New and need advice

Peace, Love, and barbecue by Mike Mills is a pretty good start. Our own Dr. Barbecue has several good ones, there are just a ton of good ones out there. Also Steve Raichlen (sp?) has some informational ones as well.

Give him a pointer to this site.

I have only a couple of books/videos. Not all that great. Chris Lilly's Big Bob Gibson BBQ book is OK. But you might consider getting him a smoker... the Weber Smokey Mountain 18.5" or 22" would be my recommendation for a happy brother.

bmanMA said:

Give him a pointer to this site.

Click to expand...

+100 There is more knowlege here than any book could hold.

My favorite one (and I have a bunch of them) is Serious Barbecue by Adam Perry Lang. It not only has some really great recipes, it also explains a lot of the so called "secrets".

Plus one for Serious Barbecue by Adam Perry Lang

This place is a perfect place to pick up anything on request.
A guy could read at this site for months and not be through it all.

BUT, if it's books he wants, I have BBQ USA and How to Grill by Steve Raichlen and both are great. I started out with How to Grill and then picked up BBQ USA later. BBQ USA has a lot about the history and regional BBQ in the reading and also has TONS of great recipes of regional BBQ.

I've heard a lot about Lang's Serious BBQ, but do not have that one.



Seriously, though.......have him join this website and for even better benefits, be a paying subscriber. :thumb:

I've read a number of barbecue books, and I still reference one or two of them now & again for recipe ideas. However, honestly, I started with books and was very frustrated and didnt do very well. I ended up learning what folks here tell you readily by working and talking to competition teams. Not everyone has this (competition teams) at their disposal. That's why I HIGHLY suggest have him join here in addition to getting him a good book or two. People here freely share recipes, how to's, and just as important, what NOT to do and share mistakes (which books tend to omit). It's a great place, really.

A very good book (with a huge exception) that I have is Smoke & Spice. It's great and talks all about it. HOWEVER, the authors go on and on about their recommendation to cook from 200 to 220. I came away from this (early on) that I need to get to 200 and maintain that temperature. Honestly, that's nonsense, and I ruined many a cut of meat trying to do exactly as they described. Also, they didnt stress the difference in surface temperatures vs. the thermometer located/attached on your smoker. Once I really began monitoring the surface temps carefully, and brought them up to 240-255 I was in hog (barbecue) heaven. So, other than that, the book is VERY good.

the best thing for me was a one day BBQ class... after that the books were just gravy.

Any of the Steven Raichlen BBQ Bible books and Adam Perry Lang's Serious BBQ