Charcoal, Smoke, and Fish Sauce: This Grilling Season, Take Inspiration From Southeast Asia

For an exciting new adventure in outdoor cooking, bring the region's vibrant grilling traditions to your own backyard

Satay of baby back ribs, Leela Punyaratabandhu's low-and-slow take on Thailand's ubiquitous pork satay: "Think of the ribs as pork meat that nature has already threaded onto skewers." Photo by David Loftus

Leela Punyaratabandhu’s memories of home are perfumed with smoke.

The award-winning cookbook author grew up in Bangkok, Thailand, where she was surrounded daily by the aromas of food cooking over a live fire—of charring meat and sizzling fat, tinged with fish sauce and lemongrass and the fragrant smoke of the smoldering coals below.