Char-Broil Grilling for the Family by Editors of Creative Homeowner

Bountiful Cookbook Bursting with Grilling Recipes and Tips

In this big, colorful cookbook put out by Char-Broil, you will find over 300 recipes to add to your grilling repertoire as well as practical information about grilling and healthful eating.

The book has a surprising amount of extra information for a cookbook. There’s a large front section with a variety of tips, from choosing a grill to standard cooking times to healthful eating. Chapter 12 has more information about their infrared oil-less turkey fryer (which can be used for more than just turkey).

The recipes themselves include the typical big meats and spins on classic grilling fare (like hamburgers) as well as more unusual dishes like grilled pizza (even a breakfast one!) and quesadillas. There are also chapters about breakfast from the grill, appetizers and snacks, vegetables and sides, and desserts. Most recipes use a handful of readily available ingredients; the recipes appear straightforward in technique, though some might not have enough information for an inexperienced griller. I received a copy well in advance of the publication date, so I hope some recipes will be edited to include more technique information as well as standardize the extra information about each recipe (prep/grill/cook times, servings). Except for the marinades and sauces chapter, every recipe has a photo—even though some recipes don’t show the completed dish but rather the ingredients at some stage of the preparation. At the start of each chapter, a featured recipe is shown along with instructions on how to prepare it with young children or a teenage cook.

Most of the recipes in this book use the grill, with the most significant exception being in the chapter on marinades, sauces, and rubs. Scattered, though, throughout the book are recipes that don’t use the grill. I’m wondering if those would have been better placed in a separate chapter just for non-grilled sides and accompaniments. Some recipes, too, could be made on the grill or on the stovetop or in an oven. It would have been nice if these recipes had directions those options for those times of the year when grilling is impractical.

Some of these recipes look like very fun ideas, like the grilled angel food cake s’mores (the photo alone is drool-worthy!), grilled potato salad, and a variety of recipes that creatively use bread. Some recipes don’t require grilling for too long or have only one ingredient that is grilled, so they wouldn’t necessarily make sense to be the only recipe to fire up the grill for, yet if the grill is already going, they can make great additions to a meal.

If you enjoy grilling, you might enjoy this bountiful cookbook that will supply you with new ideas for grill-time dishes.