Rating: 
Summary: Note to the hardware store cheapy and the pitmaster
Review: There is not much more that needs to be said about the book. An excellent source of recipes for BBQ and related dishes. What I'm writing on today are a couple of statements by a novice Queist and someone on a pit team. I use a Brinkmann Smoke 'n Pit (their large horizontal grill with a side firebox) and have no problems at all following the recipes including keeping in heat and not having to go long in the cooking process (though I mop less often becasue of the steep temp drops that a light grill like that causes). Yes, most Brinkmann models do not have a thermometer, but they all have a little silver button that's built to pop out and is cut exactly right for a standard 3/4 inch grill thermometer. A good one can be had for under twenty bucks.Now then, the only drawback is that since it's a side firebox, it seems to pump the heat directly to the top of the cook chamber... On mine, rather than the temp at the grill being hotter than the air at the top, I get much hotter readings on the thermometer than at the grill (and also since the size of even alarger Brinkmann is too small to not be bothered by atmospheric conditions, the air up there fluctuates more than grill temp). THe solution is to use one of those newfangled oven thermometers with a little box with a digital display forthe temp and a wired probe that can stand up to 4 or 500 degrees... no problem when smoking. SO that gizmo cost me about $30. I use one just sitting on the grill and one for large cuts of meat for long smoking projects. Oh, there are a couple of drawbacks to using a Brinkmann style smoker. The fire grate is too small for long smoking sessions and gets fould easily with ashes. Solved that by using the included cooking grate for the firebox... dropped it below the retaining nuts so that it site about 5 inches above the fire grate and presto, raised firegrate with enough clearance for those long sessions with roasts or Pork Butt. Also, the fire box is just too light and small to try to use real wood, but even if you use briquettes (and you CAN get real wood briquetts with nothing but wood and a cellulose binder easily at any Tru Value hardware store... they are catalog items so if they don't stock them in your local store, ask and they will) or lump, it's easy enough. WHen cooking meats not as forgiving of that foul coal ignition smell as pork, I start my coals in a webber kettle bought for the purpose (well, and car camping) and shovel them into the firebox from there. So there you go. Pro qualtiy is possible with a brinkmann with a little work (suprisingly little)... and for my taste, that's the way to go. The advise to get one of those bullet water smokers is alright as well, but I'd rather keep the flexability to add moisture as I need with a mop rather than have it on or off depending on wheather the water tray is filled or not (not to mention the flexability to grill a nice steak once in a while)... and as a personal ergonomic observation, I like the waist high working level of the horizontal smokers as well. Clay-
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Recipes and Background. Good Technique
Review: 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 staples like homemade catsup or homemade Worcestershire sauce, but since Kirk's book is about competition and the Jamison's book is not, you will not find too much overlap if you own both. The second chapter of recipes covers the pig. Almost every recipes includes it's own recipe for rub, mop, and other mix. For those of you who harbor any doubts about the commitment needed for barbecue, note that almost every recipe begins with the phrase 'The night before you plan to barbecue...'. These recipes require a lot of work. They are the sorts of things the average working American family will be able to manage on maybe a few summer weekends a year. A dedicated barbecue hobbyist will probably manage once or twice a week. The pig chapter owes much to the Carolina style of barbecue and includes recipes for a 'Carolina Sandwich Slaw', a 'Memphis Mustard Slaw', and spice mixes from New Orleans to Los Angeles. The chapter finishes with recipes for what to do with successfully barbecued shoulder. If you have a good commercial source of barbecue, these recipes alone are worth the price of admission. The third chapter of recipes covers beef. One of the hallmarks of beef barbecue is that it specializes in especially tough cuts of beef such as the brisket, skirt steak, and flank steak as well as ribs. The chapter also covers a fair share of 'aftermarket' recipes for hot dogs, hamburger, meat loaf, and hash. If I were ever tempted to do true barbecue, it would probably be to do lamb. The next chapter covers this plus goat, veal and game meat. Mexican goat barbecue or cabrito is a subject all its own, on which Robb Welsh, for one, has written extensively. The next chapter covers chicken and other fowl such as turkey, duck, quail, and pheasant. Chapters on fish and vegetables round out the smoking recipes. Oddly, recipes for sauces which many think are essential to barbecue are placed near the back of the book, including a recipe for a famous catsup precursor. The very last chapter includes a great selection of side dish recipes, including slaws, beans, potatoes, greens, biscuits, cornbread, and muffins. As good as the side dish recipes are, you would probably do as well or better for them with a classic non-barbecue source such as 'James Beard's American Cookery' if you were not planning to go the full nine yards with the barbecue technique. Of the three heavyweight barbecue books I have reviewed, this is the best for true home barbecue, but it is not the very best it could be. For as detailed a technique as barbecue is, requiring very specialized equipment, the total absence of pictures is baffling. If you plan to embark on true hot smoke low and slow barbecue, please find a good survey of equipment such as you may find from Consumer Reports to supplement this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Recipes and Background. Good Technique
Review: 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 staples like homemade catsup or homemade Worcestershire sauce, but since Kirk's book is about competition and the Jamison's book is not, you will not find too much overlap if you own both. The second chapter of recipes covers the pig. Almost every recipes includes it's own recipe for rub, mop, and other mix. For those of you who harbor any doubts about the commitment needed for barbecue, note that almost every recipe begins with the phrase `The night before you plan to barbecue...'. These recipes require a lot of work. They are the sorts of things the average working American family will be able to manage on maybe a few summer weekends a year. A dedicated barbecue hobbyist will probably manage once or twice a week. The pig chapter owes much to the Carolina style of barbecue and includes recipes for a `Carolina Sandwich Slaw', a `Memphis Mustard Slaw', and spice mixes from New Orleans to Los Angeles. The chapter finishes with recipes for what to do with successfully barbecued shoulder. If you have a good commercial source of barbecue, these recipes alone are worth the price of admission. The third chapter of recipes covers beef. One of the hallmarks of beef barbecue is that it specializes in especially tough cuts of beef such as the brisket, skirt steak, and flank steak as well as ribs. The chapter also covers a fair share of `aftermarket' recipes for hot dogs, hamburger, meat loaf, and hash. If I were ever tempted to do true barbecue, it would probably be to do lamb. The next chapter covers this plus goat, veal and game meat. Mexican goat barbecue or cabrito is a subject all its own, on which Robb Welsh, for one, has written extensively. The next chapter covers chicken and other fowl such as turkey, duck, quail, and pheasant. Chapters on fish and vegetables round out the smoking recipes. Oddly, recipes for sauces which many think are essential to barbecue are placed near the back of the book, including a recipe for a famous catsup precursor. The very last chapter includes a great selection of side dish recipes, including slaws, beans, potatoes, greens, biscuits, cornbread, and muffins. As good as the side dish recipes are, you would probably do as well or better for them with a classic non-barbecue source such as `James Beard's American Cookery' if you were not planning to go the full nine yards with the barbecue technique. Of the three heavyweight barbecue books I have reviewed, this is the best for true home barbecue, but it is not the very best it could be. For as detailed a technique as barbecue is, requiring very specialized equipment, the total absence of pictures is baffling. If you plan to embark on true hot smoke low and slow barbecue, please find a good survey of equipment such as you may find from Consumer Reports to supplement this book.
Rating:
Summary: SMOKIN!
Review: This an excellent book, whether you are a vetran or begining barbecuer. I received the book for christmas, and I have tried about a dozen of the recipes for rubs, meats, and side dishes and they have all been good.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! A Reference work on BBQ!!! Must Have!!!
Review: This book is incredible! It takes a novice from what is grilling/smoking/BBQ? all the way up to the esoteric-What type of smokers/woods/rubs do I use or prefer? This is the BOOK!!! I heard that they have a NEW book out also!!! What are you waiting for? Buy it already! Ed "sittin' by the grill" Saunders
Rating:
Summary: Absolute BEST!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is by far the best cookbook I've read on smoking. It is full of receipes for rubs and sausces and how to smoke just about any type of meat.
Rating:
Summary: The best compilation of bbq styles
Review: This is the BEST bbq-smoking cookbook on the market by far. I've manned my Mighty Weber for over 20 years but did not even scratch the surface of what's covered in this book. The book covers the different regions perfectly, adding interesting side notes along the way. Every recipe I've used is accurate and the outcome is always delicious. Also helpful was the forward section on choosing equipment, tools and wood. The how-to section about the different smokers caused me to scrap my equipment and go with their prefered setup, much to my delight. If you smoke, buy this book. It turns even good smokers into pros.
Rating:
Summary: The real deal
Review: This is the real way to BBQ - smoke + time = delicous meals. Whether you have a full wood pit or just a electric water smoker (like me), this has fantastic rubs, sauces & techniques to impress even the most discerning BBQ critic. Every recipe I've tried has been excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Here is how to do barbecue and smoke meats!
Review: To put it quite simply: the Jamisons teach you exactly how to cook the best barbecue you've ever tasted. SMOKE AND SPICE clearly explains everything. Even someone with little experience can create an astonishing meal on the first attempt--I bear witness. This is one of the best cookbooks in my collection. I have used it for 18 months now and everything I have tried from it is wonderful.
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