Mario Batali rekindles an old flame: grilling

Do Americans really need advice from Italy on how to grill?

Well, yeah, according to Mario Batali, the American chef who has built an empire as one of this country's masters of Italian cooking, with seven New York restaurants and spots in Vegas and L.A., television shows, and six cookbooks, including his newest, "Mario Batali Italian Grill" (Harper Collins, $29.95).

Before anyone takes offense, however, in terms of grilling prowess, "Americans are the masters — hands down," said Batali.

The point is: Italians do some pretty cool things, too, focusing on ingredients, simplicity and a light touch when it comes to the flame.

Rather than "goopy" sauce, he said, you'll find light marinades. And rather than charring, the focus is on smoke. "That fifth flavor — what they call umami in Japanese... in Italian, it's smoke," he said. "But you're just looking just for the delicate flavor of smoke to come into the game, rather than be the game."

"If you look at the asparagus wrapped in pancetta from the new cookbook, the smokiness you get should never overpower the porkiness of the pancetta or, most important, the asparagus."

But Batali is, after all, an American (he's from Seattle, where his family owns Salumi Artisan Cured Meats in Pioneer Square).

So in addition to lovely dishes such as pork shoulder braciole, lamb chops scottadita, chicken cooked under a brick, rosemary shrimp skewers, the monolithic Tuscan T-bone Fiorentina and pizzas, the book has a few distinctly made-in-the-U.S.A. surprises.

For instance, Buffalo-style drumsticks with Gorgonzola dressing, prime rib, and "corn as Italians would eat it."

Italians eat lots of polenta, but they seldom eat corn on the cob. Nor do they eat barbecue sauce over there.

But when his Italian friends visit him in the States, they more than get by.

"Oh, yeah, when they come here they freak out about American barbecue, pork or beef, because it's done with smoke and not necessarily with so much heat. When you get Texas brisket done the right way in a smoker, it's remarkable."

But if he wanted friends visiting from The Boot to eat everything on their plate, Batali said, there are more than a few things he would serve from "Italian Grill."

First, that irreverent corn (it's flavored with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Parmigiano-Reggiano, mint and red pepper flakes) "because they wouldn't even know what it is. And they would flip out over the prime rib. American beef has some of the best flavor in the world. That would knock them out."

Not that Batali decided to do a grilling cookbook to make his Italian friends happy.

"It was time not to do a restaurant book. It was time to relax," he said. "When I'm at home, or in Michigan, this is what I really cook," he said.

He and his wife, Susi Cahn, and sons Leo and Benno have a vacation home on the Leelanau Peninsula. "Last summer we (photographed the book) over Fourth of July weekend. All summer [the kids and I] cooked all these recipes.

"They go wild over all the little bread things, the focaccina [with roasted garlic, green onions and provolone] and the piadina [with prosciutto and mascarpone]. They love anything in cartoccio [foil packs], so we'll do the clams that way and throw them on the grill.

"And if we do anything on the spit roaster, the kids go wild," adds Batali. "They love the sound it makes — that hrrrn-hrrnnnn — there's a lot of promise in it. They know they're going to have a good time when they hear that."