Customer Reviews

Smoke & Spice/Cooking With Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue, on Your Charcoal Grill, Water Smoker, or Wood-Burning Pit

5 star:		(119)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

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.

I am cooking/smoking up a storm with this wonderful, super tasty cookbook. I can't stress enough how simple the recipes are, or how much flavor their rubs and marinades add to meat and fish. My family is licking their fingers and begging for more! I am a beginner at smoking and I am still managing to turn out delicious food. ANYONE can use this cookbook to enhance the flavors of the meats and food they cook even if you don't own a smoker! Just the rubs alone are worth the price, however if you have a smoker watch out! I went to a BBQ restaurant the other day. Sigh, it was pitiful compared to even my first rib effort using this book. I can never eat at another BBQ restaurant again, doesn't even compare to what I cooked using this book. I plan to work my way through every recipe!

It is a rare cookbook you read from front to back. Smoke and Spice had just as many anecdotes, tall tales, and history of "Q" as it does recipes. (Unfortuantely "Sublime smoke", it's Jamison companion, doesn't.) I now understand WHY smoking is so special, and can speak eloquently in company about how recipes came to be. Thanks guys for making me a better cook.

Smoke & Spice is a complete guide for those who barbecue or smoke. At last we can put all other cookbooks aside and use just this one. S&S guides you completely through a meal, including recommended side dishes and their recipes. Beginners and experts alike will both value the frequent BBQ tips. Abundant with anecdotes, S&S is as fun to read as it is informative

There are recipes listed as typical of various parts of the country (their origin given). Tips are given as to the best variation of the products used in the recipes. Without tasting the results of the recipes it would be hard to believe how good they are. (Ever use both bourbon and molasses with pepper and chili powder??! It's great when used as they suggest!) Julie Tipton