5 comments about Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue.

1. This is a great book on North Carolina barbecue and is worthy of a spot next to "North Carolina Barbecue" by Bob Garner, another good read. They make you want to hit the NC barbecue trail!



2. This book is an excellent overview of North Carolina barbecue. What sets this book apart from others on the subject is the amount of detailed research. The authors not only did their homework, they interviewed many of the major figures in North Carolina barbecue first hand.
   
   The unique structure makes the book very readable. First they give a detailed history of barbecue in North Carolina while touching on the debates that echo within the state as to what constitutes "real" barbecue and what does not. This ranges from the style of sauce and what cut of the pig is used, to what fuel does the cooking (wood vs. gas, electric, etc.) Second, they go into the food in detail giving many excellent recipes and enough detail that even a barbecue novice could produce their own 'cue. Finally (and my favorite part) are the interviews. The authors scoured the state, interviewing the important restaurant owners and pitmasters who make North Carolina the epicenter of barbecue as we know it.
   
   Highly recommended for fans of good food and history.



3. "Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue" by John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed ($30, University of North Carolina Press, 316 pp.). This book does a great job of telling its story through its content supported by loads of pictures (although only black-and-white here). However, this book has a juicy back story that goes past being just an ode to the barbecue of its region. Everyone knows of the rivalry among the four major barbecue regions as to which one is the best. But North Carolina has its own rivalry within that rivalry between barbecue of the Piedmont and barbecue of Eastern North Carolina. The authors do a great job of telling that story, making this book all the better. This book, like the others, covers its topic in such a detailed manner that you'll be an expert by the time you finish the book no matter if you've ever set foot in the Tarheel State or not.



4. this is a great book, there are recipes, history lessons and local knowledge. anyone that wants to learn about N.C. bbq should get this book



5. This book goes beyond the recipe style BBQ books. It delves into the history behind various notable BBQ "joints" across the state. It is a good read, even for a BBQ loving native son.

5 comments about Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from the Pit Bosses.

1. The recipes are honest and simple enough for every level of BBQ er's. Have used a few recipes so far. My husband, with his new super grill, and I are both extremely happy with this item.
   We are going to purchase additional copies for family and friends. Experts or not.



2. Book arrived quickly and in excellent condition. A must for barbeque and smoker cooks. Good price too!



3. Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from the Pit Bosses (Paperback)
   
   This cookbook is amazing. It will take months to try all the recipes. The stories are wonderful and gives you an insight into how the barbecue came about.
   
   One thing that is different about this book that you don't see in most barbecue recipes is the sides to accompany the barbecue.
   
   You really need to try this book. You won't be disappointed.
   
   This book is everything we wanted, but I would like to see a sample of the inside of the books before buying. I realize you can't read the whole thing, but it would be nice to get an idea what you are buying.



4. I own this book and love it so much that I bought it for a gift for someone.



5. I love good BBQ. Seriously, who doesn't? I made a number of business trips to Texas starting about 19 years ago. It was on these trips that I was first introduced to real BBQ. Since I live in New Jersey, a state that until a few years ago barely had a single halfway decent BBQ restaurant, I had to learn to cook my own. I bought my first smoker, and built my second one. Now I have great BBQ whenever I feel the urge to start up one of the smokers.
   
   I know how to make a wicked set of ribs. My brisket is pretty fair. And pork is hard to mess up unless you dry it out or burn it. But I am always looking for inspiration, and that is an area where this book excels.
   
   While this book is a very good recipe book, it is also much more. It is a history of Texas BBQ. The pictures are awesome and so are the stories at the start of every chapter. The sidebars on many pages give insight, wisdom, and just some cool stories about BBQ. You almost feel like you are sitting down listening to these BBQ legends as they share their secrets of cooking great BBQ.
   
   Now most people familiar with BBQ know that you cook it "low and slow", using temps in the 200 to 250 degree range and you do that cooking using indirect heat. It would seem that is not always the case for good BBQ. Many of the pictures show pits dug in the ground and they are cooking over direct heat. They tell of cooking beef shoulder clods at 500 degrees for 4 hours. What? Too hot? Too fast? I guess not.
   
   There are some pages in the book that discuss the important topic of "sauce, or no sauce"? Well I love sauce, but I have also eaten a lot of really good BBQ that did not have a drop of sauce. Then there are the dry rubs to add flavor. Sometimes simple, sometimes complicated, usually a secret recipe, and they all taste great. Some of these legends from the book only use a little salt and pepper to season the meat. And it still tastes good!
   
   The one thing I am taking away from this book is there are many ways to cook good BBQ. And they all turn out some great BBQ.
   
   Chris

5 comments about Mastering the Grill: The Owner's Manual for Outdoor Cooking.

1. In addition to my copy, I have purchased three as gifts, and recommended this book to others. Without exception, all of my friends that use this book have raved about the ease of following the receipes as well as the quality of the finished product.



2. Very good book. Does what it says: teaches basic grilling science, basic meat knowledge, then has very good recipes. Hasn't failed me yet after multiple different dishes.



3. Absolutely the only grill cookbook you'll ever need. The recipes are all easy enough to prepare, and the info on how to really use your grill is excellent. Highly recommended. Great fathers day gift!



4. There have been many very positive reviews written for this book. And to those I wish to add my 5 star rating for this book. I have bought many copies for friends. More importantly, it has elevated my status amongst those friends as a grill master -- and I frankly owe that fame to these authors. Thanks for a job well done.



5. My wife and I probably own a couple of hundred cookbooks, but I can say this is one of the most complete cookbooks I've ever bought. I have been grilling since I took over for my mom on that chore at the age of around 7, and after around 50 years of practice, I believed I was very good on my Ducane gas grill, by which I mean that the meats I prepared were always enjoyed, and I have done things as complicated as a whole prime rib. But I had never thought about making pizza on the grill, or desert, or vegetables OTHER than fresh corn in the husks, which is the greatest.
   
   This book teaches you the basic science of food selection for grilling, and methodically teaches you about grill types and methods. The charts are clear and concise for such things as teaching you to gauge the temperature of a grill with just your hand. Also, I've never found them elsewhere.
   
   Every page will be full of things most of us haven't learned in a lifetime of grilling, and the illustrations are gorgeous and the recipes we've tried so far are wonderful. Be sure and check out that porterhouse steak au poivre. Lipsmaking good!

5 comments about The Ultimate Wood-Fired Oven Book.

1. Bought the book a couple of months ago. I have already bought every other book on pizza ovens. Even all the old ones that are out of print. This is a very good manuel for someone who is not a mason to learn how to build a good drafting pizza oven with her pizza oven kit without too much trouble. It also has a lot of pictures of different styles of ovens so you can build to suit your personality or the architecture of your house. You can also just show the photos to your mason so he can do it. Has recipes and technique tips that the beginner needs to get started actually cooking a decent pizza or piece of flatbread. Also she has a top notch web site and a cooking blog that is very interesting.



2. Not much to say except that this isn't the book for you if you're trying to build an oven or get any helpful ideas.



3. Worked very well to get it from the States (only 2.5 week) to Norway. Content is fine, although the building part stops with putting the pre-made oven part on top of the fundation.



4. I was disappointed that there was very little on the actual cooking process and even less with recipes.
   
   I don't see the point in printing pretty pictures af dishes and not even giving them names let alone recipes for them



5. This is a nice coffee-table type book which is more useful to convince someone how nice a wood-fired oven can look in the living room, than it is telling someone how to build or use one.
   
   Not what I was looking for, but maybe you are. It is not a *bad* book, certainly - only a little light on useful information.

5 comments about The New Vegetarian Grill, Revised Edition: 250 Flame-Kissed Recipes for Fresh, Inspired Meals.

1. Public awareness of the health benefits of a vegetarian diet are wide spread and increasingly commonplace. Now in an updated addition with 50 new recipes, The New Vegetarian Grill offers 250 different ways to grill tasty vegetarian fare. From Pistachio Quesadillas to Marinated Roasted Pepper, Spinach-Feta-Pizza, Wok-Grilled Vegetable Lo Mein, Tandoori-Style Vegetable Kabobs and much more, The New Vegetarian Grill proves that grillers don't have to be carnivores! A welcome and enthusiastically recommended addition to vegetarian cookbook shelves, especially as the summer grilling season fast approaches.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. Compares grill types; great marinades; helpful suggestions on different surfaces to put on your grill and what veggies they suit (i.e grill woks). Great recipes. I am not a vegetarian and will keep this book at the ready. A must have for the everyday griller.
   Also, there are interesting facts- did you know that the first charcoal was discovered and sold by Ford Motor Company?!



3. Some really great recipes. Will take some time to eat my way through it but I certainly will be trying.



4. This book is indexed by each vegetable and it gives you options for grilling these vegetables. It is easy to follow and the dishes are tasty.



5. An excellent resource for a wide variety of grilled vegetarian meals. Think:
   
   goat cheese, pasta, and grilled summer vegetables
   grilled pizzas
   pattypan squash towers
   black bean burritos
   grilled veggie burgers with onion and blue cheese
   refried bean tacos
   goat cheese and olive panini
   tomato basil panini
   egg in a nest with cheese
   herbed summer squash chips
   little mushroom bites
   grilled pita chips
   holiday chestnut-mushroom pate...
   
   and tons more!
   
   and pasta salads, side dishes, marinades, sauces...
   
   there is not only a wide variety of tastes from asian to southwestern to italian to good ol homestyle American, but excellent tips on how to grill as well.
   
   This is most assuredly a keeper for great summer meals.
   
   Negatives: no photos, no nutritional information

5 comments about The Plank Grilling Cookbook: Infuse Food with More Flavor Using Wood Planks.

1. it's ok but not exactly what I thought it was. Good for advanced plank grillers.



2. Bought this and some cedar planks and we are in Salmon heaven. Lots of other meats and the Cedar flavor is heaven. Enjoy this book if you love great food.



3. I bought this book perhaps two years ago (I write this review in August 2009). The introduction to this book (page ix) begins as follows: "If you have gone so far as to buy this cookbook, you no doubt are intrigued by the prospect of plank grilling. If you are anything like the four of us, you picked up a nicely packaged set of planks, with visions of all the culinary delights you would prepare with them, only to realize you have absolutely no idea what to do with them now that you have gotten them home."
   
   I can relate to that! I became interested in plank grilling because I had heard about the wonders of cedar-planked salmon. After two attempts at cooking salmon on planks, however, I found myself wondering what the big deal was. Then one day at the store I spotted this cookbook, flipped through it, and bought a copy. Problem solved! Turns out deciding how you want to prepare your food is only part of the game and that preparing and managing the plank is every bit as important if you want to do it correctly. The authors devote two pages to discussing the various types of planks on the market and what each does in terms of flavor and the like. They then devote eight pages to a thorough discussion of how to prepare the plank, how to manage the grill in terms of getting the plank ready for the food, and how best to manage the plank while cooking. This discussion is one of those things that you read and then say, "Duh, that's obvious now that someone's explained it to me!" (Funny how some of the "obvious" things in the world always need to be shown to you, huh?)
   
   It doesn't seem worthwhile to me to discuss the recipes in any cookbook in a review because I think whether a recipe will be appealing to an individual depends on the individual's taste. If you don't like beef, it doesn't matter whether the cedar-planked filet mignon with a port-based mushroom sauce tastes fantastic to me--that recipe won't appeal to you. (Cedar-planked beef? Indeed. Try it!) Instead, I'll just say that I have not yet been steered wrong by the recipes in this book. My approach when I try a new recipe out of a cookbook or magazine is that the first time or two I will follow the recipe to the letter because I think that gives me the best basis for determining whether I like the dish. Once I've prepared the dish a few times I might start experimenting. So far the recipes in this book haven't been ones on which I've needed to experiment. I suspect, given the nature of the plank grilling topic, that the authors already did a lot of that. For those wondering about how to select planks, note that the recipes usually include the authors' recommendations at the beginning. A few recipes say "ALL" for plank type. In those cases, you can flip to the front of the book to see what the different types of planks might do for the food (and, of course, you have to consider what sorts of planks you can get at the store).
   
   One final tip mentioned by the authors in passing that probably deserves more emphasis: If you've prepared your plank correctly, you'll get a fair amount of smoke coming from your grill. The smoke will permeate your clothes. Wear a ratty t-shirt you don't care about or else something you plan to wash soon. If you have company over when you're using a plank, you might want to have a change of shirt handy so that you can slip into the bathroom and change after you take the food off.
   
   If you're willing to take the time to read the introductory sections describing how to get the planks ready, and if you're willing to devote the time to following that advice when you try the recipes, then I highly recommend this book. If you're more interested in doing something quickly, if you're impatient, or if you don't like to follow directions, then you might be better-served by getting a smoker box and some wood chips.



4. I saw this book when I was vacationing in Anchorage Alaska last summer, and I did not get it at the time. I was able to locate through Amazon. The recipes are amazing, and instruction and illustrations are great. If you enjoy experimenting and trying new things in the kitchen or outdoor grill, this is a great investment.The Plank Grilling Cookbook: Infuse Food with More Flavor Using Wood Planks



5. Although I haven't tried any recipes yet, the book looks great, and it made a great Christmas gift

5 comments about Marinades, Rubs, Brines, Cures and Glazes.

1. This is a well thought out and complete guide.I like the idea that it has a section that tells you everything you need to have in your pantry in order to make good use of the many recipes.



2. I really enjoyed this book. I'm not so sure I like how it is organized as it is broken down into regions for recipes. I think it would be better to group by marinades, rubs, etc. vs. spreading them out by region. Otherwise, you will love this book. It hasn't failed me yet. Lots of applications.



3. A great addition to anyone's arsenal of cookbooks. It is pure food information without any cutesy extras that take away from the cooking experience. It's like a college level book on smoking, BBQing, and all the sauces that make a truly wonderful eating experience.



4. Recipes look great! Most look detailed. Not as many as I thought, based on reviews here.



5. This book helped me take my outdoor cooking to a whole new level,I had no idea of the brines and marinades that you can make with a few items you probaly already have in your food stock.Now before I cook I check this book for ideas so far I have gotten nothing but praise even from my wife who is reluctant to try new things,I reccommend this book to anyone who wants to improve there cooking skills and add new flavor to old and new recipes
   M. Luck

5 comments about Italian Grill.

1. I was given a gift of a piastra (Italian Grill). A flyer accompanied the grill that indicated this book has piastra recipes. I bought the book to find that the only 5-6 piastra recipes in the book are the same ones that were on the flyer. There is nothing special about this cookbook. Save your money.



2. As a grilling newbie/hobbyist I thought this was an interesting book to pick up as I've been a big Batalli TV/restaurant fan. After trying a couple receipes, it is very apparent this book rocks. The marinaded grilled Calamari receipe is my fav so far, the combination of flavors is unreal. You don't need to be a serious chef to make the receipes, just need time.It would be wise to buy the Piastra with the book. (also well worth it)
   
   Dan



3. I am a huge fan of Mario Batali so it came as no surprise to me that this book is another winner from the best of the best. While I no longer work as a chef I still enjoy creating Italian dishes at home or for friends and family. For the summertime this book showcases an awesome creative collection "ala Batali" that anyone can attempt and master. I recommend it to anyone who loves grilling the Italian way. Deliciouso Mario!



4. This book has some great ideas on grilling Italian style. It's filled with tantalizing recipes, using basic, simple ingredients put together smartly in the Tuscan way.
   
   I loved the "Grilled Pork Chops with Peppers and Capers" recipe. I made this and then had to take some photos because it looked so good. [...].
   
   Enjoy!!



5. My Dad taught me to barbecue. He also turned me on to James Beard who's Outdoor Cookbook with the great 50's photos was great. Decades later I got the Mario Batali Italian Grill cookbook. I've cooked probably 2/3 of the recipes over the last two years. They are great. I really like the porterhouse with the fresh herbs/kosher salt/freshly ground black pepper. And the spit recipes, particularly the chicken and pork loin. And the porkchops with the spicy sweet peppers. I could go on and on. It's now in my top 10 cookbooks, right along with Julia Child.
   
   I use a HastyBake grill with lump oak charcoal.

5 comments about Dr. BBQ's Big-Time Barbecue Cookbook: A Real Barbecue Champion Brings the Tasty Recipes and Juicy Stories of the Barbecue Circuit to Your Backyard.

1. I love this cookbook! I've had one for a couple years and bought this one as a gift. It is my first choice when cooking on my Big Green Egg smoker grill



2. If your interested in learning the art of low and slow then Ray is the man! He can teach you everything you need to know about making good bbq. I am the head cook of a award winning competition BBQ team and I can tell you he helped a LOT!! This book has so many great recipes it would be ashame for you not to buy it! Ray also has three other fabulous books, make sure you check the out!! Dr. BBQ's "Barbecue All Year Long!" CookbookDr. BBQ's Big-Time Barbecue Road Trip!Dr. BBQ's Big-Time Barbecue Cookbook: A Real Barbecue Champion Brings the Tasty Recipes and Juicy Stories of the Barbecue Circuit to Your BackyardThe NFL Gameday Cookbook



3. This cookbook is GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!! The recipes are great and perfect for grilling and smoking.



4. I was excited when I got this book and read it almost cover to cover before getting started. I bought the necessary spices to make some of the rubs and began putting them together. What a disappointment! The creole rub has 2 TBs of cayenne pepper in it. This has got to be a mistake! I also made the Big Time BBQ rub and it too was a disappointment. I've yet to find a good use for these rubs other than to toss them in the garbage.
   
   The real test for me was the brisket recipe. I carefully followed the short cut brisket recipe and made it exactly as instructed. The brisket was far from tender and the flavor was not impressive. I've cooked quite a few briskets and this was not one of the better ones.
   
   Regarding Dr. BBQ himself... I ran into him at the Eggtoberfest in Atlanta, GA in Oct 2009. I asked him for some tips on how to cook a brisket and he rudely told me to read his book.



5. One of many great BBQ books on the market. Good recipes and advice that have been tested in the real world of competition BBQ.

No comments about Art of Wood-fired Cooking, The.