Customer Reviews

Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book covers the bases of North Carolina Barbecue. It discusses the history of North Carolina Barbecue, how to cook pork shoulders and whole hogs, gives recipes for famous Eastern and Piedmont barbecue sauces and various side dishes and desserts, and has interviews with the foremost North Carolina barbecue restaurant owners who cook in the traditional style. The book is fun, interesting, and informative. Highly recommended.
Review by Certified Barbecue Judge (Memphis, Kansas City, North Carolina)

This book is an excellent overview of North Carolina barbecue. What sets this book apart from others on the subject is the amount of detailed research. The authors not only did their homework, they interviewed many of the major figures in North Carolina barbecue first hand.

The unique structure makes the book very readable. First they give a detailed history of barbecue in North Carolina while touching on the debates that echo within the state as to what constitutes "real" barbecue and what does not. This ranges from the style of sauce and what cut of the pig is used, to what fuel does the cooking (wood vs. gas, electric, etc.) Second, they go into the food in detail giving many excellent recipes and enough detail that even a barbecue novice could produce their own 'cue. Finally (and my favorite part) are the interviews. The authors scoured the state, interviewing the important restaurant owners and pitmasters who make North Carolina the epicenter of barbecue as we know it.

Highly recommended for fans of good food and history.

Bob from Baltimore:

I am a native of Baltimore, Maryland; a state that was the most northern of the southern culture and most southern of northern industry, I have a foot (or toe) in both. I first sampled Carolina Barbecue (BBQ) in the mid 1970's after a sister-in-law married into a North Carolina family. Initially a culinary culture shock; that defied my notion of BBQ, but over the years I came to love the unique local food and the small family restaurants that purvey it. I had the opportunity of meeting the authors of Holy Smoke at a book signing near Chapel Hill, NC. Their knowledge of Southern food and cultural history runs deeper than their most recent work. The book is highly read-able and cleverly illustrated with old images of BBQ "joints", advertisement and other themes. John and Dale Reed aided by Bill McKinney have connected the dots of this pit cooked North Carolina Odyssey to reveal a portrait of tradition, community and rivalry. The only this missing was a scratch and sniff of hickory smoke.

This is a great book on North Carolina barbecue and is worthy of a spot next to "North Carolina Barbecue" by Bob Garner, another good read. They make you want to hit the NC barbecue trail!

I got this book as a gift for my husband for Christmas. Let me just say that we LOVE North Carolina barbecue. My husband has thoroughly enjoyed Holy Smoke. It is a great reference for the historical and cultural aspect of NC barbecue and also includes some very interesting and authentic recipes. The pictures are great too. He has several other books dedicated to North Carolina barbecue, but this one is unique.

"Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue" by John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed ($30, University of North Carolina Press, 316 pp.). This book does a great job of telling its story through its content supported by loads of pictures (although only black-and-white here). However, this book has a juicy back story that goes past being just an ode to the barbecue of its region. Everyone knows of the rivalry among the four major barbecue regions as to which one is the best. But North Carolina has its own rivalry within that rivalry between barbecue of the Piedmont and barbecue of Eastern North Carolina. The authors do a great job of telling that story, making this book all the better. This book, like the others, covers its topic in such a detailed manner that you'll be an expert by the time you finish the book no matter if you've ever set foot in the Tarheel State or not.

Bought it for my father-in-law for Christmas. We took turns reading it over the holiday. He and I agree of all the BBQ books we've read, Holy Smoke might just be the best.
It covers every aspect from history to recipes to making excellent BBQ at home. Highly recommended for fans of North Carolina barbeque.

Bought this for my husband because we love NC BBQ. Excellent information in it.

This book goes beyond the recipe style BBQ books. It delves into the history behind various notable BBQ "joints" across the state. It is a good read, even for a BBQ loving native son.

this is a great book, there are recipes, history lessons and local knowledge. anyone that wants to learn about N.C. bbq should get this book