The new book Chasing Smoke: Cooking over fire around the Levant by Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich (Pavilion, $35) poses an organizational dilemma for us. Do we file it with our cookbooks—or with the shelves of travel reference? The authors grew up in Haifa and Jerusalem but their home grill, as they put it, radiates from the acclaimed Honey & Smoke restaurant (216 Great Portland Street, London, UK; +44-20-7388-6175; honeyandco.co.uk). It’s an extension of their original traditional Middle Eastern eatery in London, Honey & Co.

This book is essentially a food diary of their travels in the eastern Mediterranean—Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Greece, Turkey and other points. We don’t know whether to swoon more over Patricia Niven’s photographs of the food, or her shots of the places where the authors explore (and she follows close behind). In the image at the top of this post, Sarit and Itamar are resting on a sea wall in Alexandria.

Our biggest frustration with Chasing Smoke, which is being published in North America in June, is that it arrives so far before the summer harvest. We do appreciate the tips on brines and rubs for meats to be cooked on the grill. They call it BBQ, a term we think should be reserved for low and slow cooking over a very low fire. We say toe-MAY-toe, they say toe-MAH-toe. When it comes to making mouth-watering food, there’s no need to quibble over terminology.

Honestly, we can barely wait until local zucchini (they call them courgettes), eggplants (which they call aubergines), peppers (which they call peppers) and the aforementioned tomatoes are available. Combining meat and fire is an intuitive act. Combining vegetables and fire is a highwire act of getting a tasty char without over-softening the food. A pinch of salt, a little sumac, lemon, and olive oil and we’re pretty much in heaven. Later on, Chasing Smoke will be our guidebook to get there. Meanwhile, we’ll settle for being entranced by the pictures.

But since Pavilion has been gracious enough to let us publish a few recipe examples with Patricia Niven’s photos, here are Sarit and Itamar’s takes on grilled chicken and steak.

Chicken shish in sweet confit garlic marinade

Makes 6 skewers

The amount of garlic in the marinade may seem a little excessive at first, but please do try it, as the sweet, delicate flavor is simply fantastic. You don’t want to lose this by burning it, so it is really important to grill these skewers over a gentle heat. This is a great recipe to make ahead, as you can confit the garlic cloves a day or two in advance of making the marinade, and marinate the chicken for up to 48 hours before cooking.

• 800 g / 1 3⁄4 lb skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into large pieces (or left whole if oven-roasting)

For the confit garlic

• 1–2 heads of garlic, broken into cloves but unpeeled (about 150 g / 5 1⁄4 oz)
• 100 ml / 3 1⁄2 fl oz vegetable oil

For the marinade

• 1 batch of confit garlic cloves
• 3–4 tbsp garlicky confit oil
• 1 small bunch of parsley, chopped
• 1 heaped tsp flaky sea salt
• a few twists of freshly ground black pepper
• zest of 1⁄2 lemon (use the juice on the cooked chicken shish)

Place the unpeeled garlic cloves in a small pan or metal tray and cover with the oil. You may need a touch more, depending on the size of the pan – it should be enough to just cover the cloves. Set on the side of the grill where there is the lowest heat (or set it over a very low heat on the stove) and slowly bring to a boil. Once bubbles start to appear, cook for 10 minutes, then remove from the heat and set aside in the pan to soften and cool entirely. You can store the cooled garlic and oil in the fridge for up to 48 hours before using.

To make the marinade, lift the cooled cloves out of the oil (retaining it for later) and squeeze to pop the flesh out of the skins and into a small bowl. Discard the skins. Use the back of a spoon to smash the confit garlic into a pulp, then stir in the chopped parsley, salt, pepper, lemon zest and 3–4 tablespoons of the garlicky oil. Pour over the chicken pieces, mix well to coat, then thread the meat onto skewers. Place in the fridge and leave to marinate for anything from 1 hour to 48 hours.

When you are ready to cook, get the BBQ nice and mellow. Grill the skewers for 5 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for 5 minutes on the other side. Dab any remaining marinade or, if there’s none left, some garlicky confit oil on the chicken, then flip once more and cook for a final 5 minutes. Remove from the grill and squeeze the lemon juice all over them before serving.

Ribeye steak with smoky pepper salad

We grilled the steak pictured here for a large gathering after a day at the beach. The children with us were starving and kept sneaking little fingers into salad bowls and grabbing whatever had just been cooked. We told them that they needed to be patient, since a good steak on the bone takes time to grill, but that it would be worth the wait. Surprisingly, they did wait patiently for us to cook it … and then we (adults) really regretted advising them to do so, as they devoured the entire steak in minutes.

To serve 4 as part of a meal

• 1 large ribeye steak on the bone (650–750 g / 23–26 oz)
• olive oil for brushing flaky sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

For the smoky pepper salad

• 2 large, long Romano peppers 1 red chilli
• 1 small bunch of parsley, leaves picked and chopped
• 3 sprigs of fresh tarragon, leaves picked and chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• 4 spring onions, finely chopped
• flaky sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• zest and flesh of 1 lime
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil

Once your fire is really hot, place the peppers and chilli on the grill to char all over until they are blackened, soft and deeply smoky, Remove to a small bowl, cover and leave to steam a little, so that you can easily peel them.

While you are waiting for the peppers and chilli to char, mix the herbs with the garlic, spring onions, salt, pepper and lime zest. Peel the lime and dice the flesh into little cubes. Peel the peppers and chilli, remove the seeds and cut the flesh into thin strips. Add the lime flesh, peppers and chilli to the herb mixture, and pour in the vinegar and oil. Stir well, taste to check the seasoning and adjust as necessary.

Brush the steak lightly with olive oil and season well all over with salt and pepper. Place on a medium grill for 5 minutes, so that the outside has time to caramelize beautifully without overcooking. Flip the steaks over to cook for 5 minutes on the other side. Repeat this process to cook for a total of 10 minutes on each side. Remove to a platter and loosely cover with aluminium foil to rest without cooling too much – about 10 minutes should be perfect. Top with the smoky pepper salad and serve.

To cook without a BBQ

You can char the peppers and chilli directly on a gas hob or under the grill. Caramelize the beef in a very large ovenproof frying pan for about 5 minutes on each side, then pop in the oven to roast for 12 minutes at 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6. Allow to rest before serving, as above. You won’t have the delicious smokiness that cooking over fire gives you, but you can compensate by adding a really large knob of butter to the frying pan and/or seasoning with smoked salt rather than regular.