Southern Living: Secrets of the South's Best Barbecue: 645 Great Recipes! Appetizers, Beverages, BBQ, Sides, Sweets & More

Fabulous easy recipes! A must for enjoying the lazy summer days and nights and the chill of the autumn afternoons. Cozy and full of ideas!

Living in England and being a Georgia girl i really miss southern food sooooo much. This book is all i need i *LOVE* it. 645 things to cook should keep me busy for a long time.

This is a great book, for all skill levels. We all had to start somewhere and this book takes you from basics such as hosting a party (things that go good together, table and place setting, grill maintenance, concepts like direct and indirect heat) up on to more advanced things like smoking meat and places to visit if you are in an are (such as Kilgore, TX if I remember the book correctly). Dry rubs, sauces, beans, appetizers, desserts, adult beverages, tea's: you name it, its all here and all of it that I have tried is good quality. Also, they have titles at the top of the recipe. I have made it a point to hit the ones first that have "Kids Love It" on it as I have 3 (7, 5, and 1 at this point). You know you are doing barbecue right if your 1 year old won't stop making happy noises while he eats the shredded bbq chicken recipe (page 177).

I purchased this along with Southern Living 40 Years of Our Best Recipes the week before Labor Day and it was delivered within a couple days. This was my first BBQ cookbook and will probably be my only one as I am still reading and finding awesome recipes I want to try. My contribution to our Labor Day cookout was four recipes from this cookbook: Tropical Smoothies, Four-Hour Barbecue, Grilled Asparagus and Honey Barbecue Sauce (which I used on babyback ribs and chicken quarters). ALL of them were a HUGE hit and the cookbook was passed around during the cookout. I have purchased two additional sets as birthday gifts and the recipients have raved about the new recipes they are anxious to try, especially from this BBQ cookbook. I also shared this BBQ cookbook with some of my co-workers and they all want their own copy (I'm not letting this one out of my sight for very long). The recipes are not complicated and so far, have provided wonderful results. There are other helpful tidbits in the front of the cookbook that were interesting to me: There is a fairly decent list of BBQ places and BBQ events to visit across the country so now I can build my travel plans around those places/events. Reading the grilling tips in the front has even inspired me to purchase a smoker. Although it is a paperback version and may not be able to withstand my constant reading and use, I am very excited about this cookbook and will definitely be using these recipes year-round.