British BBQ Society Forums

I've heard this is a very good book and have mine on order atm.

'Charcuterie' The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn

Damn I nearly fainted at the price on Amazon !

Can't believe they can up the price that much the cover sleeve on the original is $35.
I do agree with charred and scruffed as well as being a great read and he certainly has some way out
ideas in that.
To be fair he does have a really good website and shares a lot more than most on there http://www.adamperrylang.com/
Well worth a look and its free lol !

Good call on the Adam Long Perry book. Looks interesting, just ordered it

A bit of lateral thinking.

Just a thought, but I'm not sure how necessary a barbecue recipe book is (though I admit to having a few myself).

What we're talking about with barbecue it cooking technique, whether it's low & slow cooking, faster but indirect cooking, or direct grilling. How many coals to use for very hot direct cooking, or how to set up your barbecue for a long, slow cook. Perfecting these may take time and effort, but you can find pretty much everything you need to know about them online, websites, YouTube, etc.

There aren't that many techniques to learn, and they're mainly interchangeable, irrespective of the rest of the recipe. For example, I'll grill my Greek souvlaki kebabs for the same time, using the same technique as my hot tandoori kebabs. If I prepare my kettle for low & slow cooking a shoulder of lamb I'll use the same technique as for a shoulder of pork. When I finally get round to doing that goat's head it'll be the same.

I think most of my favourite recipies (ingredients, cooking times & temperatures) come from 'normal' recipe books rather than barbecue recipe books - I just cook them on the barbecue instead of on the grill/frying pan/in the oven, using the same tried and tested barbecue techniques.

The best bits from barbecue books are specific things like American rubs & sauces (Barbecue!: Sauces, Rubs and Marinades by Steven Raichlen is good), and just throwing up left field ideas which you'd not thought of.

The thing that puts me off a lot of barbecue books is the same thing that attracts me - the Americanness. If you want to know how they do authentic Pulled Pork in the States, they're obviously a good source. But read their recipes for elsewhere in the world and they're quite often absolutely rubbish. Both Raichlen and Jamie Purviance's recipes for souvlaki, chimmichurri, jerk and anything Indian are almost unreservedly Radio Pants FM, and subsequently I'd trust them about as much with other world foods as I would trust Delia Smith's recipe for Spare Ribs over their's.

Steve W

For anyone thats new to low and slow cooking i cant rate this book highly enough!!!

http://www.lowslowbbq.com/

This helped me through my first few cooks more than any youtube video could!

He does each recpie/tecnique individual for each type of smoker. For example say the cook is ribs...there are three different methods to follow depending on whether your cooking on an UDS, offset smoker or a kettle bbq. He has some really good tried and tested techniques which i have continued to use up until this day! The books contains all the big cooks and some great side dishes.

There really is no need for books at all with YouTube and t'internet for recipes etc. But there is something about a book that beats all of those. Grimy fingerprints on your favourite sections, the "behind the scenes" info is often an amazing insight into their character. Smoke & Spice is my main go-to book, recommended on here by quite a few top notch chaps. I have another 25+ related to BBQ & Grilling but that would be my fall-back every time.

Have to agree with Keith. I prefer a book to the internet. The internet is great when I'm looking for something specific (particularly demos on technique) but I do like browsing a book

@Dobba1988 I read that low & slow book when I first got into smoking. It's not really a recipe book more a book on fire control. Can't say I was a fan of his writing style (which was basically do it my way or don't bother reading this book) but I do agree that when starting out your time is better spent learning to control your BBQ rather than rushing in and trying to cook all and sundry.

RobinC wrote:Have to agree with Keith. I prefer a book to the internet. The internet is great when I'm looking for something specific (particularly demos on technique) but I do like browsing a book

@Dobba1988 I read that low & slow book when I first got into smoking. It's not really a recipe book more a book on fire control. Can't say I was a fan of his writing style (which was basically do it my way or don't bother reading this book) but I do agree that when starting out your time is better spent learning to control your BBQ rather than rushing in and trying to cook all and sundry.

Yeah i totally agree robin! it is defo my way or the highway!!! Yeah some of the recipes are good to get you started im thinking the 1/2's of chicken he gets you started with. Tecniques though i cant fault! still use his chimney technique.

just ordered:
Smokin with Myron Mixon
The Kansas City BBQ Society
Barbecue! sauces, rubs and marinades from Amazon

looking forward to my delivery already.

I've just ordered that one.

I think his 'listen to me or f*** off' style would have had me throwing the book out of the window, but being warned in advance will be a massive help in ignoring the style and just following the technique.

So thanks for doing my suffering for me.

Steve W

lol well sounds that deep down none of us really mind reading a good book !

Have to say if I hadnt would still be messing arround with the same ideas all the time.
I kind of agree that the techniques are limited to a degree but like everything they evolve
and its always good to be open to something new. Even Raichlen says himself his books are
a guide and ultimately expiriment until you find something that works for you.
Thats why I love the idea of this site where we can exchange ideas try new things and keep
taking things up a notch.
Like they always say knowledge is power lol. ( just dont let the wife have too much !)