Customer Reviews

Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country

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

 

 

The NY Times' Eric Asimov calls this "Simply the best book on barbecue I've ever read," and I agree. There are sooo many bbq books out there, and most are pretty lame. But this one's different. It doesn't cover much in the way of actual cooking techniques, but it's a fantastic and utterly evocative guide to 'cue culture; the people and places as well as the smoked meat itself. Great armchair coverage of big, famous restaurants, roadside stands, and home Sunday family BBQ, filled with rich folklore and sociological observations.

I had a wonderful experience of things and places I never knew while reading this book. When a book can provide that, I don't know what more you could ask for. My first experience of eating ribs was as a boy at my father's union picnic. When they told me I could eat some ribs, I did not want to eat them. Once I tasted them, I could not get enough. For a while, I looked for every opportunity to find more of this magical delicacy. Then I ran into some tough, dried out, vein laden stuff that put me off it for quite awhile.

Even so, I am not sure that what I ate was barbecue even though that is what it was called in the world of my youth. I suspect that for many people if you cook something over an open flame or charcoal and put sauce on it, that is barbecue, barbeque, BBQ or whatever else you want to call it. It wasn't until I read Calvin Trillin's wonderful writing on his favorite food in Kansas City, Missouri that I realized there was a difference between my cooking out back over charcoal in a Weber Smoker and the slowly cooked, low temperature, super tender barbecue. It was not until very recently that I have tasted whole hog barbecue cooked in a pit over wood and it makes all the difference in my appreciation of this great food.

I bought this book at a special barbecue evening at Zingerman's Roadhouse here in Ann Arbor and one of the authors, Lolis Eric Elie, was there to talk with us about what he had found, what we were eating, his book, and his DVD. It was such an impressive evening that I wanted to read what he had to say.

The authors took me on a wonderful adventure. I got to follow them from Memphis and meandering through Arkansas, Texas, Missouri, both Carolinas, Chicago, and others. They found a lot of bad cooking along the way, but they found some good to wonderful barbecue as well. The interesting thing to me is that there is no real predictor of when they were going to find something great. Some of the tiny places out back were good, most were bad. Some of the larger establishments were good, most were not.

What you had to have was a pit master who cared, who knew what he was doing, and who was willing to do the time consuming work to make it happen. The authors also show us a wide range of preparations of meats. Mostly it is pork, except in Texas where it is beef. In some places it is just ribs and brisket, others it is the whole hog.

A few still cook it in a pit in the ground, most have above ground pits of brick and sand and some with steel. One pitmaster argued that steel wrecks the meat, but most cook that way. There are those that use indirect heat and smoke. There are others who want the flame and the burning of the grease drippings. The most successful use good wood or charcoal. Although they did find one place that barbecued with electric heat and a strip of wood for smokey flavoring. The worst whole hog was a place that used gas and nothing to put any flavor in.

There are places that specialize in different things. Some do the pork shoulder, some are ribs and brisket, and some cook the whole hog. Some even do chicken and shrimp, but the authors dismiss these as not being barbecue because the only thing they have in common is the sauce and a touch of flame. No slow cooking or smoking.

I can tell you that I wished I were with the authors at a few of the places to sample the food with them. However, I do not believe I am quite adventurous enough to want to seek out snoot sandwiches or ear sandwiches. And while I have had pork rinds, I have not had cracklins. I assume they are different. It was also very interesting to me how much of what you ate as a child biased you as to what barbecue is. Frank loved the ribs from Chicago even though they weren't cooked like traditional barbecue, weren't as tender as "real" barbecue, but were nonetheless tasty as all get out.

Among the many delights of this book are the fabulous pictures taken by one of the authors. They show so much. Wonderful people who are full of character and life. Frank Stewart caught so much of the atmosphere of the places the authors take us to that I felt in some ways that I have been there.

The book also supplies many recipes that were acquired in the travels and hard won sampling of the nation's barbecue. These are the good stuff. Frank and Lolis also provide us with the addresses of their favorite places.

While the book serves as a chronicle of a cross country trip in search of the perfect barbeque, it does much more than that. We are introduced to a variety, and I do mean variety, of people from across the southeast and the heart of America. This book celoebrates these people and their lives. The barbeque almost serves as a metaphor for society and culture as they change and evolve. The book examines how traditions, generations, and diversity impact our barbeque and our lives. A well written narative that took me places I have never seen and introduced me to people I had never met. All of them interesting.

First off, if you are buying this book expecting a cookbook, don't. Buy it because it is a hell of an entertaining read instead. The book itself is one man's story of traveling the backroads of the US searching for and eating a lot of good barbecue. It is also his opinion of what makes good barbecue - some folks take exception to what his opinions are. This is almost always the way with barbecue. As with religion and politics, an almost certain way to start an argument at a party is do discuss what makes "good barbecue" with others who have their own opinions. If you cannot handle reading another man's opinions, don't bother with this book. For me it proved to be interesting if not educational, and I certainly don't agree with all or even many of his opinions.

Also, as others have said, he often mimics the speech of locals when quoting them. "Under it" becomes "Un'er it" etc. I don't personally see this as making fun of them or ridiculing them at all. To the contrary, I feel it is done to give the audience a little insight into what it was like to interact with these folks. Many of the quotes in question would have seemed downright bizarre if written in proper English rather than dialect. Again, if you can't stand to read quotes that include semi-gibberish because you find it offensive, this book may not be for you. I found it entertaining.

This book was OOP for several years. Personally I'm glad to see that it's available again. In my opinion it's one of the best of its breed.

This is one great book. I love it so much, I bought another copy "just in case". The writing is superb, the photography is amazing, and from a Q-fanatic with literally hundreds of barbeque books, this one is my very favorite.

Great book, not for recipies but for a trip through real barbque country. The book is part travel literature, part regional cooking essay and part American social essay by two guys who show a love for the history and lore of barbque. If you consider yourself a lover of Barbque, not grilling mind you, you will love reading this book.

I have not finished reading the book yet but thus far the author is doing a very thorough and detailed accounting of the origin of barbeque, various styles and some places with good barbeque.
The author seems to be a little harsh on those that do not barbeque in the most primative and rustic way. A well run place like 'Corky's' in Memphis, which I've been to, is downrated as being too slick. Too clean and organized. He prefers shacks where the meat is cooked for 12 hours in a pit and served in a place with just the basics. I prefer the comfort and good food and service of a Corky's style restaurant.
All in all it is well written and contains a lot of good information.

"Smokestack Lightning" is both a great guide to current bbq food and culture, and a terrific travel guide to the south. I come from east Texas, and practically wept over the writing and photos of Kreutz Market, and the Luling joints. The book even seems to smell like the smoke and grease coming out of the pit --

I really enjoyed this book. It's a "road trip" adventure looking for the best in bbq throughout many states. Be advised the journey was taken in 1993 so some of the establishments are probably gone by now. This book is a great read with many wonderful photos taken on journey and there are some very good recipes included as well.

LOVED IT! I purchased the book for research purposes and couldn't put it down. What a marvelous education about the history, evolution and pure love of barbecue! The pictures are excellent and Lolis Eric Elie really made the stories come to life, as if I was traveling along with him. It certainly sparked a new-found interest in barbecue for me and I couldn't wait to read more. Check out Cornbread Nation II - another brilliant book edited by Lolis.