Comments: As the chauffeur's daughter character says to the filthy rich Linus character in the 1995 remake of Sabrina: "More isn't always better, Linus. Sometimes more is just more."

We have been going back and forth as we worked through this book. Do we need 16 brines, 38 marinades, 49 sauces, 53 rubs, and a bunch more glazes, mops, salsas, relishes, jellies, sweet sauces, vinaigrettes, compound butters, pestos, tapenades, and spice blends? More specifically, can we make good use of more than 400 new grill flavoring recipes?

At the same time, we get questions every week from people wanting new brine recipes, so clearly people are looking for fresh ideas. At the very least, with this book, you'll never lack for ideas and recipes for ways to flavor foods that you are planning to grill.

Elizabeth Karmel does tell which meats and other ingredients will benefit from each brine, sauce, etc., but this book would be most useful if there were a broad cross-reference, telling you all the brines, sauces, rubs, and glazes that were well-suited to the ingredient you are planning to cook – say, pork chops. As it is, you have to page through all the recipes in the categories that you are interested in to find those best suited to pork chops, before you can begin your selection process.

There are inaccuracies here and there – Hollandaise is not one of the four classic mother sauces, for example. The section Lobster 101 does not inspire confidence among this group of Mainers. The rule of thumb that you grill any meat requiring longer than 20 minutes with indirect heat conflicts with the rack of lamb recipe that calls for direct heat for 45 to 55 minutes. And very few people we know – no one actually – thinks that homemade crème fraîche tastes better than the real thing.

Still, this book is a natural for those wanting to seriously broaden their grilling horizons.