Simply BACKYARD BARBECUING From Grilling to Smoking: Tips, Techniques, 200 Flavorful Recipes Review

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(More customer reviews)I have all four of Chef Richard McPeake's FANTASTIC instructional books on the subjects of Grilling, Smoking and Barbecuing. This newest edition "Simply Backyard Barbecuing" is a triumph of not only Chef Richard's expertise in the Culinary Arts in general, but more so in his absolute SUPERIORITY in the procedures and preparations used for Grilling, Smoking and Barbecueing in particular. Genius is a word I use sparingly, and certainly infrequently. However, if there was ever a GENIUS in food and food preparation, Chef Richard McPeake is at the very top of the list. His prolific development of procedures, recipes, taste sensations and cookbooks enables any home chef, regardless of experience or expertise, to master the techniques of the grill and smoker. Reading Chef McPeake's instructions, quips, commentary and detailing makes learning and performing the tasks necessary for success extremely simple, interesting and informative. He is a born teacher and his cookbooks reflect his intent desire for his students to not only learn, but encourages us to have a level of confidence that leads to successful execution of each task and preparation. THANK YOU Chef Richard for your dedications to your craft and your students. Congratulations on your willingness to share so freely the many 'closely-guarded secrets' possessed by only a few TRUE PROFESSIONALS. And dear contemplating book buyer ... don't even THINK about cooking Barbecue unless you have THIS Book ! ! !

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When I think of barbecue, I think of low and slow. In the USA, when people say they are going to have a BBQ, they may think of firing up the charcoal or gas grill. I have taught many classes on smoking and grilling, and have realized that the need to know both and to teach both is very important to the Art of Backyard cooking. For this reason, I decided to do my fourth book on this art of backyard cooking combining my experience from both styles of backyard cooking. This book features some of my favorite techniques and tips from my Art of Smokology classes and Backyard grilling classes. Some of my old favorite tips are featured in the book....plus new techniques and tips from the 7 years of teaching classes in the Kansas City area. To finish this new combination book, I have added new chapters, over 200 new recipes and some of my favorite recipes with new twist. This new book is meant to focus on the tips about layers of flavor, what is happening to the meats you are smoking or grilling, different heat zones that you need to achieve before you even start grilling your food and proper techniques to achieve outstanding backyard BBQ! I am sure you will find some of the new techniques and tips great to learn and you will enjoy cooking with them in your backyard, like: (just to name a few!) Tips on buying meats. Using my essence of flavor information, before you even start to cook. Using a plank on your grill! How to use the proper technique of blackening in the true way. Guidelines for grilling steaks (One of my favorite points!). Guidelines for grilling seafood Regions of Barbecue in the USA. Types of Smokers. Types of Fuels. Secrets to Smoking Seafood. Smoke Infused Roasting.I have spent numerous years in the competition world, winning hundreds of awards. Also, my years teaching as an Educator of Que has helped me learn what people are looking for in their backyard experience, to enhance their grilling or smoked foods, not only for their families but for the many friends that they may entertain. To date, I have taught over 250 classes to over 9000 students. Those tips and recipes are all found in this new Simply Backyard Barbecuing cookbook. So I hope that you enjoy the many techniques, tips and recipes that we have developed and shared with thousands of friends and students over the year. I tell all our students that barbecuing is an art about creating layers of flavors in the food that you are cooking. Let your cooking run wild, add, subtract or give your own personal twist to the many recipes in the back of the book. But most of all enjoy your Backyard Barbecuing with your friends; involve them in the food, flavors and food of this Art!

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Raichlen on Ribs, Ribs, Outrageous Ribs Review

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(More customer reviews)Raichlen's premise is that everyone should know how to barbeque a good rack of ribs. I thought that was a good premise, and I had to admit that such an ability was indeed lacking from my own repetoire. It's not that I haven't tried. I got a smoker three years ago. Despite many efforts, producing lip-smacking ribs remained a hit or miss affair. I still hadn't acquired the confidence or technique that guarantees good ribs time after time.
So I bought Raichlen's book, hoping that he would make good on his promise that he would teach me how to make good barbeque ribs without fail. When the book arrived (from Amazon), I went straight to his "The One Rib Recipe Everyone should know."
After a quick trip to the store to get a couple of missing ingredients needed for his dry rub and sauce, I got down to business. The results? My oh my oh my! Better than I have ever prepared on my best day. Better than I have ever eaten at any rib joint. The delicious aromas wafting from my smoker suggested that something wonderful was happening. The sauce, the dry rub, the recommended procedure for cooking them all came together to make perfection!
About the sauce, I've made several barbeque sauces before, but his was the first one I made that had a hearty dose of lemon zest and lemon juice. Did that ever work! Tangy and sweet and flavorful. His dry rub mixture was also excellent.
There are 99 other rib recipes in this book, and most of them look really intersting. But the centerpiece recipe, the "rib recipe that everyone should know", is worth the price of the book alone. It's enough to turn you into a backyard 'cue pro, the envy of mere amateur tong wielders.

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Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue: Barbecue Your Way to Greatness With 575 Lip-Smackin' Recipes from the Baron of Barbecue Review

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(More customer reviews)A few days ago, I interviewed a thin, oversized book entitled `The Big Grill' published by a minor, undistinguished publishing house. The book had all the look about it of a volume destined to go directly from the publisher to the discount stacks, and I found nothing in the book which changed that opinion. The only puzzling aspect of the book is that the thumbnail biography of the author on the back jacket listed some very serious credentials for the author, Paul Kirk. By chance, I soon ran across this volume by the same Paul Kirk, published by the very serious Harvard Common Press, with very high powered blurbs on the back jacket from the likes of John Thorne and Tony Bourdain, plus several luminary barbecue restaurateurs. Like the case with my poor review of one of Nigella Lawson's lesser efforts, I was anxious to find a genuine source for all this admiration. Therefore, I do this review of a book that is dramatically different and better than `The Big Grill' potboiler.
A superficial look at the size and the cover of `Championship Barbecue' may give you the impression that the book is similar to Steve Raichlen's encyclopedic collections of barbecue recipes. While Raichlen's excellent `BBQ USA' gives a great history of the subject and a thorough collection of recipes from around the country, Kirk's `Championship Barbecue' is almost entirely the story of how to participate in and win barbecue contests, a skill he seems to have mastered early and excelled in often.
The very first thing which struck me about Kirk's description of what it takes to win at a barbecue contest is how similar it is to lessons learned by traditional chefs doing haute cuisine. Kirk repeats the mantra told by everyone from Daniel Boulud to Paul Robuchon that a lot of the secret comes from practice and attention to details. This is why he can freely teach people his recipes and techniques with little fear that it will give them the means to beat him at the next competition. To have even the smallest chance of matching Kirk's performance requires years of practice and experience, plus the stamina and discipline to check a smoker every 90 minutes overnight, thereby giving up a perfectly good night's sleep in order to insure 16 to 24 hours of smoking at a consistent temperature.
The only thing Kirk does not tell us is the recipe for his latest rubs and sauces, as he changes them for each year's competition. He is more than generous in telling us just about everything else. The book starts with three chapters, about fifty pages, on competition planning, equipment, rules, and preparation before he even gets to the recipes. The next hundred pages cover pantry preparations such as marinades, mops, sops, slathers, seasonings, rubs, sauces, salsas, relishes, and dipping sauces. Some recipes are borrowed (or stolen) from friends, but most are the author's own creations. My favorite recipes were for the most basic staples such as catsup, tomato paste, and Worcestershire sauce. The chapters where recipes cover completed dishes are:
Hog Heaven begins with a long essay on pork primals, brines, woods, whole hog smoking, and the recipes. While Kirk is based in Kansas, which is beef country, most big competitions have pork contests and some of the biggest contests such as the Memphis in May invitational are all pork. Note that Kirk is crystal clear on the difference between barbecue and grilling and he includes a lot of grill recipes which correctly are fast cooking over high heat, while barbecue is slow cooking with smoke over indirect heat.
Steer Crazy covers beef recipes, both for barbecue and grilling. Some recipes include veal and sweetbreads, but the main attractions are burgers, kabobs, sirloin, strips, filets, ribeye, and brisket. At the beginning of the chapter, Kirk clearly indicates which cuts are best for grilling and which cuts are best for `cue and which cuts can go both ways.
Lamb and Cabrito covers lamb and goat cookery. Cabrito is a method of roasting a whole goat that originated in Mexico. Lamb recipes cover Greek, Lebanese, Japanese, Indian, Caribbean, Tex-Mex, Hawaiian, French, and plain old barbecue.
Putting on the Dog covers all things you can stuff into a pig's intestines, otherwise known as sausage. It includes kielbasa, chourico, andouille, Italian, Texas Hill sausage, bratwurst, lamb, gyro, apple, and venison, oh my.
Plentiful Poultry covers birds, including burgers, wings, jerk, grilled, smoked, fajitas, quesadillas, Cornish, turkey, duck, dove, and quail.
Smokin' with the Fishes covers fillets, lots of catfish, grouper, mackerel, lots of salmon, lots of swordfish, lots of tuna, crabs, lobster, oysters, octopus, shrimp, and squid. Most recipes for fish are for the grill, but there are some smoker recipes for some of the firmer fish and game fish such as mackerel, salmon, and trout.
On the side is... sides dishes, mostly salads, casseroles, and bakes with potatoes, macaroni, and beans. Southern and Yankee cornbread and hoe cakes round out the list. I am really surprised to discover here that it is the Yankee, not the Southern cornbread that contains the sugar.
The book ends with an excellent section on sources for grills, spices, wood, and charcoal. Early in the book, there are also contacts for the three major barbecue competition certifying organizations. Be very clear that this book is great even if you never take the first step towards entering a barbecue competition. What makes great competition barbecue will make great home barbecue.
With two big caveats, almost all the recipes are pretty simple. The first gotcha is that a grill or smoker setup, even with Kingsford briquettes can be a pretty big chore, especially if outdoor space is tight. The second gotcha is that even reasonable quality barbecue needs a lot of attention to maintain a constant temperature with natural materials.
If you are up to the fire outdoors, this is the book for you!

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Peace, Love, & Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue Review

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(More customer reviews)Peace, Love and Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales and Outright Lies From The Legends of Barbecue
Mike Mills & Amy Mills Tunicliffe
A Book Report by Gerry Dawes (Appeared in Food Arts magazine.)
This is a book report, not a review. I wrote the June 2004 Food Arts Silver Spoon Award piece about Mike Mills, the Southern Illinois Barbecue Legend Mike Mills, who, with his Apple City Barbecue Team won the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest more times (three, four in ribs) than any team in history. Mills has long been a friend of mine and still is, despite the outright lies he told about me and a lot of other people to his daughter, Amy Mills Tunicliffe, who wrote her father's story's in the remarkable, but veracity-challenged Peace, Love and Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales and Outright Lies From The Legends of Barbecue.
At least I am in good company. Bill Clinton, Calvin Trillin, Tom Viertel (producer of The Producers, Smokey Joe's Café, Driving Miss Daisy), the New York super-restaurateur Danny Meyer, Chef Michael Romano and star Vogue food writer Jeffrey Steingarten, along with most of the `cue superstars world are all in this book on down-home and championship circuit barbecue. In the foreword, Meyer, Mills's partner in New York's Blue Smoke Barbecue joint, wrote a pean to pig and to Mills. The exalted Vogue food writer, Jeffrey Steingarten, who wrote the saucy introduction calling Mills "one of the greatest barbecue cooks of all time," once wrote an article claiming that Mills's Memphis Championship Barbecue restaurants in Las Vegas are his favorites, only after Nobu.
While this indispensable guide to American barbecue could have been just that, a guide, it is much more. It is a loving (the "Love" in the title is no tall tale or outright lie) look at the Who's Who of American Barbecue as seen through the eyes of this country's greatest barbecue hero, who, like some starry-eyed youngster (Mills is in his 60s), often refers to these barbecue legends, his peers, as "awesome."
Mills takes us on visits to all the great barbecue legends of the south (and a few in the north as well), eating their barbecue,"visiting" with them, letting them tell their stories, and then trying to pry cooking and recipe "secrets" out of them, which is no easy task since they will sometimes tell him the ingredients (usually minus the "secret"), but they often won't give him the recipe quantities. (Mills plays this game himself; he told Steingarten that he would give him the recipe for Mills's celebrated 17th St. Bar & Grill `Magic Dust' Dry Rub, but then he said, "I would have to kill you.")
Besides picking pork, Mills picks the brains of such American Barbecue superstars as Don McLemore and Chris Lilly at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q (Decatur, Alabama); Desiree Robinson at Cozy Corner (Memphis); Billy Bones Wall (Midland, Michigan); Vencil Mares, The Taylor Café (Taylor, Texas); Paul Kirk, The Baron of Barbecue (Kansas City, Missouri); Wayne Monk, Lexington Barbecue (Lexington, North Carolina); the legendary El Mitchell, Mitchell's Ribs, Chicken & BBQ (Wilson, North Carolina) and many others. The story about Rick Schmidt, the owner of Kreuz ("Krites," Lockhart, Texas), ceremoniously moving-along a road thronged with his loyal barbecue customers-the hot coals, which have never been allowed to got out, from the old family establishment to his new place after a family feud with his sister is alone worth the price of this paperback book.
There are "secret' barbecue recipes galore-Mama Faye's Home Style Potato Salad, 17th Street's Tangy Pit Beans, Big Bob Gibson's White Sauce, Wilber Shirley's Hush Puppies, Eades Family Banana Pudding and Strip and Go Naked Punch (don't ask!)-enough to open the world's greatest barbecue joint. However, if you did, several somebodies would have to kill you and, besides, you would be too disabled by the hernia you would get from lugging in the 100-pound sack of sugar it would take to make all these sauces, potato salad, salad dressings and iced tea, many of which call for a minimum of two cups of sugar, refined white sugar, by long-standing habit.
The last chapter is devoted to a good nuts-and-bolts barbecue tips and a terrific list of this country's greatest real barbecue joints, but he whole book is full of Mike Mills's indispensable barbecue (and life) wisdom, practical tips, recipes and, indeed, secrets like my Gerry's World's Finest Barbecue-Friendly Margaritas. It seems that one day down at Mike's 17th Street Bar & Grill in Murphysboro, Southern Illinois, he induced me to give him my Andalucian Sangria Recipes, then after we drank two pitchers of white and red sangria, he wormed the margarita recipe out of me. However, I didn't give him the "secret" twist that I put in them, otherwise I would have had to kill him.
But, on second thought, I couldn't kill him. He might have another great book like Peace, Love and Barbecue in him. And I certainly wouldn't want to deprive the world of that.
The book is awesome.
- The End -


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A one-of-a-kind collection of recipes, photographs, and behind-the-scenes stories from legendary pitmaster Mike Mills.In this unique combination of cookbook, memoir, and travelogue, Mike Mills, the unrivalled king of barbecue, shares his passion for America's favorite cuisine--its intense smoky flavors, its lore and traditions, and its wild cast of characters.Through conversational anecdotes and black-and-white photographs, readers meet a diverse circle of colleagues and friends and join Mills in a behind-the-scenes tour of the barbecue contest circuit, with stops at some of the best "shrines, shacks, joints, and right-respectable restaurants."Also included are prizewinning recipes that have earned Mills his fame and fortune as a barbecue maestro. These 100 recipes will enable anyone with a grill to achieve champion barbecue flavor right in their own backyard. The selection features Mills' own secret concoctions and treasured family recipes as well as choice contributions from his pitmaster friends, and it covers all manner of barbecued meat and fish, sauces and dry rubs, as well as the sides, soups, and down-home sweets that complete any great barbecue feast.With its folksy, fun-loving tone and its unique insider's take on a hugely popular--and deeply American--subject, this volume will appeal to barbecue lovers, food mavens, and cooks of all stripes.

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Low & Slow: Master the Art of Barbecue in 5 Easy Lessons Review

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(More customer reviews)I buy far too many cook books. I have everything from the Cooks Illustrated line-up to some Food Network/ PBS shows, etc.
This has to be the best instructional cook book I have read.
This book is not a sum total of recipes, nor is it a compilation of how the technique was developed... It is a lesson plan. It is very much a course in how to barbecue and after you have learned each lesson you will truly know how to read what is going on with your fire and food.
You won't have to go search a website to find out the amount of time you should leave ribs on and at what temperature. You won't have to purchase some digital thermometer or fancy temp control. No more guessing, speculating, or making things much more difficult than they need to be.
After all, should barbecue be that difficult? This is the book that will teach you how, it will give you the skills. You can use this with a weber smokey mountain, an offset, or... a kettle grill!
Now, there are also some great recipes in the book to boot! You'll learn some flavorful marinades and you'll learn the basics of a marinade so that you can whip one up from scratch! The same with brines and with rubs! Being able to create these things successfully from scratch is what separates the ok bbq'er from the great and confident one.
There is also a whole section on what to do with leftovers. I had some smoked chicken left over and used one of the recipes... now I smoke the chicken just to make left overs. By the way, it is the best chicken I've bbq'ed. And it is so fast and easy now that I've done it a couple times.
I can't say enough good things about this book! It is a steal for the price, GET IT!
On a side note, it is really damn fun to work your way through the lessons as well :)

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Step away from the propane tank. Surrender all of your notions about barbecue. Forget everything you've ever learned about cooking with charcoal and fire. It is all wrong. Get it right with the "Five Easy Lessons" program, which includes over 130 recipes and step-by-step instructions for setting up and cooking low and slow on a Weber Smokey Mountain, an offset smoker, or a kettle grill.This program is guided by a singular philosophy: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Do exactly as Gary says, don't even think about opening the lid before it's time, and you will learn:• What gear you do and, more importantly, don't need• Exactly how to start and maintain a proper fire (without lighter fluid)• All about marinades, brines, and rubs• To use your senses and trust your instincts (instead of thermometers)• How to make delicious, delicious barbecue

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Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book: Recipes and Secrets from a Legendary Barbecue Joint Review

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(More customer reviews)This book contains a variety of recipes along with ample history of Big Bob Gibson's barbecue.
At present, I have tried from the book:
(1) the pork shoulder recipe, served with the Memphis style sauce
(2) the whole butterflied chicken, served with Bob Gibson's famous white sauce.
Both were outstanding and each was easily worth the price of the entire book, particularly the white sauce-WOW.
both followed classic barbecue techniques and did not require excessive preparation or a half dozen steps.
In addition to covering the most common types of barbecue, the book also includes side dishes, an occassional dessert, and a variety of sauces--most derived from something done at Big Bob Gibson's or by Chris Lilly in competition.
There are lots of great barbeque books out there, what this book brings is (1) recipes that have routinely won awards at barbecue competitions-lots of awards, (2) some unique Bob Gibson sauces that are terrific (3) a enjoyable history of the man and the restaurant.
I look forward to trying more recipes in the future.
NOTE: I tried these on the big green egg, which is well suited for long cooking sessions. Even though the book does not address ceramic cookers, the recipes are not equipment specific. But the obviously amazing results possible (and amply described) with a true barbecue pit and 100% hickory make it clear there is another level of barbecue out there.

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Serious Barbecue: Smoke, Char, Baste, and Brush Your Way to Great Outdoor Cooking Review

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(More customer reviews)I have read enough of this book, to be able to say; "I think it's a great book." I own a lot of barbecue related cookbooks and I have had the great good fortune, as the moderator of BBQForum.com, to have read over 700,000 posts to the forum by BBQ people. So I have been exposed to a lot of barbecue. This is one of the best books, about barbecue and outdoor cooking in general.
In 2005 I did a podcast interview with Adam and I have read his detailed posts to the forum. I have never actually meet Adam in person. However, I know a little bit about Adam. He knows how to cook and not only that, he knows what happens to food when it's cooking and can explain it to you.The book really focuses on layering flavors. So, when people taste food cooked the way he explains it, they are in for taste treats, one after another.
With all my 14 years of daily exposure to the wisdom of some of the top barbecue cooks in the country and all the cookbooks I have read, you would think I would have a good grasp of the situation. But, in reading this book I am learning a lot of new things.
I don't hand out these compliments lightly. This is not just a "low and slow pure barbecue" cookbook but he carries his knowledge of "pure barbecue" (he has won prestigious "pure barbecue" awards to back this up) into all levels of outdoor cooking. There is a lot of direct grilling and indirect smoking information. I don't care if you're an expert cook or a beginner, you will get a lot out of reading this book.


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