Smoking Food: A Beginner's Guide [Paperback]

Chris Dubbs (Author), Dave Heberle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 2008

Everything you need to know about home smoking.

In Smoking Food, Chris Dubbs and Dave Heberle assure us that smoking is an art, not a science, and they fearlessly reveal that art's essentials—and how simple they can be. They explain how to choose the best fuels (you can use corncobs!), how to build smokers from old refrigerators and cardboard boxes, and, of course, how to smoke everything from turkeys to turtles. Their advice is as ingenious and cost-conscious as any given by Alton Brown. Aware of the needs and wants of the modern cook, they include low-sodium preparations, alternatives to preservatives like sodium nitrite, and thoughts on safely handling meat. With more than one hundred recipes and tips for making brines, marinades, cheeses, appetizers, soups, and main dishes, Smoking Food is an invaluable resource for the home smoker.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Detailing the various types of smokers, from smaller electrical contraptions that require only a minimal time commitment to full-on homemade smokehouses, this informative guide shows the advantages of each as well as what you need to successfully smoke with them and methods to improve the quality of the end product. A generous portion of the book is dedicated to recipes, for want of a better word, of smoked foods (including wild game, sausages, and cheeses in addition to your more well-known smoked meats), but these are mostly general game plans rather than play-by-play instructions. A chapter on curing, brining, and marinating is a natural accompaniment, as the authors’ note that “the art of smoking food is also the art of curing food.” Some of the photographs seem a bit like filler (do you really need a photograph to accompany the equipment note about a cutting board or a wooden spoon?), but a number of helpful illustrations round out the wealth of information found in this guide. For novices and tried hands alike. --Ian Chipman

Review

“Smoking Food by Chris Dubbs and Dave Heberle takes the fear out of putting smoke on meats....They cover all the bases: how to build a smoker, what fules to use, how to make your own sausage and design your own cures and marinades. Smoking Food also will teach you how to dress a fish, cure venison and smoke everything from snapping turtles to pheasants to chestnuts.” (Kansas City Star )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing (August 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1602392579
• ISBN-13: 978-1602392571
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,578 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #99 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Culinary Arts & Techniques

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource, September 29, 2009

By 

D. Sciba (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Smoking Food: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

This book is just what the doctor ordered when it comes down to holding the reader by the hand and into the world of smoked food. EVERYTHING is described here that a beginner could possibly want. Written in easy to understand text I would suggest this book to anyone thinking of smoking their own food. Five stars!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book for Beginners, March 3, 2010

By 

John Ciannilli - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Smoking Food: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

Being a beginner to smoker cooking, I was looking for a book to take me through the steps from A to Z and start to finish. This book is definitely the one! Every step is explained in simple layman,s terms, from which woods work best right to what meats and other items are the best tasting. The recipes in the book are all totally worth trying. I haven't used them all but I plan on geting there.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Certainly not the best book on the subject of smoking food, February 17, 2010

By 

Daktota Dad (South Dakota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smoking Food: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

I read this book twice, not very informative. I was frustrated reading "smoking is an art". I was/am new to smoking and wanted a true directional book. This book lacks any useful information. The only interesting part of the book was that I learned that I could smoke hard boiled eggs. But it didn't really explain what wood to use or an approximate time. So my eggs smelled like smoke but didn't taste like smoke... I would suggest that you look elsewhere for your smoking knowledge, I found a truly useful book on the subject is: "Backyard BBQ: The Art of Smokology" by Author Richard W. McPeake, I learned more reading that book then 4 others on the subject combined (I especially like the temp/times being a newby to smoking)