Grillin’ Round the Globe

By Warren Rojas

The Best Barbecue on Earth

PBS barbecue guru Rick Browne has made a career out of chronicling Americans’ passion for outdoor cooking. That’s why for his latest book, “The Best Barbecue on Earth,” Browne decided to instead check in with the rest of the world—only to discover that their affinity for flame-kissed fare rivals our own.

Brown’s exhaustive barbecue opus includes a host of mind-boggling worldwide dining tidbits (Argentineans consume approximately 150 pounds of beef per capita to the U.S.’s 67 pounds a head; Bavarian sausage lovers have over 1,500 varieties to choose from; elevated heliotropin levels in Tahitian vanilla make it such an effective calming agent some doctors have begun using the beans in cancer therapy), colorful anecdotes (Australian parks are dotted with coin-operated barbecues; the Portuguese are rumored to have a different recipe for salt cod for every day of the year) and, of course, plenty of mouthwatering recipes.

Regional specialties include: pepper-orange rib roast (Australia’s take on citrus-brushed beef), Hoisin-cashew lamb (Sino delicacy involving rice wine,

Thai chili sauce and Szechuan peppercorns), Stilton rib-eye steaks (British favorite consisting of potent blue cheese, butter-crumbled bacon), turkey mole (spiced chocolate bird born from Mexican kitchens), pecan-walnut-crusted bacon roast (a mango salsa-covered pork loin courtesy of Canada) and brown-sugar spare ribs (an American original weaving together beer, savory and aromatic woods).

“The Best Barbecue on Earth.” Rick Browne. Ten Speed Press, 272 pgs., $22.95. To learn more about Browne, his nationally syndicated TV show or his previous cookbooks, visit: www.barbecueamerica.com.

(September 2007)

Tags: BBQ, Chew on this, recipe central