Famous Dave's Backroads & Sidestreets

Awesome cookbook. Color photos, (mandatory in my opinion for a cookbook)and Fantastic recipes. There is a spicy & sweet cole slaw recipe and a baked bean recipe that are out of this world. Both have earn me "Best I've ever tasted" comments on numerous occassions. And that is just the side dishes. Get this book for the real deal in American cooking. Straight ahead, pedal to the metal, low on formality, full on flavor. Should be a mandatory book for every guy in the USA; or for anyone who has to cook for one!

Dieters beware! This cookbook is filled with such ugly words like pork hocks, butter, fudge, heavy whipping cream, etc., so, enter at your own risk. If you never use one recipe from this book the pictures alone are worth the price of the book. Someone in another review stated that you have to use "Dave's" products., however, I've found this not to be so. He has a great BBQ sauce in the front of the book to substitute for his bottled stuff and as another wrote has a few substitutes written in the back of the book. I showed my copy of this book to my father-in-law today and he loves to BBQ. Needless to say I am ordering this book for him today.

I probably have over 100 cookbooks alone on bbq, and if I had to keep only one this would be it. Dave Anderson's recipes are truly original, and you can tell by reading the recipes how much fine tuning and effort has gone into this book. As for the reviewer who said that there is too much emphasis on using Dave's products - don't you believe it. First of all, his recipes call for many brand name ingredients easily found in any supermarket. Secondly, he clearly states in the back of the book that you can substitute your favorite bbq sauce for his, among many other substitutions listed. The photography is fabulous, and there are numerous recipes for side dishes and desserts that you won't find anywhere else. This is a book for those who love to cook. Speaking for myself, I shy away from any cookbooks with "easy", or "quick" in the title. I like a recipe that requires some effort and time. Frankly, that's the whole idea behind bbq anyway. Famous Dave's Backroads & Sidestreets is a barbecue masterpiece. All profits from this book go to a non-profit organization set up for the betterment of youth.

Over the past thirty years I've collected hundreds of cookbooks. But when my daughter gave me this one for Christmas last year it quickly became my most cherished. I've never found a cookbook that combines such great comfort food recipes (chock full of ribs, bacon, lard, barbecue sauce...you know..the stuff that makes life worth living) with such great photography. And while the health food fanatics will criticize that last remark, this cookbook pays tribute to the philosophy that when you're alive you might as well do some livin'. Dave even pays tribute to his home region with some outstanding Northwoods recipes (the chicken/wild rice soup is amazing). Buy it...use it...enjoy it!

Famous Dave has outdone himself with this new cookbook! What a great gift this will be for the cooks on my holiday list. We all knew about his mouth-watering ribs here in Minnesota at the Famous Dave's BBQ Restaurants & Blues Clubs here and in Chicago - but we didn't know how that man could cook- across all levels of the comfort food scale. Dave's passion for food really shows! When I first spotted the fabulous color photo of the old fashion,pineapple upside-down cake batter being poured into an iron skillet - I was hooked. I couldn't believe the attention to detail in the food photography by Michael Rutherford throughout this book.Best of all,every single page is full color.Breathtaking and filling.I was also glad to see the profits go to help kids. Bravo!