Customer Reviews

Texas BBQ : Photographs by Wyatt McSpadden

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This book is simply fabulous: a love letter to the rough world of meat cutters, smoke hands, and pit crews. It is an honest portrayal of an elemental product: meat, smoke, time. So stripping everything down to its essence - that's what Wyatt McSpadden does in the book. The pictures are saturated in true color and rich imagery that comes not from costuming or placement, but from an incredible photographer who uses a jeweler's eye to see the beauty of what is. And when we accept what is, especially when it's Texas bbq, there's a rough beauty that pours out into our hearts from the page.

The images in this book are exceptional. One can almost smell the barbecue and the smoke. They are straight forward, honest photos taken by a straightforward, honest , and dedicated photographer. No trick photography, just a master craftsman demonstrating his skill. If you have ever enjoyed the pleasures of Texas BBQ, you can relive those pleasures through the pages of this book.

There simply isn't anything like this. Every photo is a gem that is worth staring at for a while. The book captures the essence of the near-religious tradition of barbecue in Texas. If you follow that near-religion you'll love the book. If you don't, you'll see what it's all about.

This delicious book deserves a special place in our house. Not among the cookbooks, not among the novels but on the kitchen island where it catches the eye!

This book makes me want to visit all the places and people in these photographs. Admiring the pictures I realize I have never tasted a 'real' Texan BBQ. While my eyes feast, my tastbuds tingle, and my mouth waters I praise Wyatt McSpadden! Great art.

You too, Mr. McSpadden. This book is the visual equivalent of woodsmoke (which I've always wished came in perfume form, so I could dab it behind my ears). As a native Texan, I have my copy proudly displayed in my living room. And I already know what most of my family is getting for Christmas this year. --On a more serious note, though, this book--unlike many wannabe successes--says "ART" to me simply because the photographer obviously did not set out to create a chi-chi coffee-table tome; he documented something close to his heart and heritage. This result is a nonpareil homage to an old Texas tradition, the small-town barbecue joint. There are not only alluring images but also cool essays & appealing design. [Love the pitmasters' quotes.] Also, check out the many, er, links to McSpadden's book. You'll be ordering half a dozen (books, and perhaps sausages too) in no time.

It is the mythological quality of the photographs that feeds my need for narrative. Vulcan, the god of fire, is evoked by the images of the pitmasters tending thier fires, and while Texas BBQ is not the underworld, the photos make it clear this is another world that Wyatt McSpadden has reverently exposed. The photo of the safe encrusted by years, decades, centuries of smoke feels primordial. The photo of Roy Perez standing in the middle of thousands (?) of logs to choose those for the pit made me think of Zeus picking his thunderbolts. Texas BBQ is artistically and intellectually satisfying.

In the case of Wyatt McSpadden's Texas BBQ, the answer is yes. This gorgeous coffee table book showcases work by one of the best photographers in the state documenting the steaming, dripping, juicy foodways of Central Texas.

The book itself is a piece of history and is filled with photos from McSpadden's twenty years documenting barbecue around Austin. For me, it was like a walk down memory lane as I've enjoyed many of the same spots for authentic barbecue, prepared by pit masters that have been smoking meat for decades.

Favorites like Kreuz, Smitty's, City Market, Cooper's, and more had me dreaming of my next road trip.

Fortunately, I'm less tempted to chew on the majority of photos in McSpadden's new classic, happily devouring them with my eyes instead. A few moments spent with the twilight photo of Prause's Market, the neon glowing, the windows steamed, and I was warmed on this chilly March day. In McSpadden's hands, a bottle of toothpicks--toothpicks, for Pete's Sake--is elevated to fine art.

But it's in the photographs of the men and women who do the smokin', some who've worked the pits for decades, that McSpadden's master talents shine brightest. Whether they're stoking the pits, adrift in a sea of cordword, or moving like a blur during the lunch rush, you can tell that the people of Texas BBQ take their cooking with the seriousness it requires.

All this is sandwiched between a forward by novelist Jim Harrison, who equates McSpadden's images with the poetry of Pablo Neruda, and an afterward by food writer John Morthland, who has the unquestionable BBQ credentials to write up the history and details ("The thermometer at Martin's has reach 114.") of this particular Texas tribe called pit masters.

Even if the book had been slapped together, it would still be great, but the design of the book itself deserves raves. So clever: the stamped red brick as title page. So appropriate: the crumpled brown paper for the inside back and front cover pages. So arresting: the bold type for the bold quotes from pit masters.

Bet you can guess what all the BBQ zealots I know are getting for presents this year.

this book will make a vegetarian turn into a carnivore. Even though I've eaten lots of BBQ I've never thought about the people who make it, let alone seen their pictures. Pages of beautiful pictures and great stories from the pit bosses bring the art of BBQ come alive and just jump off the pages. This book will remain in my bookcase forever and all my friends and relatives will find a copy of it in their birthday package, or Christmas stocking. Thanks Wyatt McSpadden (and the wonderful designer of the book) for putting a big smile on my face and hunger pains in my stomach.

If you're from Texas, especially a small town, you have grown up with BBQ. I've been to many of the places documented in his photographs and Wyatt McSpadden captures them like no one else. You can almost smell and taste the BBQ by looking at his photos. Even if you are a vegetarian, the photographs are beautiful and well worth a look. If you know any expats from Texas, send them this book and they will we be desperate to move home!

Lin Altman