If a woman’s place is in the kitchen, a man’s place is surely at the grill. Right? The first part of that statement sounds hopelessly outdated, but the second part still seems to be in full effect. If you’re a woman and you like to grill, you’ll inevitably experience what I call “back-seat grilling”—a fascinating behavior among male bystanders with no particular expertise in outdoor cookery who will nevertheless try to co-opt your coals and determine your doneness. And Susan Hermann Loomis, a veteran cookbook author who lives the expat life in France, has certainly experienced her fair share of the phenomenon.
“I...