Good books on smoking for beginners?


 
Brian Quintal

Brian Quintal

TVWBB Member
For my winter reading any recommendations for good books on smoking that include techniques as well as good recipe's? Also what sides to serve with different courses including the side recipe's. Am I asking to much lol........
 
One of the acknowledged best beginning smoker books is Gary Wiviott's "Low and Slow". Take him literally or with a grain of salt, the info and technique is valid. I did a read through and went on my own. He says stick to the plan. You can decide, but you won't go wrong with the book.

Rich
 
Ditto on Weber Smoke and Low and Slow. I'd like to add the classic book Smoke & Spice by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison
 
Well you will learn more here on this site then you will in any book out there!
Save your money(or donate it to this forum) and just do your reading here.
 
I have several books and if pressed to recommend one for a starter I would go with the weber smoking book previously suggested. It is a great beginner book.

Mike
 
Doug Wade said:
I just wanted to make sure you've poked around the Cooking Topics pages here: http://virtualweberbullet.com/cook.html

They're extremely useful including both very easy and very good recipes (and many are both!)
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x2. Here you can ask for feedback, have sides suggested, quirks accounted for. I only have a couple - marinades/rubs/brines (look here), & dinosaur BBQ. I haven't done much more than thumb through them. I do have a whole shelf full of cookbooks though, including those above, charcuterie, a few on vegetarian/vegan(ism), a couple of soup cookbooks, bar tender's black book, ...........you name it.

This site's more useful imo, just keep looking.....but if you're a collector (like me), get on it.
 
I should probably point out that I'm a serious cookbook fiend (six shelves) and I have a couple of the books mentioned above and just didn't find them that helpful. When you're very first starting you're trying to get the smoker under control so it's nice to have the Weber-specific information. At the same time you're figuring out if you like a lot or a little smoke, what kinds, if you tend to like ribs with just a rub and done to perfection or if you want them slathered with 57 mysterious substances. So I'd say cook some of the recipes here that sound good and get the fundamentals down and then if you feel like moving on at some point you'll be able to look at the books and know a bit if they'll mesh with what you like.
 
Thanks all for your input. I ended up ordering Weber Smoke, Low and Slow, and Smoke and Spice I figure between that and info from you guys i'll have it all covered.
 
Here's my Cook Book shelf.

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Bill
 
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Over the last month or two I've started switching to e-books. I LOL'd @ your shelf Bill :) I have a bookshelf in my kitchen but only 1/8th of it is cooking related.

I'm really enjoying the ebooks..... i can read them on any computer/phone/tablet, pictures are nice still, & they're searchable. How I'll be able to lend or give them away though....I'm sure they'll come up with something, or I'll just give my F&F my kindle password I guess.

edit>>>> brian, just wanted to make sure you've seen & taken advantage of the recipes/techniques Chris has put up .. I used that for a couple of years before I started posting....lots of good stuff: http://virtualweberbullet.com/cook.html (linked by Doug Wade above)
 
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Brian Quintal said:
Thanks all for your input. I ended up ordering Weber Smoke, Low and Slow, and Smoke and Spice I figure between that and info from you guys i'll have it all covered.
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Excellent choices. I recommend following Gary Wiviott's lessons in Low an Slow to learn how your cooker operates efficiently. I know I am glad I did. I cooked for years and found out I was doing it wrong. My friends and family have noticed the difference. My cooks are so much better.
 
I have to admit, I'm seriously impressed, Bill! I agree with Clint on the eBooks, but THAT is an awesome collection.

And add another vote to browsing TVWBB in the forums and cooking topics (and everything else). Every time I drift away, I return and find out the lesson I just learned had already been discussed here. And THAT is GREAT!

Rich
 
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