Review: Handstands in the shower
At the start of Weber Hot & Spicy, the latest addition to his series of Weber recipe books, Jamie Purviance delves briefly into the SHUs of several locally available chilies and offers suggestions for what should be used with what to bring out the best in them.
Book: Weber Hot & Spicy
Author: Jamie s Purviance
Reviewed by: Samantha Keogh
Review made possible by: Penguin Random House
If you are a spicy food aficionado you probably know that the hotness of chilies is measured in Scoville heat units or SHU.
But do you know the SHU of, say, a Habanero or an Ancho?
At the start of Weber Hot & Spicy, the latest addition to his series of Weber recipe books, Jamie Purviance delves briefly into the SHUs of several locally available chilies and offers suggestions for what should be used with what to bring out the best in them.
In the “fundamentals” section of his book he also discusses how to prep chilies, the efficacy of dried or smoked chilies over the fresh-from-the-vine kind, what the spicy pantry should contain and how to meld spices to breathtaking effect.
But while for one recipe he advises wearing rubber gloves when slicing Habaneros (to protect the skin) his recipes emphasise taste rather searing heat and every one of them notes the level of spiciness.
Braaied Scallops, for instance, are 3/10.
Once again, the local edition has been tailored to South African readers (he talks about braais, not barbecues) and most ingredients are easily available here or, most likely, already sitting on your kitchen shelves or in your fridge.
As usual, he covers starters, main courses and desserts.
He offers ways to spicily braai fish, seafood, poultry and most meats and even has a vegetarian section (which contains a rather delightful recipe for Smoky Brinjal Caviar).
Then there are the seasonings and sauces.
Yes, there is Portuguese Piri-Piri which comes in at 10/10 – but there is also Blazing Hot Habanero Rum Sauce which is handstands-in-the-shower stuff.
If you prefer something a bit less lively, you might try the Porterhouse Steaks with Black Pepper Butter, which scores just 2/10, or the Prawn Tails with Bloody Mary Cocktail Sauce at 6/10.
But remember, this is a braai book and everything in it uses the braai.
It’s not to be perused and put on the shelf and forgotten.
It’s great fun and should be treated that way.
Purviance is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) – arguably that country’s most prestigious chef school.
He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and has taught English across the world.
He fell into cooking almost by accident, emerged top of his class at the CIA and is now regarded as America’s leading expert on braaing with a Weber.
Apart from this book, he has also written a slew of cookbooks for the Weber company, including Weber Mediterranean, Weber’s Time to Grill: Get In. Get Out. Get Grilling, Weber’s Smoke: A Guide to Smoke Cooking for Everyone and any Grill, Weber’s Real Grillings, and Weber’s Charcoal Grilling.
