Best BBQ Book(s) - What is your "Bible"?

Hi All,

I just responded to a post about Raichlen from Wayne E and thought I'd ask what is probably an often asked question.

If there were a BBQ bible, what would it be?

Lively debate to follow.

JDH

My BBQ "Bible" ? The Vitual Weber Bulletin Board of course. I know its not exactly what you're looking for but I have gotten the best advice, recipes, techniques, from here.

I'm with Eric on this. I find that the members of TVWBB and couple of other forums I follow to be just as informative if not more so in some cases than cook books plus I can look recipes up on line for free. I can't ask a cook book to explain certain aspects of a recipe I may not understand or if I can substitute one ingredient with another or to be more specific about certain procedures. I may turn to a cook book if I'm in the kitchen but ya'll are my go to for info about BBQ and grill'n.

Concur with Don and Eric. Learned far more from this board than any book.

Thanks guys. Appreciative of the above, I'm curious as to people's choice for best book/media. This forum is definitely more informative and dynamic than any text could ever be but I wonder what everyone considers a "must have" regadless of era.

Example, Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking".

JDH

Smoke and Spice was the first BBQ cookbook that I ever bought and I read it cover to cover. It has a lot of good info and techniques in it. I have a bunch of other ones. My latest is Cooks Country's Favorite Grilling Recipes. It has a lot of recipes that we talk about on here. But I also agree that TVWBB is where I go to first and have learned the most.

No BBQ Bible, and but I suggest these four:

For Weber kettles and wsm's specific, I'd suggest Gary Wiviott's Low-n-slow and Weber's Charcoal Grilling by Jamie Purvience. A couple others for bbq in general, Ray Lampe's Dr. BBQ's Big-Time Barbecue Cookbook, and my newest, Chris Lilly's Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book, which also has tips for Weber grills and the wsm. All four are really worth the price in my opinion, and I can't say that about most of my collection.

+1 to Dave's post above.
A recent addition to my library is the Cook's Country "Best Grilling Recipes."

I appreciate this input. We have a bunch of cook books here at the house and none of them are bbq/grill specific. As I said in a different post,I myself didn't care much for the Steven Raichlen books and have been trying, though not to hard apparently,to find recipes that where more WSM specific and have relied heavily on the info in forums.Thanks ya'll.

Well, Gary Wiviott's Low & Slow seems pretty biased against this site:

ChickenMojo Criollo in your hands.Now, do a little victory dance around your cooker in the backyard.
Because you followed the instructions exactly, didn’t you?

What’s that? You incorporated some tips you saw on the Virtual Weber site? You had a half bag of
leftover charcoal briquettes and figured, Why not use it up? You smoked bologna instead of chicken?
I have a stock letter for transgressors of my Program. It goes like this:

Dear [Name of the ****edWithheld],

Stop reading the VirtualWeber site. It’s a great resource, but if you pick up techniques and
methods fromWeb sites and try to incorporate theminto the Program, things get confusing and
don’tworkwell. VirtualWeber and I have very different philosophies on barbecue. The site is populated
by engineers who tend to put toomuch emphasis on things like time charts and ambient
temperature.My Programcares about none of that. Start the fire, put themeat in the cooker, and
leave it the hell alone.
Now, go take that **** thermometer out of the vent. Not only is the thermometer blocking
airflow,which causes smoldering (which leads to creosote-flavored food), but these thermometers
aremeant to be inserted in food. They don’tmeasure the air temperature in your cooker, so
you’ll never get an accurate reading. Repeat afterme: we don’t care about no stinking temperature.
Remember, you’re learning to read fires andmeat, not thermometers.
Also, do not reuse charcoal. Ever. Charcoal is an absorbent. It drinksmoisture and odor from
the air, which is why it’s often used as a filter.Moist charcoal cooks slow and transfers off flavors
to your food. And letme guess: you used regular briquettes instead of natural lump charcoal? Do
I have to remind you that briquettes contain a witch’s brew of chemicals, while lump charcoal is
a natural product?
Okay, now try Lesson #1 again, but ditch the thermometer and the briquettes and buy some
natural lump charcoal. If you are still interested in continuing this program. . . great. If I come on too
strong and you think I’mfull of soot, and youwish to discontinue, that’s perfectly understandable.
No hard feelings. But the deal is this: please followinstructions exactly or drop out of the program.
Cordially but firmly,

Gary Wiviott

Pretty harsh but why write a book without having strong opinions?

Just something I thought to share.

JDH

Wiviott makes numerous ridiculous claims, even though I think his overall point is spot on.

This is characteristic of numerous barbecue books.

My vote for a barbecue bible? None.

Originally posted by K Kruger:

My vote for a barbecue bible? None.

Click to expand...

I am with Mr. Kruger on this one. I have one book, but I don't use it. I use information from this site because of the variety of methods... you don't have one person's technique, you have many to choose from.

As an aside, I want to thank Kevin for his insight on mesquite wood for low and slow (from another post). I think that might be what affected the flavor of my Pepper Stout Beef that I tried on Smoke Day 2011.

I've read all of the books listed above with the exception of Gary Wivot. I went to the local libray and checked them oute and returned them. I do have a Raichlen book that my wife bought a couple of years ago. Its a great starter. These books confirm what is on this site. I would not recommend anything but this site.

i have a lot of books. partly as a collecting thing and also for info. i don't think there are any one go to book out there. but if i had to have just one it would be how to grill by raichlen. his whole series is almost a must have. then add to that.

For me it's the Weber Big Book of Grilling. I use it more than any other book I have, have bought a number of books and gotten rid of them since I got this one, and have given it as a gift at least 5 or six times now. I suppose that means I get a lot of value from it. Of course, it's not the only source of good recipes I have, but it surely has proven to be the most reliable.

I really like and use Marinades, Rubs, Brines, Cures, and Glazes by Jim Tarantino.
Charcuterie by Ruhlman has some good recipes and information.
Serious Barbecue by Adam Perry Lang is a good read.
I spend my cookbook money on books by chefs who are authorities in their field. I enjoy anything by Peter Reinhart.

My bible is my cooking log. Many have contributed ideas and recipes to it over the years: wiviott, purviance, raichlen, lilly and members of this forum.

I've got quite a few books and take the attitude that if I glean something that becomes part of my cooking style or recipes that I repeat or adapt then the purchase was worth it.

Originally posted by K Kruger:
Wiviott makes numerous ridiculous claims, even though I think his overall point is spot on.

This is characteristic of numerous barbecue books.

Click to expand...

That's a very good assessment.

I'd suggest the student ignore his obsession with lump, but take his common sense advice on cooking 250-275* with water in the pan and flipping/rotating meat. He gives great details and criteria in the book on several subjects, like how to tell when a pork butt is truly "pulled pork" tender. That kind of stuff might seem very elementary, but it is a great book for new and old hands at bbq alike. Actually, I kind of appreciate it now more than I did when I first got my wsm. He's also got some pretty decent rub recipes and instructions on how to toast and grind your own chiles for really fresh tasting rubs.

I like Paul Kirk's Championship BBQ, Weber's Big Book on Grilling, and Ray Lampe's Big Time BBQ. The book I'm looking for hasn't been written yet. When Harry Soo writes a book I'll be standing in line to buy it. I like philosophy and I can't imagine him writing an "in your face" BBQ book.