Smoke & Spice - Revised Edition: Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue

There seems to be something about barbecue that turns everyone who writes a book about the subject into the very best expert on the subject. On the cover of `Smoke & Spice', Cheryl and Bill Jamison are touted as `America's Outdoor Cooking Experts'. Of course, similar statements and similar broadsheets of praising blurbs appear on the books of Paul Kirk and Steve Raichlen. The authors go a long way to explaining this phenomenon when they open the first chapter with the statement that `Real Barbecue is bragging food... pitmasters develop into natural boasters'. It is important to note that this book is very serious about `real barbecue', as distinguished from grilling, which is a very different thing. Please note that this review is based on the Second Edition published in 2003 by The Harvard Common Press.As a linguistic purist, I am extremely happy to see that both the Jamison's and Paul Kirk clearly characterize barbecue as a low, steady heat method using hot smoke from wood while grilling is a high heat method where smoke is either incidental or even something to be avoided. The Jamison's even expand the lore of barbecue for me beyond Steve Raichlen's excellent introductory essay in `BBQ USA' when they explain that southeastern (as in North Carolina and Tennessee) pork barbecue and southwestern (as in Texas) beef barbecue arose from two entirely different sources, coalescing around styles developed in Kansas City and Chicago.As much as barbecue experts like to blow their own horn, they also seem much more willing to credit colleagues with contributions to the field. As the Jamisons are mainstream cookbook authors who happen to be experts on barbecue, they cite virtually the entire pantheon of American food writers, including James Beard, James Villas, Robb Walsh, John Thorne, Calvin Trillin, and Chris Schlesinger. All of this babble is primarily to indicate that for barbecue fans, this book is great fun to read, even if you don't even look at the recipes. But, if you do look at the recipes, you will find great sources for barbecue excellence.Part One of the book lays down your barbecue basics, and I strongly recommend that this be read by anyone considering any of these recipes. True barbecue technique is difficult. It may be more difficult to achieve good results as it is to make some of the more arcane creations in the French culinary repertoire. What's worse, it needs equipment that are not standard equipment in an American kitchen, and, it is equipment that MUST be used outdoors. If you do not want to deal with these things, get a book by Bobby Flay and a good grill pan. The authors do briefly discuss stovetop smoking, but assign it a minor role in the world of great barbecue technique.Part Two contains the recipes. The first chapter covers dry rubs, pastes (wet rubs), marinades, and mops. This collection of condiment recipes is not as extensive as the one found in Paul Kirk's `Championship Barbecue' and it does not include recipes for sta

After reading the book almost cover to cover, and then reading most of the reviews, I felt compelled to correct some misunderstandings. First. many of the complaints are from people wanting more instruction on "how to smoke". This is nonsense. There is no need for detailed instruction on how to smoke. What makes smoking a art and skill is being able to produce the right temperature in the smoker and this comes only from practice. Instructions on how much charcoal, wood, water, air, etc to use for each type of smoker, at every external temperature, etc. would look like statistics tables and be equally exciting. For this reason, the authors advise a temperature goal of about 200-220. With a five dollar thermometer and a little practice, anyone can figure it out.Second, the smoking is a forgiving and inexact process, no matter what your experience level. Cooks used to following exact recipes so their soufle won't fall will always be frustrated by smoking. Smoking requires some monitoring and adaptation. I may have used X amount of charcoal one day, but on a colder day need more. If you are willing to experiment, and have 5-10 hours then you are ready to smoke, and for everything else, this book is fantastic. If you are from the microwave culture, then you will probably be frustrated with the whole process and no book will save you. To reemphasize the most important point, if you have the aforementioned patience to try smoking, then this book is outstanding.

This is absolutely the best barbecue book I have ever seen! Warning: This is NOT a cookbook. Of course it has recipes, lots of them. But more importantly to me, it explains *why* certain things are done the way they are, not just what to do. Any robot can add two tablespoons of brown sugar on command, I want to know why rubs do what they do, when to use a mop, how to modify a recipe for a water smoker vs. a log pit. This book does that and MORE. It's cliched to say if you only own one book, but it's true. This is the one.

I bought about 8 books so I could learn to make great BBQ. If you can only get one book, this is an excellent one. It mixes quality recipies, with correct cooking technique, and ties it up with history and stories which make it an interesting read. Money well spent

"SMOKE & SPICE" does a great job for the beginner up to a pro like myself. Like any good cookbook, please follow the instructions exactly as given for best results. SLOW DOWN and ENJOY!