New South Grilling: Fresh and Exciting Recipes from the Third Coast

St. John, a food columnist and the executive chef of three Mississippi restaurants, offers a refreshingly small book on grilling. Unlike many of the oversized and oversauced efforts of his BBQ contemporaries, this one “assumes that you already know how to light charcoal, rotate food, keep it away from direct flames, and make crosshatch marks.” It thus wastes no time in offering up simple, minimal instructions, buoyed by dozens of color photos, albeit many of the author himself. St. John is certainly not beyond the joys of good ole boy cuisine, but adds a touch of class. He likes andouille, but likes it better when it’s used to stuff a prime rib. There is Beer Can Chicken, but he prefers to call it Yardbird with Barley and Hops Enema. Three different mint julep recipes liven up a chapter on cocktails and there is Grilled Peach Shortcake for dessert. But most of all there is seafood. Bottom-dwellers represent with Grilled Crawfish Pizza made with a Basil Tapenade, tricky Shrimp-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms, and Soft-shell Crab with Cucumber-Dill Dressing. And among the finer finned filets there are Grilled Grouper Madeira, Marinated Cedar-Plank Salmon and Snapper Pontchartrain. No-stick marinades are key to many of his dishes: oil-based with hints of balsamic vinegar and spices that vary slightly depending on whether the target is meat, fish or poultry. (May)