Customer Reviews

Mastering the Craft of Smoking Food

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is probably the most complete, detailed book available on smoking food. It's not a barbecue book, it's a smoking book. Written by Warren Anderson, a food enthusiast and long-time food smoker, It covers both cold and hot smoking and includes detailed instructions for building your own smoker, or using commercial smokers. Warren shares everything he has learned through years of smoking food. A chapter covers smoking woods, where to get them and the characteristics of different types of woods. The chapter on cures and marinades covers brines, dry and wet cures, and marinades. Detailed recipes and instructions are included for making smoked bacon, ham, pastrami, jerky, cheese, turkey, fish, shellfish, sausage, nuts, and even smoked Peking duck. It's interesting that the Publisher's Weekly review is critical of the book for being TOO detailed. According to Publisher's Weekly, the descriptions and techniques "read like a technical manual, although Cook's Illustrated fans might welcome the excruciating detail. Though directed toward nonprofessionals, this book isn't likely to please armchair chefs." So, if you are an "armchair chef", this book may not be for you, but as Publisher's Weekly says "for those who plan to make a habit of smoking food, Anderson delivers". If you are serious about smoked food then this book is for you.

One of the oldest methods known to man for preserving meat, smoking over a controlled fire is a technique mastered by every human culture we have knowledge of. Mastering The Craft Of Smoking Food by Warren Anderson is a new and expansive instructional guide for properly cooking in the tasteful culinary style of smoking. Inclusive of master strategies for making bacon, ham, pastrami, jerky, sausage, smoked cheese, salmon, beef and so many more delicious meats, Mastering The Craft Of Smoking Food features a culinary wealth of expertise and do-it-yourself tactics for smoking any and every kind of meat. Enhanced with illustrations and recipes for their preparation, Mastering The Craft Of Smoking Food is very highly recommended for aspiring amateur kitchen cooks and seasoned professional chefs alike as a simply superb and "user friendly" reference for the preparation of smoked meats.

After some disappointing experiences with hobby wood smokers and flashier and often more attractive texts on curing and smoking, I was delighted to find this book (I bought the English edition - at a signficantly higher price - in the UK after browsing it in a hunting/fishing shop on a wet day).

The author does tend to be a bit obsessive but clearly his instructions are written from exhaustive, first hand experience. He encourages a flexible approach and rightly says that recipes will need to be adapted for individual use or taste(factors which may have deterred some previous reviewers who felt the text was too basic or lacked specifics). The discussion and comparison of smoking techniques (hot, cold and water smokers)is helpful in deciding what type or types to buy or make.

Finding reliable guidelines on small scale curing and cold smoking meat is difficult, this little book is a mine of useful information for a hobbyist like me (the family particularly misses UK style bacon in the USA). We have also tried a few of the fresh sausage recipes (which don't need smoking)and have been more than pleased with the results. More importantly, after reading this book, I now understand why we had some really inedible results with previous attempts at curing and smoking.

I'm living in Colombia, and have smoked some bacon on my own. I wanted to learn more about smoking, so my sister bought me this xlnt book. I like that the language is simple (important for a 3th-world-English speaker like me :D) but at the same time, the content is very detailed. Some people seem to have a problem with this, however the title ain't "how to smoke food in 10 steps"!, it's "MASTERING the CRAFT of smoking food"!!! I have found great information on the physics of smoking, Technics of curing, theory about kinds of woods to use, and even hygienic cares, so I can build my smoker, cure and work with meat, cheese, sausages, and even eggs (!) to my own needs and imagination. If you're really passionate about smoking food, really wanna get dip into it, and create your own smoking style, this is an xlnt source!

Precisely the kind of information I needed to advance from my previous pedestrian attempts at smoking.

This book covers a wide spectrum of food smoking, from cold smoking uncooked cured foods like bacon, ham, cheese and sausage to warm and hot smoking things like kippers, poultry and ribs. It is designed with the beginner in mind, and assumes small, one-day smoking projects. For example, rather than smoke a whole ham, Mr. Anderson suggests using smaller, more manageable cuts to reduce time and handling problems. Most of the advice given is very good, however a couple of the author's assumptions left me scratching my head and wondering if he doesn't suffer from a diminished sense of taste or smell. For example, Mr. Anderson asserts that all hardwood smoke tastes more or less identical and that describing various woods as strong or mild, sweet or fruity is just so much marketing hype. He also implies that it is impossible to taste the difference between real maple syrup and artificial maple flavoring when used as an ingredient in smoking. Having used a variety of woods and real and artificial flavors in recipes over the years, I can definitely say (to quote Vincent Price) I can tell the difference. Can't you?

Also covered is a small section on selecting commercial smoking equipment and a comparison of various fuels these units operate on. The author then spends several pages (too many, in my opinion) giving detailed instructions and photos showing how he built two different models of home made smoker. His designs are clever in a Dr. Seuss-like way, but use far more space and materials than the average home user is likely to want to invest - or be allowed to invest by concerned family members and upset neighbors.

The recipe portion of the book is good and worth the price of the title.

All-in-all, this is a reasonable addition to the library of someone interested in smoking foods. Just don't take it all as gospel or use it as a primer. You may end up relying on some misinformation.

This book has everything you need to know about cooking with smoke. Although I wouldn't recommend it as your first book about smoke cooking. One of the neatest things about this book is that it includes easy to follow plans to make smokers. It also answers most of your advanced questions about smoking and preserving foods.

Very good book that gives the history of smoking and even how to make your own. The author has alot of experience with smoking and gives the pros and cons of different types of smoking units. Also, gives technical techniques on smoking. Mr. Anderson is very knowledgable on the subject and gives recepies in the book. I would highly recommend this book for new users not familiar with smoking as I was. I am very happy and satisfied that I had found a smoking book with all the information i Needed.

When I first started reading this book my initial reaction was "TMI," but I persevered. Very simply, this is a book for beginners, which would be me. I got out my highlighter and read the book from cover-to-cover. After I got past the first chapter, it was hard to put down. I'm now on my second read. If you want a clear and educated understanding of where to start, and beyond, this is the book for you. This is a teacher who knows how to teach. Thank you, Mr. Anderson, for writing this book.

Theresa Sorensen

I was worried I might not be able to find this book, since I had only seen it at the library, but Amazon had it at a great price, and I received it very quickly through Amazon Prime.