Rating: 
Summary: Great BBQ book
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: Cooking with a Hardware Store Smoker
Review: I cook on a competition bbq team. I was just reading Paul's review and he is correct but here are a few tips. First and foremost, you need to cook at 200 degrees if you are doing real bbq. The brinkman is a difficult smoker to use because of two reasons: 1. It has no air vents at the bottom or top of the grille so it is difficult to dampen airflow. The dampening of airflow (restricting it) allows you to burn your fuel at a pace that will cause consistant temp. It also comes without a thermometer. These two issues make the brinkman difficult to work with. I recommend the Webber Rocky Mountain Smoker for those of you just getting started. It's a little higher in price but well worth the investment.Use only hardwood charcoal and don't use lighter fluid. Buy a charcoal chimmney and light it with newspaper to get it going. Fuels contained in grocerystore charcoal and using fuel taints the tase. Don't use only raw wood to cook with... When using raw woods for flavor enhancement, start the wood with your charcoal and add the wood only when the entire surface of the wood is white and ashy. You won't see smoke but you'll still get great smoke flavor. Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: Cooking with a Hardware Store Smoker
Review: I cook on a competition bbq team. I was just reading Paul's review and he is correct but here are a few tips. First and foremost, you need to cook at 200 degrees if you are doing real bbq. The brinkman is a difficult smoker to use because of two reasons: 1. It has no air vents at the bottom or top of the grille so it is difficult to dampen airflow. The dampening of airflow (restricting it) allows you to burn your fuel at a pace that will cause consistant temp. It also comes without a thermometer. These two issues make the brinkman difficult to work with. I recommend the Webber Rocky Mountain Smoker for those of you just getting started. It's a little higher in price but well worth the investment. Use only hardwood charcoal and don't use lighter fluid. Buy a charcoal chimmney and light it with newspaper to get it going. Fuels contained in grocerystore charcoal and using fuel taints the tase. Don't use only raw wood to cook with... When using raw woods for flavor enhancement, start the wood with your charcoal and add the wood only when the entire surface of the wood is white and ashy. You won't see smoke but you'll still get great smoke flavor. Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: Chock Full O'Winners
Review: I have been covered-grill Bar-B-Qing for years and have not found a higher percentage of truly outstanding recipes in any book before or since (including the authors' last book). From smoker mains like "sweet and fruity pork tenderloin" to sides like "Burstin' with flavor blackeyed peas" recipes are unique and results delight the senses.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Compilation of the Basics of BBQ
Review: I have tried several of these recipes, usually with my own slight variations, and have found them all so far to be very good, honest, american-made good food. They fit my BBQ diet very well!! Very satisfied with the book, but we occasionally cut back the amounts on some of the "stronger" ingredients to suit our tastes. Call it "regional taste variation". Excellent BBQ guide, and plenty of good advice too, about types of pits or grills, woods, and much more. I wish they'd add my homemade hot sauce recipe....
Rating:
Summary: Smoke'n!
Review: I just love this book. I actually found it to be a page turner of sorts. This is the one that really got me started. I would agree that it is not necessarily aimed at water smokers and such, but for pits and the like, its great! I'm just sad I finished off Sunday's feast already. Looking forward to the weekend and another Boston Butt!
Rating: 
Summary: Recipe Book with Brief Section on Smoking Techniques
Review: I was somewhat dissappointed in this book. I bought the book because I have a Home Depot-bought Brinkman smoker (the kind with a big barrel with a little offset smokebox on the side and a tall smokestack). It seems as though the authors cook only with a custom-made smoker at their restaurant, not the hardware store cheapy. As such, they skimped on the directions I needed most. I recommend the beginning of the book. It equates to a slightly-larger-than-pamphlet-sized section on the basic smoking. The first and second time I smoked (there hasn't been a third yet), I learned a great deal not in this book. So as not to be unfair to the authors, here is the great deal in my first two smoking adventures: 1) Don't buy wood chips. If you have a wood pile, chop it up (I used my chainsaw -- currently, it only real use) and use it for smoke. 2) Don't use too much charcoal to start. Too big a pile will make the heat too high. Yes, I used charcoal. I couldn't figure out how to light soaked wood chips with a match. 3) Count on everything taking twice as long to cook. Do not open the smoker, or you can expect an even longer wait. 4) Plan at least an hour to get the smoker heat up to 200 degrees. 5) Make sure meat is dry before you put your dry rub on. The authors mention this, but not prominently. Dry rub on wet meat makes big messy clumps. 6) Keep your dog away from the smoker or they will lick the grease from the ground and get grease spots on their heads. (Perhaps this one is not universal.) 7) After a few hours, clear the ash from under the charcoal and wood chunks. I use a stick and clear an airway under the charcoal. Otherwise, the air is blocked and the heat goes down. Both times I smoked, everything turned out excellent. I already had ideas on dry rub and sauces, so I didn't need the recipes from the book. If you plan to smoke for the first time on your back deck with a hardware store smoker, you need more sources than this one book. Otherwise, the book is clear and interesting to read.
Rating:
Summary: Only For True Q
Review: If there's no smoke, it ain't Q! This is probably the only book you will ever need to become a backyard pitmaster. These folks know the difference between Q and grilling and aren't afraid to let you know what that difference is! It is true that they don't hold your hands through every step of every recipe, but then again, a true artist can't work with someone holding his hand! (This is not a "For Dummies" book) This cooking style demands much patience, practice, innovation and adaptation....but boy is it worth it! As in anything else, once you get the fundamentals down, nothing can stop you! SMOKE & SPICE serves as a wonderful reference book, containing several recipes for basic rubs, sauces, and mops, which are easily modified to suit your tastes. If you want to go with an authentic regional style, this book will explain how. It covers everything from Texas brisket to a North Carolina pig-pickin'. So if you are truly serious about good outdoors cooking, you need to get this book. If you're still stuck in the hamburger and hotdog phase, stick with Raichlen.
Rating:
Summary: This is about REAL barbecue
Review: If you want to do barbecue right, this is a good book to get started with. Don't waste your time with foo-foo barbecue books (or liquid smoke) do it right instead. The results are fantastic!
Rating: 
Summary: This is a barbecue recipe/cookbook, not a smoking how-to
Review: If you've bought a water smoker and want to smoke things the long way (3-5 hours) this book is not for you. This book is 98% recipes and most are for things that take 20 minutes to an hour to cook. Out of the 420 pages or so, 34 deal with how to cook or other things related to smoking. The rest are recipes for everything from hot dogs to oysters. 123 pages are devoted to sauces and accompaniments (muffins, etc.).
This may be a great recipe book (and I'll find out), but I was disappointed that it didn't have more on smoking.
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