Steven Raichlen went to Europe to study what people ate in the Middle Ages. He emerged with the beginnings of a career that would eventually take him around the world in pursuit of something far older and more elemental: cooking over fire.
The Baltimore-raised French literature graduate became one of America’s best-known authorities on grilling and barbecue, writing dozens of books, hosting public television programs and teaching generations of home cooks how to manage smoke, flame and heat.
On Thursday, Oct. 22, he comes to Books & Books in Coral Gables with a different kind of book: his own life story.
Man on Fire: Of Life, Love, Literature, and Really Good Barbecue, published Tuesday by BenBella Books, is Raichlen’s first memoir. The free event begins at 7 p.m. at the bookstore’s Aragon Avenue location.
More than another barbecue book
The 352-page memoir follows Raichlen from childhood through his studies in French literature, travels in Europe, early struggles as a freelance writer and eventual emergence as an internationally recognized authority on live-fire cooking.
It also revisits the encounters and unlikely turns that shaped his career, including a friendship with Julia Child, a private grilling lesson for Howard Stern and a victory over an Iron Chef on Japanese television.
Raichlen includes 25 recipes, but he has emphasized that the book is not intended to be another cookbook.
“I was very adamant that there was no mention of it on the cover because I wanted people to buy it as a memoir,” he told the Vineyard Gazette in an interview published Oct. 8.
The recipes nevertheless trace the geography of his life: Baltimore crab cakes, medieval mulled wine, maple-sriracha chicken wings from Quebec, a Miami-inspired chilled mango soup called “mango-spacho,” and the ribs he prepared for his televised competition in Tokyo.
Raichlen told the Vineyard newspaper that writing the memoir took about two years. Deciding what to leave out proved especially difficult.
“I think the biggest challenge was what to leave out, because the temptation is to include everything, and you can’t,” he said.
Some memories were harder to revisit than others. Raichlen identified the book’s third chapter, concerning his mother, as the most emotionally difficult to write.
“The most difficult part was the third chapter, the worst day of my life, about my mother,” he told the newspaper.
The result is a book that reaches beyond culinary technique to examine family, adversity, ambition and the unexpected directions a life can take.
A scholar discovers the kitchen
Raichlen’s route into food writing began at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he studied French literature.
After graduating, he received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to research medieval cooking in Europe. His travels took him into historic kitchens, libraries and culinary traditions that connected food to larger questions of history and culture.
He subsequently worked as a translator at a Parisian cooking school, pursued restaurant criticism and wrote about wine and spirits.
That background helps explain why his later books have concerned themselves not merely with recipes but with the cultures and traditions surrounding them.
His breakthrough came with The Barbecue! Bible, published in 1998, which introduced readers to grilling techniques and dishes from around the world.
He followed with books including How to Grill, Planet Barbecue!, Project Smoke and Project Fire, building a career that extended to television.
His PBS programs have included Primal Grill, Project Smoke, Project Fire and Planet Barbecue. He has also appeared on French- and Italian-language television.
Raichlen’s books have earned five James Beard Awards, and he was inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame in 2015.
His travels, according to the publisher, have taken him to 75 countries on six continents.
Along the way, he established Barbecue University, a program devoted to teaching the techniques and traditions of live-fire cooking.
Praise from the world of barbecue
The memoir has attracted endorsements from some of the most recognizable figures in contemporary barbecue and cooking.
Aaron Franklin, the Austin pitmaster known for Franklin Barbecue, describes it as a personal account of how food and cooking can shape a life.
Argentine chef Francis Mallmann, whose own cooking emphasizes open fire, praises Raichlen’s ability to connect barbecue with culture, travel and the pleasure of cooking.
Emeril Lagasse and Derek Wolf of Over the Fire Cooking have also endorsed the book.
The praise reflects Raichlen’s unusual place in the culinary world: a writer trained in literature who helped popularize grilling as a subject worthy of historical investigation, international travel and serious instruction.
A familiar face in South Florida
Although Raichlen’s work has taken him around the world, Miami has long been one of his homes.
He and his wife, Barbara, divide their time between Miami and Martha’s Vineyard. His connection to South Florida’s culinary culture includes Miami Spice: The New Florida Cuisine, published in 1993, well before his best-known barbecue books.
He has also written fiction, including his 2012 novel The Hermit of Chappaquiddick, drawing on another place with which he has longstanding ties.
Books & Books has previously hosted Raichlen for appearances connected to his culinary writing. The bookstore regularly presents authors whose work explores the relationship between food and culture, including Bobby Hicks, who discussed his historically inspired Retro Recipes cookbook in June.
Raichlen’s return to Coral Gables offers readers something different from his earlier books: not another set of instructions for mastering the grill, but the story of how a student of literature and medieval history found his life’s work in fire.
If you go…
Man on Fire: An Evening with Steven Raichlen takes place Thursday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. at Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables.
The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
An RSVP provides general admission but does not guarantee seating. The bookstore recommends arriving early and asks guests to reserve only if they intend to attend.
Copies of Man on Fire: Of Life, Love, Literature, and Really Good Barbecue will be available for purchase at the event. The hardcover carries a list price of $29.95.
Register for the event through Books & Books on Eventbrite.
Author: Coral Gables Gazette News Staff
Originally established in 1996 and relaunched as a digital publication in February 2025, the Coral Gables Gazette is an independent local news organization dedicated to factual, objective and accountable community journalism. Our newsroom reports on the people, policies, institutions and events shaping Coral Gables, Florida, providing residents with timely, informative coverage of the issues affecting their community. Our reporting includes City Hall, local government, municipal elections, public spending, real estate development, business, education, arts and culture, and neighborhood affairs throughout the City Beautiful. We follow City Commission decisions, examine public records and report on the businesses, organizations and individuals contributing to Coral Gables. We believe informed residents are essential to a healthy, engaged community. Stories published under the Coral Gables Gazette News Staff byline are prepared or compiled by the publication's editorial team. We strive for accuracy, fairness, transparency and clear distinctions between news reporting, opinion and advertising. Readers are encouraged to submit news tips, corrections, editorial inquiries and story suggestions through our Contact page and learn more about our standards through our Editorial Policy.
