Smoke & Spice [Hardcover]

Barbecue is not about grilling food fast over high heat. That's something else, delicious in its own right, but something else entirely. Barbecue is about marginal cuts of meat (for the most part), about smoke, about fires burning so low and slow you hardly ever see the flicker of a flame. Barbecue is about succulent pork ribs as dark as sin just falling off the bone and dripping with glorious sweet pork godliness. Or enjoying the effects that 12 to 18 hours of smoking has on beef brisket.

The trick is, how do you do it? How do you master a cooking technique all but ignored in favor of fast and hot? The answer lies in Smoke & Spice. Authors Jamison and Jamison provide all the information you're ever going to need to run a real barbecue. Tips and techniques abound on every page--accompanied with countless recipes that stretch the barbecue imagination. And seeing that one cannot live on barbecue alone (though that's a challenge well worth considering) there are just as many recipes included for all the good food that accompanies barbecue--from Scalloped Green Chile Potatoes to South-of-the-Border Garlic Soup to Buttermilk Onion Rings and even Bourbon Peaches. If smoke in your eyes makes your mouth water, this is the primer for you! --Schuyler Ingle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Nine years and a half million copies after its first edition, this handy resource for barbecue done the right way returns in an expanded volume. The Jamisons have added an extra 100 recipes as well as 20 new recipe variations. Classics like a Humble Hot Dog, which demands a bun of "squishy white bread," and Cajun County Ribs sopped in cider vinegar and Worcestershire share the pages with Jerked Salmon done Jamaican style in a sauce of tamarind, honey and ginger. Sometimes worlds collide as with Southwest Stew on a Stick, chili-powdered sirloin glazed in beer and molasses and served as a kebob. Given the proper amount of smoke and time, even the lowliest of meats find dignity, as with the Triple Play Tube Steak, wherein a two-pound chunk of bologna is draped in sauce and smoked for two hours; the sauce caramelizes, making for a sticky-sweet sandwich. An at-first-surprising inclusion is the Kentucky Burgoo, but it turns out to be merely a mix of chicken, beef and lamb, forgoing the possum and squirrel that sometimes turn up in the stew. The authors end the book with a selection of chilly desserts, such as Peach Melba Ice Cream, and cool drinks like Cold Buttered Rum.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Most "barbecue" cookbooks are actually about grilling rather than smoke cooking, which is true barbecue. The Jamisons focus on the real thing, describing in detail the techniques and equipment necessary and offering dozens of tantalizing recipes for barbecuing almost anything. They tend to lapse into the corny tone the topic of barbecuing often seems to inspire and favor recipe names like "Going Whole Hog" or "Ragin' Rabbit," but there's lots of information here, along with plenty of good recipes. Recommended.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"Real" barbecue forswears searing, sizzling, and grilling for the art of smoking or cooking foods slowly and low over smoldering woods or other materials. No need to buy or dig a pit, though; the Jamisons of Texas Home Cooking fame (plus other down-home collections) explain how to improvise backyard smoking appliances. They also ably demonstrate, through more than 300 recipes, all the finer points of barbecuing, including the differences between dry rubs, pastes, marinades, and mops (i.e., basting preparations); the regional variations of pork or beef fixings; the obligatory accompaniments, such as sweet potato biscuits and Lexington red slaw; and palate-soothing desserts and drinks. No detail is too unimportant; for example, an at-a-glance chart shows when to baste or not. And the Jamison mix in a contemporary sense of humor--"charcoal varies as much as Madonna's moods and has almost the same chance of being a real stinker"--with their advice for some 1990s back-to-basics meals. Barbara Jacobs

300-plus recipes. The only cookbook devoted to smoke-cooked barbecue, a hot trend. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

No food is better than barbecue, and the essential ingredient in real barbecue is smoke. Cheryl and Bill Jamisons Smoke & Spice makes me want to eat barbecue everyday! -Dean Fearing, Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas; author of Dean Fearings Southwest Cuisine

The Jamisons Barbecue is the real thing. -Rick Bayless, Frontera Grill, Chicago; co-author of Authentic Mexican

Smoke & Spice is creative, informative, and packed with outstanding food. -Chris Schlesinger, East Coast Grill, Cambridge; co-author of The Thrill of Grill At last! A real Bar-B-Q cookbook, for people who cook on smokers and other wood burning equipment With more than 300 recipes! Real Barbecue, one of the treasures of home-grown American cooking, once was the specialty of a few chefs and aficionados. Now, thanks to the ready availability of smoke cookers-water smokers, wood-fired pits, and kettle grills-millions of Americans are cooking outstanding Q right at home. Smoke & Spice is the cookbook for them, with over 300 mouth-watering recipes and expert tips on how to get the best results from any kind of barbecue equipment. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Eminent authorities on American regional cooking, Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison have written Smoke & Spice and The Border Cookbook, both winners of James Beard Book Awards, Sublime Smoke, Texas Home Cooking, and The Rancho de Chimay Cookbook. They live in Santa Fe. As well, the Jamisons are the national spokespeople for the American Pork Council. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.