5 comments about Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue Sauces: 175 Make-Your-Own Sauces, Marinades, Dry Rubs, Wet Rubs, Mops, and Salsas.

1. Good information about making sauces, marinades, etc. the cover of the book says it all. Easy to follow along with out getting lost.



2. This book is by far my favorite BBQ book. I am on my third copy of this book because I keep spilling sauce and rub over the other copies! If you are looking for good ideas on how to make your own sauces and rubs, this is the book for you. I haven't found a recipe that wasn't very tasty! In my opinion, this is the best book to use if you are interested in making your BBQ taste better. Paul Kirk also has other books that I have purchased, and have enjoyed, but this one is the one I go back to time and time again.



3. Don't get me wrong, this is a good book. But I already have The Barbecue Bible and Barbecue Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades. So this is a little bit of the same stuff. There are some really good recipes in here though. I highly recommend the Bible and you'd be fine with either this or the other one (or both) for more on sauces.



4. I received a copy of this book as a gift, and it sat around for at least a year before I cracked the spine. What was I waiting for?! Paul Kirk is both a great BBQ chef and an excellent teacher. While I have not (and probably never will) use everything in this book, I have used Kirk's methods and recommendations to develop my own rubs and sauces with suberb results. I prefer pork and chicken on the grill and in the smoker, and you can't go wrong following Kirk's advice. Rather than merely a collection of recipes (though there are plenty of great ones), this book provides you with the know-how to create your own recipes. If you love to BBQ, then get yourself a copy of this inexpensive yet essential book. And I may be needing a new one soon - my copy's getting a bit messy . . . .



5. This book is great for beginer and advanced cooks. It covers lots of stuff in little ways. Not only are there lots of recipes, but it is all described so that it is easy to picture in your mind. No pictures, but somehow that does not detract at all.
   
   The absolute best thing about this book is that I can feel the Mr. Kirk's passion about BBQ. I'm sure that eventually, he is going to start writing poetry on the subject. It is easy to tell that he has truly devoted himself to this. He talks about trends that he sees verses the classic style of BBQ.
   
   Great book! I'm looking forward to getting more of his stuff.

5 comments about Indoor! Grilling.

1. I have made one recipe so far and it was wonderful. The recipe is titled the Perfect Roast Chicken. It was done on the rotissere and turned out excellent.



2. This is a GREAT cookbook for any type of indoor grill you may have. Since I have a few different types of indoor grills, I appreciate the separate cooking instructions for each type. Every recipe we've tried has been a winner. I highly recommend making the sauces, compound butters, salads and other various accompaniments included with many of the recipes because, as good as the basic recipes are, these are often the soupçons that transport the dishes to whole new levels.
   
   The reviewer who complained about the recipes being not much more than salt and pepper must have another book, or must not be making the accompaniments. The Grilled Swordfish may seem pretty basic until you add the perfectly balanced, tart, creamy, puckery, garlicky flavors of the sublime Lemon Basil Butter. The Georgian walnut sauce is a killer with what might otherwise seem like standard grilled trout. The Cuban Sandwich and Medianoche are absolutely authentic versions of two brilliant sandwiches for which the cooking technique is paramount and clearly explained. The chicken recipes I've tried are all pretty darn terrific.



3. I currently live in an apartment where we are not allowed to grill for fire safety reasons. My wife and I are looking to move out soon to our own place and the first purchase we are making is a grill.
   
   Raichlen is an excellent teacher when it comes to all things grill and fire, take these words and learn them. Then get more adventurous, but after you master the techniques first.



4. This purchase went very smoothly. I received this book in the condition stated and in the time promised. I was very happy with this purchase.



5. 
   Absolutely fanatastic! Very well organized.
   Very helpfull tips. The recipes will
   allow you to take your George Forman to a new
   level.

5 comments about Smokin': Recipes for Smoking Ribs, Salmon, Chicken, Mozzarella, and More with Your Stovetop Smoker.

1. I used my stove top smoke all the time. This cookbook has great recipies specifically for the stove top smoker.



2. I bought this for my husband for Valentine's Day. He received the Smoker for Christmas. He loves the book and is eagerly anticipating trying some of the recipes. This book was recommended by a friend who also recommended the Smoker. Great purchase.



3. I agree with another reviewer who said this seems to be a book that is essentially a "here's what I do manual" by someone who owns a stove top smoker. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing, there's definite value in that. It's like a conglomeration of all the stuff you might take a couple of hours to find online, or having a friend over who has one of these and is just giving you some ideas. Not revolutionary, but pretty solid, and all the info and ideas are in one place. It was a good companion to the smoker I bought my boyfriend.



4. Just when I thought I had a good amount of knowledge about what can be smoked in the stovetop smoker, I recieved this cook book, (smoking recipes)! I must say that the recipes in this book certainly increased my knowledge about additional items that can be smoked! Well worth the cost of the book! All types of food, meats, vegetables, cheeses, etc.



5. I love to use my smoker, and this book is invaluable. Very good tips on stovetop smoking, and wonderful recipes. Go ahead, USE that smoker you have. You'll have healthful, lowfat tasty meals for everything from vegetables to fish (smoked salmon....mmmmmm....the BEST).

4 comments about Wood-Fired Cooking: Techniques and Recipes for the Grill, Backyard Oven, Fireplace, and Campfire.

1. This is a beautifully produced tribute to a neglected subject. The instructions are interesting and easy enough and it's hard not to run to the hearth and play while reading this. One of my favorite books of the year!



2. Very Informative Book about wood fired cooking that includes source information about suppliers of related products, characteristics of various fire woods, and many unique recipes. As a new owner of a wood fired oven it's a great reference.



3. Mary Karlin's Wood Fired Cooking is a well-llustrated, robust collection of recipes and suggestions for cooking in a wood fired oven. As one who is interested mainly in pizza I cannot comment intelligently on other recipes, but the pizza dough looks worthwhile, and I will be trying it. For a book on wood fired ovens, more information on baking pizza would have been helpful, particularly in distinguishing it from baking bread. Otherwise, the time and temperature suggestions for pizza are appreciated. My only wish is that recipes list ingredients in terms of weight rather than volume, using metric measures. OK, one last wish: use baker's percentages. Overall, a fine book to add to one's collection on either pizza or wood-fired ovens.



4. As we do like cooking out - no matter what apparatus being used - this was a very fun book to read thru!!! Lots of new ideas and different techniques to try... a great addition to our collection!! Thank You!!

5 comments about George Foreman's Indoor Grilling Made Easy: More Than 100 Simple, Healthy Ways to Feed Family and Friends.

1. This was a wedding gift.....BUT when I leafed through it I was unimpressed with the recipes! OR lack of!!!



2. The general layout of the book is good, and I have tried some recipes. However, I had hoped for some good basic information about grilling steaks, with some theory regarding thickness of cut and fat content. There are bits of theory scattered here and there but a chapter about general grilling tips would have been quite helpful, since the manual that was included with the grill had very little information.



3. The book is not worth the money. The few recipes are what the Foremans like to eat at home, and they are not that healthy of meals. The grill, however, is a good appliance.



4. This really didn't have as easy recipes I was hoping. They took a lot of ingredents that I don't have but I still got some good ideas.
   
   If you are a more advanced cook, this would be a great book.



5. Way to big for family of one or in a small kitchen. I returned it and was pleased how I was treated; treated professionally, quickly, and received all monies but the free shipping back.

5 comments about Peace, Love, & Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue.

1. I enjoy this book; the narrative is light, fun and full of not just interesting tips and tricks, but commentary on the rich (often recent) history of barbecue in the US.
   
   My one warning is that potential buyers should understand that, despite "recipes" being the first and largest word in the subtitle, they are relatively rare compared to the rest of the aspects mentioned. Many sections are accompanied by recipes; however, they are the exception rather than the rule.
   
   This is not to say that what's provided isn't great -- it most certainly is. It is also important to mention that when you are given recipes, they're often more than just "mix these together and cook them for this amount of time;" the authors tend to expound more on the actual ideas behind, for instance, dry rubs and sauces than simply giving a few recipes and calling it good. Dry rub development is given a thorough treatment, and explanations are provided for the various regional sauce preferences you're likely to find throughout the nation.
   
   I do recommend this for people interested in barbecue in general, particularly for its history; with respect to the quality of the writing itself, I doubt it gets much better. However, if you're looking for a cookbook, I suggest leafing through this at a bookstore first to see if it fits your needs.



2. This book written by Mike Mills and his daughter is an excellent source of information for those who want to learn more about barbecue history and major players in the industry, and also contains great advice on all the things one needs to know to BBQ as the pros do. Mike had won many awards for his BBQ and he is an excellent story teller. I would strongly reccomend this book for those who are interested in America,s homegrown culinary invention- BBQ.



3. I ordered this for my husband, and it came the next day, with regular shipping. I mean the very next day, I couldn't believe it!



4. A very good book on Barecue, it gave me a lot of ideas and recipes to try. I realy enjoyed all the profile of the different people he has come to know over the years.



5. The first rule of BBQ Club? Don't talk about BBQ Club. I've been doing BBQ for about three years now, perfecting my own sauces, rubs and techniques. What I found in Peace Love and Barbecue is an atypical book that is more helpful than not. It is fun to read, very folksy and has lots of pictures. Its recipes are not uniformly good, neither are they all bad. This book, unlike other books I have read on the subject, winks at the reader a lot. It lets you know that no good BBQ master truly lets go all his secrets, even while purporting to be doing just that. It covers all types of BBQ, has a lot of good history in it and I would say it provides at the very least, a very solid starting point for anyone who is looking for a foundation to build on. It reads like it is more honest than other books on the subject, but when I compare my own personal experience with what is found in the book, I find some of the information to be very mainstream - and not quite correct, almost as if Mike is happy to leave you with conventional wisdom on the subject rather than really get down into the nitty gritty of what made him such a winner. Still, all-in-all, it's a marvelous book, my favorite BBQ book so far, and I highly recommend it.

5 comments about Weber's Charcoal Grilling: The Art of Cooking with Live Fire.

1. This cookbook starts with grilling theory--types of charcoal, direct versus indirect heat and temperature control. The recipes and instructions are 1. tasty and 2. well written. The pictures make me hungry.
   
   Good book. I've used it as a reference many times. My wife got a recipe from a friend for beer-can chicken. I'm glad I referenced Weber's grilling guide as her friend's recipe called for lower cooking temperatures that may have sickened us. The beer-can chicken turned out perfect using the book.



2. This book is absolute brilliance. I had only a vague notion about how to properly manage a charcoal fire before I read this. Now I understand the advantages of a 2 zone fire, the importance of the right heat, and using the right amount of charcoal. As important is the wonderful collection of recipes. All the ones I've tried heretofore have been excellent. This is the first book I check for new recipes. New Weber Kettle owners should consider this their owners manual.



3. I bought this as a gift for my dad (the grill maven), and he usually thumbs through gifts when he first gets them, but this captivated his attention way past the initial flip through. He loves it, and he's a tough crowd for a book like this! For grillin' dads everywhere, I recommend this book.



4. Huge kudos to Weber for coming out with a book dedicated to charcoal grilling specifically. I give them 3 stars for that right off the bat! I've never understood what is (supposedly) so great an inconvenience about firing up the coals, but whatever. I actually enjoy that part of the process, and the taste is so special & superior it's a wonder anyone can then go back to gas. Guess we're in a mighty hurry. But I digress . . .
   
   WEBER'S CHARCOAL GRILLING gets a big thumbs-up from me. So far I've made about 30 recipes from the book, and many have made my own 'favorites list' (won't enumerate them here). Besides everything you would expect & hope to find in a topflight book of this nature, there are also excellent instructional helps throughout and an early chapter on grilling (delectable) appetizers. My family is delighted whenever dad is grilling (which makes me feel really good).
   
   So why only 4 stars? Because this book is literally falling apart. Many pages have lost all connection with the binding, and it's becoming like a deck of giant playing cards. Seriously, I find it ridiculous that after centuries of having and making books, mankind has apparently still not come up with a way to reliably secure a softcover's contents and keep them in place.
   
   But apart from the physical weakness, I give this guide to grilling high marks.



5. Should be included in a Grill Master's library. Easy to use and easy to understand. Perfect for the novice and advanced outdoor chef.

5 comments about Still Smokin.

1. This book has recipes for things one might not ordinarily think to smoke, along with some more typical fare. Great addition to any BBQ/smoked food book collection. The company's cookers are the best on the market, and they don't waste your time with weak recipes.



2. I recently bought a smoker for my husband as a father's day gift and could not find any recepies in regular cookbooks. So, after having to choose out of a pretty wide variety at Amazon, I picked this one. Although I prefer cookbooks with pictures, this book is clear, simple, without outrageous ingredients you can't find at any store. The ribs were delicious and we'll be using it again very soon.



3. bought this for a friend I like mine so much. you won't be disappointed. some trade secrets for even the seasoned smoker.



4. While I do not have a Cookshack smoker (have a Brinkman), the recipes in this book are wonderful. Love the salmon ones.



5. After receiving the book, I was a little skeptical as to how 150+ recipes could all be good, surely there had to be a couple of disasters waiting, however, after following recipes for "Smoky Sweet Beef Kebabs, Apple Smoked Pork Chops and others, we were thrilled with the results. I'd recommend this book for anyone starting to smoke foods. 4 stars.....

5 comments about Raichlen on Ribs, Ribs, Outrageous Ribs.

1. My only complaint is that the shape of the book does not let you keep the book open while you're ready the recipes. Other than that, great recipes, great tips, and step by step instructions



2. I bought this book to try and expand my knowledge on rib cooking and to get some more recipes to try. While I did learn a couple of things the book really lacks in the recipe department as some are so "outrageous" with the ingredients that no one woud try them. I was dissapointed as to the number of quality recipes as it advertised 99 of them. Definitely a begginners book.



3. This book describes the various cuts of ribs and how to cook them. It was easy to read and I couldn't wait to give it a try!



4. Just a great book and no need in my wasting my time here with over 100 reviews in front of me. Just buy the book, it is top shelf in every regard. After getting this book, I ordered two others from the same author. Got BBQ Bible, BBQ Bible sauces/rubs/marinades, and Grilling... something or another. All three are great. The BBQ and Grilling are both big 400+ page books but not the same type of books. Grilling is about know how, what grill, technique, etc.. and some recipes along the way. More of a general how to cook every kind of meat/fish/etc.. book. The BBQ Bible is loaded with recipe after recipe. So buy both books is what I am saying here. If you take BBQ serious, be sure to get the BBW Bible sauces/rubs/marinade book as well. Tons of info in this book.



5. I bought this Ribs, Ribs, Outrageous Ribs cookbook for my son who is a master at barbecuing, he cannot put the book down, he has so many new ideas. I can't wait to sample. Best book ever.

5 comments about Pizza on the Grill: 100 Feisty Fire-Roasted Recipes for Pizza & More.

1. One word... NO!!! OUTSTANDING book...outstanding pizza! Lots of pictures to go with most of the recipes which, I'm not going to lie, is usually what makes me want to try something out. The pictures look great and the pizza is equally as good.
   
   Couple of things... and maybe I'm just not as astute as a couple of the other reviewers, but for one... the indirect heating thing although it sounds sexy didn't work for me. Not even close. The side of the pizza closest to the heat was somewhat cooked while the side away from the heat WAS drooping down between the grating. For what it's worth, I have an "H" burner in my grill, not that I think that it would make all that much of a difference. I usually turn both sides on HIGH for the first 2 to 3 minutes until the dough is starting to firm up and get a couple of nice grill marks on it and then turn it to LOW on both sides until it is ready to be flipped.
   
   Secondly...before you attempt to make any of the pizzas in the book... pizza...peel. ABSOLUTELY essential. [http://fantes.com/pizza.html#peel] (best price / quality that I could find and at my house in < 48 hrs). The first couple that I tried were with a cutting board, multiple spatulas, and even with a 2 or 3 person effort was nothing less than a mess. Save yourself the effort. It's worth the $15. I use the whole dough ball from the dough recipe in the back of the book and spread it out relatively thin which covers most of the grate. That's usually enough pizza to serve about 4 people based on today's standard American diet.
   
   The only downside to these pizzas... and this is minimal as it's worth the effort overall... if you follow all of their recipes / ingredients the pizzas can be relatively time consuming. You can do a simple pepperoni or cheese pizza and be done in the time that it takes the dough to cook but any of the specialty pizzas require some sort of onion marmelade, roasted garlic paste, or SOMEthing that requires about an hour to make. Seeing as you have to wait about an hour for the dough to rise it's usually about a push...is just not Digiorno's 13 minutes in the oven... then again the taste makes Digiorno's look like the slab of cardboard that they used to try to pass for pizza in the school cafeteria.
   
   Nonetheless, my wife and I are pizza on the grill fanatics thanks to this book and I'll probably be gifting it to everyone I know for Christmas this year. It's that good. In the words of Donny Brasco... Fuggetaboutit.



2. I bought the book. It was so good that I then took the class at ICE in Manhattan with the both the authors. They made me a believer. One of the best experiences and one of the best pizza cook books available. Recipes can easily be modified and adapted. Recipes are easy enough that they can be prepared by anyone.



3. Fantastic cookbook - we use it all year long and have bought 6 books for our friends.



4. We've done pizza on the grill for several years....The book brought very interesing ideas and recipes.......Best Purchase of the Holiday Season!



5. We have made 6 different pizzas from this cookbook and have loved every one. Now that we have the hang of cooking pizza on the grill, we won't cook it any other way. We've so enjoyed this book that we've purchased and given it to three other families to try also. Definitely a keeper!