Barbecue America

From Memphis to Minneapolis, thousands gather every year at barbecue cookoffs to celebrate this nation's greatest contribution to the culinary world. Barbecue America documents the characters, the flavors, and the award-winning recipes.

Barbecue: It’s America in a mouthful. The story of barbecue touches almost every aspect of our history. It involves indigenous culture, the colonial era, slavery, the Civil War, the settling of the West, the coming of immigrants, the Great Migration, the rise of the automobile, the expansion of suburbia, the rejiggering of gender roles. It encompasses every region and demographic group. It is entwined with our politics and tangled up with our race relations. Jim Auchmutey follows the delicious and contentious history of barbecue in America from the ox roast that celebrated the groundbreaking for the U.S. Capitol building to the first barbecue launched into space almost two hundred years later. The narrative covers the golden age of political barbecues, the evolution of the barbecue restaurant, the development of backyard cooking, and the recent rediscovery of traditional barbecue craft. Along the way, Auchmutey considers the mystique of barbecue sauces, the spectacle of barbecue contests, the global influences on American barbecue, the roles of race and gender in barbecue culture, and the many ways barbecue has been portrayed in our art and literature. It’s a spicy story that involves noted Americans from George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama.

Take your backyard cookouts to a new level. “Davis and Kirk explore the world of competition barbecue and share tips and recipes straight from the champs.” —The Edwardsville Intelligencer It began with one simple question: What do championship barbecuers love to cook for themselves, when there are no rules but the simple laws of physics and basic chemistry? With more than thirty years of barbecue contest experience apiece, Ardie A. Davis, professional barbecue judge and barbecue historian extraordinaire, and KC Baron of Barbeque Paul Kirk, with a slew of awards under his belt—including seven world championships—were just the guys to ask it. America’s Best BBQ—Homestyle collects the best backyard cookout recipes from people who have gone pro. Some of the recipes are former competition winners that have earned a constant place at the family table. Others are foods that teams like to make (and share) while they tend their fires on contest day. A few are old family recipes passed down for generations. And some are even the result of ingenious experiments in the kitchen and at the grill. Most are easy. All are sure to win the hearts of friends and neighbors at your next family cookout. Also included are tips and advice on everything from meal prep to gadgets, some basics to get you started, a few tall tales from the pits, and tons of photos of the dishes and the pitmasters who make them. This is the only book you need to become “the envy of the subdivision, the pride of the campground, and the host with the most at the next tailgate party” (The Self Taught Cook).

“Barbecue is a simple food. Don’t mess it up.” As the winningest man in barbecue, a New York Times bestselling cookbook author, and a judge on the hit show BBQ Pitmasters on Discovery’s Destination America, Myron Mixon knows more about smoking meat than any man alive. And now he’s on a mission to prove to home cooks everywhere that they can make great barbecue any day of the week—in the comfort of their own backyard or kitchen, no matter their skill level. Across the country at competitions and in his Pride & Joy Bar-B-Que restaurants, Mixon has proven that no other pitmaster’s food can touch his when he’s behind a smoker. But he doesn’t need fancy equipment to do it: He can cook delicious barbecue with any grill, smoker, or oven, even on the busiest weeknight, and you’ll be able to, too, with the nearly 150 recipes in Everyday Barbecue. Armed with Mixon’s advice and tips, you’ll discover that barbecue isn’t just for the Fourth of July and Labor Day; it’s for any day you feel like cooking it. So fire up your grill and get ready to cook incredible barbecue favorites such as Ribs the Easy Way, Myron’s Dr Pepper Can Chicken, and The King Rib sandwich and adventurous backyard fare like Pork Belly Sliders and Barbecue-Fried Baby Backs, plus leftover inspirations, delectable deserts, and even some drunken recipes! In Everyday Barbecue, you will find some seriously finger-lickin’ good barbecue recipes, including: • The Essentials: Turning any backyard grill into a smoker—Brisket the Easy Way, Ribs the Easy Way, The Only Barbecue Sauce You Need • Burgers and Sandwiches: Classic Hickory Smoked Barbecue Burger, The King Rib, Barbecue Pork Belly Sliders, Brisket Cheesesteaks, Barbecued Veggie Sandwiches • Smoked and Grilled: Perfect Grilled Rib Eyes, Whole Roasted Turkey with Bourbon Gravy, Myron’s Dr Pepper Can Chicken • Barbecue-Fried: Yes, first you smoke it, then you fry it—Baby Backs, Chicken Lollipops, Cap’n Crunch Chicken Tenders • Swimmers: Finger-Lickin’ Barbecue Shrimp-and-Cheese Grits, Smoky Catfish Tacos • Drunken Recipes: Bourbon Brown Sugar Chicken, Whiskey Grilled Shrimp • Barbecue Brunch: Pitmaster’s Smoked Eggs Benedict with Pulled Pork Cakes, Backyard Bacon • Plus, Salads and Sides, delectable Desserts, and Leftover inspirations! Baby Back Mac and Cheese, Tinga-Style Barbecue Tacos, Chocolate Cake on the Grill, and Grilled Skillet Apple Pie Loaded with nearly 150 recipes and mouthwatering photographs throughout, Everyday Barbecue serves up barbecue’s greatest hits (and more) in a fast, efficient way that you’ve never seen before. Praise for Everyday Barbecue “Mixon does an admirable job of showing grillers, smokers, and barbecuers how they can turn labor and time-intensive grilling and barbecue projects into weekday meals with a minimum of fuss in this to-the-point collection of 150 smoke-centered recipes. . . . It’s his ingenious use of leftovers that will make readers take notice as he offers suggestions for mountains of leftover brisket, pulled pork, or chicken. This approach—rather than a multitude of variations on ribs, pulled pork and a bevy of sauces—sets the book apart and make it a keeper.”—Publishers Weekly

Ron Douglas fires up his outrageously successful America’s Most Wanted Recipes series in this essential guide to recreating the most popular grilled dishes from the country’s most famous restaurants. When it’s grilling season, Ron Douglas, the New York Times bestselling author of America’s Most Wanted Recipes, likes to do it up big. Not just a few burgers on the grill, but steaks, seafood, corn on the cob, and of course his favorite restaurant remakes. So if you’ve ever wanted to make the savory grilled dishes from your favorite restaurants in the comfort of your own backyard—and save money in the process—then you’re in for a treat! Inside America’s Most Wanted Recipes At the Grill, you’ll find more than 150 copycat recipes from the most popular restaurants in the US, including Applebee’s Riblets with Honey Barbecue Sauce, California Pizza Kitchen’s Jamaican Jerk Chicken Pizza, the Cheesecake Factory’s SkinnyLicious Grilled Chicken, Famous Dave’s Pit Barbeque Ribs, KFC’s Honey BBQ Sauce, TGI Friday’s Jack Daniels Grill Glaze, and much, much more. Every dish has been tested and tweaked to taste just like the original. You’ll impress your friends and family with these copycat versions—or by putting a healthy twist on them and preparing the dishes exactly to your liking. Also included in the book is a special grilling guide to help home chefs become the grill master their guests will be raving about all year long. So fire up the grill and get ready to taste your favorite restaurant dishes at home!

Grilling’s leading brand “take[s] barbecue beyond its Southern tradition of long, slow cooking of ribs and roasts and push[es] it into new territory” (Smooth magazine). The standard definition of American barbecue doesn’t do it justice. Traditional barbecue, in all its delicious glory, is a foundation—an idea to be built upon. And all across the country, home grillers and restaurant chefs alike are doing just that. In this big melting-pot of a nation, we all bring something different to the table—flavors, spices, perspectives—and each time we do, the meaning of barbecue changes a little. Through stories and essays, hundreds of photos, crystal-clear techniques, and 100 exceptional and fool-proof recipes, Weber’s New American Barbecue™ celebrates what’s happening at the grill today. From chefs creating new classics to everyday backyard heroes melding flavors to pitmasters setting new standards of excellence at competitions, this book explores the delicious evolution of our true American pastime—barbecue. “‘New’ is emphasized here, in essays on Chicago’s evolving barbecue restaurant scene, the South’s ‘Nouveau ’Cue’ chefs and Korean barbecue of Los Angeles. The recipes are as global as America today.”—Chicago Tribune “Rather than rehashing barbecue recipes that have already been done to death, Purviance sought out fresh takes on cooking meat with fire . . . It’s nice to get more than a couple recipes for grilled and smoked seafood, and this book delivers there, but the best thing is that these recipes all have an originality to them. There are no throwaway recipes in here.”—Daniel Vaughn, Texas Monthly

Inspired by tradition. Freed by creativity. This is Barbecue, American Style. Go beyond the traditional and get a taste of the new, authentic American barbecue. Weber's American Barbecue is an exciting, hands-on exploration of how barbecue is evolving. Fresh, modern and totally original, this book tours some of the most interesting trends in barbecue today. Featuring places of interest, local experts, over 120 recipes and the history behind them-you'll feel like you're taking a road trip across America. Over 120 innovative new recipes-from starters and main dishes, to sides and sauces. Step-by-step instruction on the latest techniques with hundreds of photos to show you how to get the most from your barbecue. The stories behind the trends, the recipes and their creators. This definitive cookbook shares what's happening in American barbecue and brings contemporary, extraordinary barbecue within everyone's reach.

Barbecue is a word that means different things to different people. It can be a verb or a noun. It can be pulled pork or beef ribs. And, especially in the American South, it can cause intense debate and stir regional pride. Perhaps, then, it is no surprise that the roots of this food tradition are often misunderstood. In Savage Barbecue, Andrew Warnes traces what he calls America's first food through early transatlantic literature and culture. Building on the work of scholar Eric Hobsbawm, Warnes argues that barbecue is an invented tradition, much like Thanksgiving-one long associated with frontier mythologies of ruggedness and relaxation. Starting with Columbus's journals in 1492, Warnes shows how the perception of barbecue evolved from Spanish colonists' first fateful encounter with natives roasting iguanas and fish over fires on the beaches of Cuba. European colonists linked the new food to a savagery they perceived in American Indians, ensnaring barbecue in a growing web of racist attitudes about the New World. Warnes also unearths the etymological origins of the word barbecue, including the early form barbacoa; its coincidental similarity to barbaric reinforced emerging stereotypes. Barbecue, as it arose in early transatlantic culture, had less to do with actual native practices than with a European desire to define those practices as barbaric. Warnes argues that the word barbecue retains an element of violence that can be seen in our culture to this day. Savage Barbecue offers an original and highly rigorous perspective on one of America's most popular food traditions.