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Summer is always a great time for family gatherings and eating out. And amongst many recreational activities outdoors, barbecuing has always been in the list of top ten activities in most American families’ life. Charcoal grill smoking or gas grilling are the most popular options these days to sit down with your loved ones and enjoy those succinctly cooked BBQ steaks.
With recent innovation in technology, we find ourselves with choices of infrared and even electric grills that can handle outdoor cooking. Yet, for those savvy barbecue lovers, charcoal smokers still remain as the most sought after techniques to achieve juicy smoked meat without losing flavors that is normally associated with hot gas or electric grilling.
The Truth about Charcoal Grills
But have you ever wondered how charcoal smoking might affect your health in the long term? This is perhaps a very basic and logical question to ask for most shoppers when first deciding on the type of BBQ grill to buy, yet only a few are aware of it.
Many studies on carbon monoxide – the poisonous chemical released in the smoke when burning charcoal fuel, like wood, coals or briquettes, has mentioned many bad health effects of using charcoal for cooking food.
A publication on CNN stated a case where CDC estimated the number of non-fire-related carbon monoxide poisonings had caused in between 15,000 to 40,000 emergency hospital visits each year across the United States.
However, some barbecue addicts say that charcoal smoking is only truly bad for you health if it is overused or when meat is overcooked and get burned partly. Nonetheless, they all have to agree to some extend that some parts of the meat does actually get poisoned because of the smoke which is used to cook the meat itself.
Another article about charcoal barbeque grills danger, also said that the long term risk is cancer. It was backed by an example of studies conducted by scientists from Rice University in 2003, which had proven that the percentage of people who died because of cancer was particular high in Houston – where the most popular family activity during summer seasons where charcoal smoking.
What to Do if You Get Ill?
If you already own one of the charcoal smoker grills, and wonder whether you should just abandon it for the sake of health, and opt in for electric or gas grilling instead, here are some signs of carbon sickness: its starts with light headache, if untreated, the pain will build up and cause nausea. After repeated exposure to toxic smoke, the sick person might even feel some confusion, dizziness and loss of good concentration. If you have ever felt sick that way while preparing those deliciously flavorful smoked dishes, it is highly recommended that you seek out medical help from doctors right away, and possibly stop charcoal grilling or smoking during treatment period.
So the choice is really up to you, whether charcoal grilling is an ‘yes’ or ‘no’. While everyone has to agree that grilling with charcoal can prove to be the most rewarding cooking and eating experience, its long term side effects on your health can not be neglected and ignored for granted, especially if you smoke barbecue meat and vegetables on regular basis.
Bar Be Que Grills
When you imagine the quintessential New York City restaurant, one name comes to mind: Alfred Portale’s Gotham Bar and Grill. The same is true when you think of the top American restaurants:Gotham has been one of our most cherished culinary institutions for two decades.
Led by executive chef and co-owner Alfred Portale, Gotham has been honored with four consecutive New York Times three-star reviews and has resided among the Zagat Survey’s top five New York City restaurants for more than ten years. Known for Portale’s defining modern American cooking, impeccable service, and soaring space, Gotham was recently named “Most Outstanding Restaurant” in the nation by the James Beard Foundation.
But what does Portale cook when he’s not working? In Alfred Portale Simple Pleasures, one of our most accomplished chefs invites you to taste the sublime and surprisingly easy-to-prepare, restaurant-quality dishes he serves to friends and family at home.
The 125 recipes include home versions of Gotham classics as well as new recipes straight from Portale’s home kitchen. They’re all simple enough for any home cook, and spectacular enough to impress anyone who tastes them.
At the center of Alfred Portale Simple Pleasures are elemental main courses such as Roast Cod with a New England Chowder Sauce, Filet Mignon with Madeira Sauce, and Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Button Mushrooms and Sage. Pick one, then build a meal by pairing it with recipes from the chapters of salads, starters, and small plates; soups, sandwiches, and pizzas; pasta and risotto; side dishes; and desserts.
Along with the recipes, Portale offers pairing suggestions for building a menu, variations for adapting recipes according to season and personal taste, and flavor-building instructions on how to accent a dish with extravagant extras such as caviar or everyday additions such as flavored oils. In other words, home cooks will learn how to add a Gotham-inspired twist to their own favorite recipes.
The supermarket-friendly dishes include modern classics such as Spicy Shrimp Salad with Mango, Avocado, and Lime Vinaigrette; Pumpkin and Caramelized Onion Soup with Gruyère and Sage; and Sautéed Spinach with Garlic, Ginger, and Sesame Oil. Alfred helps you transform everything from ordinary weekday lunches to Saturday night dinner parties into anything but ordinary.
Of course, no meal is complete without dessert, and Portale delivers sweet and sophisticated send-offs, including Lime Meringue Tarts, a simple Summer Plum Pudding, and an elegant Chocolate-Grand Marnier Cake.
Alfred Portale Simple Pleasures — nothing could be simpler or more pleasurable.
| ReviewIn cooking, says chef Alfred Portale, simple pleasures are “satisfying dishes that are relatively, and often surprisingly, easy to cook.” His Alfred Portale Simple Pleasures offers 125 recipes for a wide range of such fare, derived from his acclaimed Manhattan restaurant, Gotham Bar and Grill, with other favorites added to the mix. The dishes, which reflect Portale’s ability to meld the sophisticated and earthy, couldn’t be more attractive. In wideranging chapters, which include “Small Plates” and “Soups, Sandwiches, and Pizzas,” Portale offers the likes of Spicy Shrimp Salad with Mango, Avocado, and Lime Vinaigrette; Pizza with Roasted Chiles, Manchego, and Scallions; Duck Vindaloo; and Roasted Monkfish with Green Peppercorn Sauce. Included also are useful variations, as well as “flavor building” advice–you can amp up that monkfish, for example, with the addition of cremini mushrooms, shallots, and garlic butter. Though the recipes require no special ingredients, many of the formulas are, as Portale hints, best kept for times when the cook isn’t hurried. The reward of pursuing Portale’s approach also yields desserts like Lime Meringue Tarts, Chocolate Grand Marnier Cake, and Summer Plum Pudding. Simple Pleasures also offers color photos plus a helpfully illustrated ingredient glossary. –Arthur Boehm
From Publishers WeeklyAs in his two previous cookbooks, Alfred Portale’s Gotham Bar and Grill Cookbook and Alfred Portale’s 12 Seasons Cookbook, Portale uses the same flavor-enhancing principles he’s used at his top New York City restaurant, Gotham Bar and Grill, for 20 years, but works his magic on home-style foods rather than dishes that require a team of sous chefs to be executed properly. Portale makes particularly good use of vegetables, in such intriguing concoctions as Israeli Couscous Salad with Grilled Summer Vegetables, and Crisp Vegetable Salad with Sunflower Seeds and Mustard Vinaigrette. His headers are informative, like the one for Roasted Chestnut Soup that offers a rundown of how to choose and store the nuts. Repeatedly, recipes that sound somewhat familiar reveal a twist or demonstrate a technique: Roast Turkey, Avocado, Bacon and Blue Cheese Sandwich sounds almost ordinary, but includes a clearly explained method for brining a turkey breast that is helpful beyond the confines of one recipe. Roasted Wild Striped Bass with Leeks, Fingerling Potatoes and Lemon calls for steaming the fish briefly, baking it to draw out its flavor, then reducing the juices into a sauce, but Portale manages to maximize flavor while still minimizing the number of pans dirtied. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From BooklistChef Portale, who has accomplished the nearly unheard-of feat of keeping his Gotham Bar and Grill in the top range of New York restaurants for decades, turns to his version of simple home cooking. These recipes demonstrate Portale’s gift for novel adaptation of both common and unusual foods. Cod gets roasted with bacon, potatoes, onion, and cream for an imaginative take on traditional New England chowder. Chicken breasts appear with either an Italian-influenced sage and balsamic vinegar marinade or a Moroccan sauce of olives and preserved lemons. Adding noodles and cheese, Portale stretches two lamb shanks to serve four people. Some of Portale’s best work appears at the end of recipes in his “flavor building” notes, where he suggests enhancing a basic recipe by alternatively grilling instead of sauteing an item or by changing the herbs. Other imaginative variations enrich a dish for special occasions or substitute the fish or meat involved. Portale’s desserts include a satisfying crossing of cannoli, crepes, and tiramisu that is sure to be a show-stopping finale at any dinner party. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Bar Be Que Grills Photo
Bar Be Que Grills Image
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Bar Be Que Grills Photo
Most helpful customer reviews
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
 One of the Best Examples of Modern Cooking
By Emile AULD
The book is called Simple Pleasures not Simple Cooking !!
If you want to set your tastebuds alight, then go through some of the recipes in this book.
Sure it isn’t a book of simplistic recipes, of how to make your evening meal in 30 minutes or less, but that isn’t what you buy this book for.
If you want a book that shows you the recipes and thinking of one of the best modern American chefs, then you buy this book.
Having gone through the book, I think that this will be one of the cookbooks that I will use the most.
On a par with Bistro Cooking at Home by Gordon Hamersley, and Cooking One on One by John Ash.
Some of the best of modern American cooking is contained in these pages.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
One of my favorite cookbooks…simply outstanding!
By D. Guinther
I own a large number of cookbooks, and this wonderful book by Alfred Portale is one of my favorites. The recipes are creative yet relatively simple and easy to follow. In particular, he is an absolute master with seafood. Recipes such as “Asian Stripped Bass en Papillote”, “Lime and Butter-Braised Fluke (or Sole)”, and “Roasted Halibut with Lemon-Caper Butter” have all become favorites in our home. I highly recommend this book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Amazing!!!
By K. Stoltzfus
I bought this book years ago when first embarking on my culinary adventures. Mr. Portale has shown me that cooking can be a simple task, leading to glorious results. I adore the pasta section. This cookbook will make you look like a rock star in the kitchen. Mr. Portale’s other books are for more advanced cooks. This is definitely a great one to start off with.
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