Karen Adler wears many different hats including her BBQ Queen tiara. She and Judith Fertig launched the BBQ Queens' Big Book of Barbecue - April 2005 - followed by Weeknight Grilling with the BBQ Queens in 2006. Her most recent books with co-author Judith Fertig are Patio Pizzeria-Artisan Pizza and Flatbread on the Grill (April 2014) and Gardener & The Grill (2012) both with Running Press.

Karen is President/Owner of Pig Out Publications, Inc. a wholesaler of BBQ & grill cookbooks (over 275 titles). Adler is author of 13 cookbooks with 9 titles on the subject of barbecue. Her most recent book is Everything Wild Game Cookbook under the pseudonym of Karen Eagle Visit her website to see all the books that Pig Out offers: www.pigoutpublications.com

Karen's love for cooking began when she married her husband, Dick Adler. Dick is an avid sportsman and hunter. He and Karen hunt upland game birds; fly-fish for trout, and deep sea fish for the catch of the region. With a supply of wild game and fish in their two large freezers, Karen became an excellent game cook through trial and error and sharing recipes with other hunters and their wives.

As a traveling culinary instructor, Karen specializes in outdoor cooking. She has taught cooking classes at Halls-Kansas City, Quincy Steamboat Cooking School in Quincy IL, Dorothy Lane-Dayton OH, KitchenArt-West LaFayette IN, Byerly's-Minneapolis MN, Texas' Central Market Cooking Schools, Marshall Field's Culinary Studio in Chicago, Viking Culinary Centers, The Kansas City Restaurant Association, Cooks of Crocus Hill in St. Paul MN, and The Cleveland RibsFest. Karen teaches classes on American barbecue & grilling, game cookery, and international classes including French and Italian with emphasis on Provencal and Mediterranean cooking.

She has been a celebrity guest chef at the Seattle Grillfest-2002, Charlie Trotter's To Go-Chicago, The American Royal Barbecue Cooking stage-2003, and Traverse City Epicurean Event guest chef and instructor-2004, Food Fair in Bismark ND 2005, Wegmans Food Festival in Allentown PA 2005, Blues & BBQ at Silver Dollar City 2006, and Copia in 2007.

Adler's writing career includes articles in Barbecue Today, Hearth Patio & BBQ Magazine, Cooking Pleasures, Great Grilling, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Cooking Club of America/North American Group. She and Judith currently write a bi-monthly BBQ Queen column in Backyard Living magazine.

She has been a spokesperson for the National Catfish Institute.

Karen & Judith were featured in the Kansas City Star summer grill article ' 2004 and 2005, Food & Wine June 2005, and in USA Today-Summer 2004 and Summer 2006. Bon Appetite magazine featured a BBQ Queen recipe in Summer 2006. Southern Living Magazine included them in their November 2006 Thanksgiving issue, too. She and Judith are featured in the June 2004 issue of Midwest Living Magazine, June 2003 issues of Gourmet Magazine and Mary Engelbreit Home Companion. Their cookbook Fish & Shellfish Grilled & Smoked was chosen one of the best BBQ 'reads' for the summer of 2003 by Joan Brunskill, Associated Press Writer. And both she and Judith appeared via satellite TV featuring their Fish & Shellfish Grilled & Smoked cookbook with grilled catfish recipes in May 2003. Karen has appeared on Better Homes & Garden TV and the DIY Network with Judith Fertig as the BBQ Queens.

Karen is past-president of Les Dames D'Escoffier Kansas City Chapter, International Association of Culinary Professionals, Hearth Patio & BBQ Association, and founder of the Que (BBQ) Queens. She is past Vice-President of the National Barbecue Association and was the founder and chairman of their Awards of Excellence. She has also judged the Awards Competition 2002 of the Association of Food Journalists, Inc. As a member of the Kansas City Barbeque Society, Adler holds the honorary degree of Masters in Barbecue and Ph.B. from the Greasehouse University!

Cookbook and fiction author Judith Fertig grew up in the Midwest, went to college and cooking school in Europe, and now lives in the Kansas City area. Described by Saveur Magazine as a "heartland cookbook icon," Fertig writes cookbooks that reflect her love of bread, baking, barbecue, and the fabulous foods of the Heartland.

You can read some of her cookbooks like novels--the fabulously photographed Heartland, the award-winning and James Beard Awards-nominated Prairie Home Cooking (a "tour de force," says Saveur), the encylopedic All-American Desserts, and Prairie Home Breads. Her IACP Cookbook Award-winning The Back in the Swing Cookbook (with Barbara C. Unell) takes you on a delicious daily journey to get you back in the swing after breast cancer. And good news: the Anniversary edition of The Back in the Swing Cookbook with even more food and lifestyle content for breast cancer survivors is out in September, 2024!

And some of her books ARE novels. Her debut The Cake Therapist , the story of a talented pastry chef with a very special gift who opens a bakery in her hometown, with mesmerizing results. The award-winning sequel, The Memory of Lemon, followed. Her newest novel, The Art Detective, will be published in 2024.

Other books reflect her ongoing reign as a tiara-totin' BBQ Queen, having fun with co-author and co-queen Karen Adler, from BBQ Bash, 300 Big & Bold Barbecue Recipes, and Weeknight Grilling to 25 Essentials Planking, 25 Essentials Grilling Fish, and the best-selling The Gardener and the Grill. Do you know the 4 BBQ Queen Waves for when you become famous (for your barbecue or anything else) ?? Here are a few hints: Wiping the windshield, screwing in a lightbulb, fluttering the air. . . . Do them along with us on the Food Network. http://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=bGFVownwvVA

And some of her cookbooks just make you want to get in that kitchen and stir up something new--with one-bowl, no-knead bread in 200 Fast & Easy Artisan Breads or with your "electric assistant" in The Artisan Bread Machine.

Check out her website http://www.judithfertig.com/ for even more updates.