Barbecue Nation: 350 Hot-Off-The-Grill, Tried-And-True Recipes from America's Backyard (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Any pitmaster will happily point out the Mason-Dixon line of outdoor cooking: barbecue is a long, slow process in which large pieces of meat cook over low heat, while grilling is a short process in which smaller items cook over high heat. Thompson (The Big Book of Fish and Shellfish) takes an egalitarian approach in this mouthwatering collection of 350 recipes, employing both techniques with winning results. Thompson traveled the country, acquiring recipes (and 20 pounds) from backyard barbecue aficionados, professional cooks and everyone in between. The result includes all the old favorites-Beer Can Chicken, brisket and a bevy of rib variations-but spins off in a number of enticing directions, including complex, adventurous recipes (like the exotic Grilled Octopus Salad) and simplicity-itself crowd-pleasers (like Simple Seasoned Pork Chops, with just three ingredients). Anyone with a soft spot for smoky flavor will have a hard time saying no to new classics like Double-Stuffed Barbecue Potatoes, Grilled Oysters Rockefeller and Grilled Figs with Country Ham (stuffed with blue cheese and mascarpone, quickly grilled, then glazed with a balsamic reduction). The barbecue and grilling shelf of most bookstores is already overburdened with choices, but Thompson's rich and varied collection-virtually all of which falls within the capabilities of most cooks-belongs on the short list of anyone serious about outdoor cooking.
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Product Description

Barbecue Nation is a culinary mosaic of what 14 million Americans like to do most when it comes to cooking--make dinner at the grill. Author Fred Thompson has searched across the U.S. for America's best backyard cooks and their favorite recipes--not chefs' fancy interpretations of barbecue classics or pitmasters' ways with barbecue that the reader can't reproduce at home, but 350 recipes that are easy to recreate in anybody's backyard. The book will reflect America's ever-changing populations, with recipes with the flavors of Cuba from South Florida, or Brooklyn-born Jamaican jerk, or the taste of Vietnam from the coast of Texas, as well as the country's regional bounties, including grilled salmon recipes from the Pacific Northwest, brats from the Midwest, and Delta Grilled Catfish.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: Taunton Press; illustrated edition edition (April 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561588148
• ISBN-13: 978-1561588145
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #540,060 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes Grilling Simple!, June 28, 2007

By	B. Ellis (Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Grilling is not all that easy, I usually burn everything. This book gave me tips and ideas for perfecting my grilling that I would actually use! I love the way he tells you places to touch on your face to learn how to tell meat is done.

These recipes are from people all over the country and all of them come out moist and flavorful. A world of flavors is represented!

Who has time for cookbooks with a page of ingredients? I don't. All the recipes are like ones your friends would share, simple and fast to make!

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expanding your range of things to have fun doing with your backyard grill, August 13, 2007

By	Craig Matteson (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

While the purists separate Barbecue from Grilling and never the twain shall meet (or is it meat?), Fred Thompson is more about helping you enjoy cooking outside over a fire of charcoal or propane or whatever else. Yes, this is a fun book.

He opens telling you why he wanted to do this book and then provides some basics about what you need and what is nice to have. He doesn't assume you have any more than a simple 22 inch Weber kettle, but you could have a multi-thousand dollar pit smoker, too. He just assumes you want to cook on your grill and provides you with hundreds of fun and interesting, but not too complicated, recipes.

Thompson tells you how to do almost anything you can think of on your grill, including a pizza (pictured on the back cover)! The range is bigger than my little burger, hot dog, steak, chops, and ribs brain had ever dreamed possible. Wow! I mean there are some things here that are so tantalizing that I have to try them and care a lot less how they come out than the fun of trying.

However, the author provides things to us so clearly that I believe there is a very good chance of making things come out tasty as well as fun. When he opens the section of recipes, say, on beef or pork or poultry, he spends a page or so letting you know a few important things about the cuts and what you need to know about the meat.

The recipe pages are very designed to be very helpful to us, the readers. The left margin has the ingredients in the upper left corner with the instructions below. The right 60% of each page a description of the dish, helpful tips (always helpful!). In the upper right corner is a little box showing the source of the recipe, how many servings, and a symbol showing whether you will be cooking over a direct or indirect fire. Once in awhile there is a nice photo, too.

The hundreds of recipes takes us through some wonderful and strange things to do on a grill, then beef and veal, pork, lamb, goat, game, fowl, fish, shellfish, and then burgers - dogs - sausages. We then take a trip to vegetables and fruits (why is it when I hear about this my first reaction is always to feel it is odd, then when I taste it I think, `Wow! Of course!"? Thompson then does a nice section on rubs, sauces, and marinades that can lift our grilling to another level. He concludes with a section on sides and deserts - pies, cakes, tarts. The one ice cream recipe is offered as an excuse to go buy an ice cream maker. Hear, hear!

If you want to have fun doing some new things on your grill, this is a wonderful book.

5.0 out of 5 stars this is a great cookbook, October 19, 2009

By	Cindy - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

I love my new cookbook. So far every recipe has been amazing. It has given me confidence to use my grill much more often. It is great!!