique, “It means a lot to me that so many people on the BBQ forums like the BBQ Brethren are talking about my book,” he explained. ” The interesting concept is the use of the word brethren, I think it rings so true because we are all part of this community.
“There’s no french cooking forum, there’s no Asian cooking forum, at least none that I’m aware as active and passionate as the BBQ forums. It’s the BBQ and Chili Pepper forums that elicit so much discourse. It means a lot to me that someone would respect the things that I’m saying and talk about them,” Adam continued. “But more so it’s great because one of the hard things about writing a book is beause when you are constantly cooking you’re evolving. At a certain point you try and make a statement but you’re stilling growing. I’m proud to say that Serious Barbecue and BBQ 25 have their own place but have completely different approaches to barbecue and I came up with Charred and Scruffed for my third book. I still have a lot of books in me and they’ll just sort of come out, in time, as I continue to cook and see things around me.”
One of my favorite chapters in Charred & Scruffed is the very last chapter. Salt has always been an important part of BBQ but APL’s chapter on Finishing Salts takes it to a whole new level. I asked Adam why he included finishing or flavored salts in a book about barbecue and grilling.
“I’m all about flavor. I wondered why people, even people who are into food, salt their food before they even taste it and discovered a couple of things that facinated me. Salting food before you taste it actually starts the salivation process, it’s almost like getting your mouth primed to eat. That made sense to me. You can take food that is seasoned properly but without the right amount of salt it doesn’t activate your palate. So that’s one of the reasons I’m a big fan of when I’m slicing a big steak adding a litte salt before it’s served, Chef Lang said.
“So the concept of adding these flavored salts again for BBQ there’s bold flavors involved so besides just the salt I wanted soemthing that’s not going to complete with what you already have going on but to compliment it,” he continued.
“One of the things I talk about in the book is bridging flavors. Something like the lemon thyme salt for fish, it’s just another way to add some floral qualities. Or even using something like a vinegar salt, that came about from seasoning french fries with salt and then spraying with malt vinegar and then loosing the crispiness of the fries. By taking the liquid out and leaving the acid behind we are able to accomplish the same thing.”
“Everyone talks about fire being primal. Fire forces you to watch it. When fire is happening you have to be attentive, you have to watch it. You can’t just light it and walk away. It forces you into a group. You can talk about any type of situation, when you are forced into a group and it’s just a little bit more special. Fire commands your attention to pull everything together and during that pulling together you get to hang out with friends,” Adam said when asked why barbecue was such a great way to spend time with friends and family.
“Charred & Scruffed” is like no other barbecue/grilling cookbook you’ve ever read. It’s hard to really explain how different it is, but Peter Kaminsky in his introduction sums it up pretty well:
“This is a new an different kind of barbecue book because it is about intention, not tradition. Most collections of barbecue recipes try to help the home grillmaster achieve the same results as a beloved old-time barbecue stand on a little-traveled country road…rather than simply trying to duplicate the flavor that blue-ribbon pitmaster learned form his daddy and his granddaddy, Adam Perry Lang has devoted a trained chef’s palate and sensibility to answering the question “How can I take this great legacy and make something new of it?”
“Charred & Scruffed” is not just a collection of recipes with a few pages of “how-to” tossed in for good measure. This is a cookbook that’s meant to challenge everything you know about cooking with fire. If you can’t get passed those stereotypical “rules” about cooking outdoors this is probably not the book for you. However if you want to expand your knowledge and learn to cook meals that build layers of flavor while spending time with friends and family then buy this book.
Recipes
Edit: I seem to have cut and pasted from an older version. I'll correct the typos as soon as I can.
