Reddit reviews Smoke & Spice - Revised Edition: Cooking With Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue (Non)

I read both /r/smoking and r/bbq, and /r/bbq in general has better traffic and is more suited to "can someone tell me about this model smoker"?

Anyhoo, it's a little hard to tell the quality from the picture. Brinkmann is a good name. I liken them to Toyota. Not the best on the market, also not the worst. I have a Brinkmann SnP and while it has drawbacks, it's not something that I'm unhappy with. It's a good name to start with. That said, some things are unclear. I have two major issues. The first is heat movement. If the meat is sitting directly over the coals, you need some sort of a deflector to prevent the meat from grilling (smoking is more like cooking with an oven). I also can't see vents. A fire needs a good supply of oxygen to burn; this requires good vents. If you have shitty vents, you'll get shitty food. With barbecue, there really is a link between how much a smoker costs and how good it is. A smoker that's $100 or less will either make shitty food or fall apart within a year. If not both. This is a mistake everyone of us has learned the hard way.

I wouldn't focus so strongly on a brisket at first. We all have our favorite things to smoke, but I strongly advocate doing your first smoke with a pack of bratwursts as well as a turkey or pork shoulder. Turkey and pork shoulder are delicious smoked, they're cheap, and they're hard to eff up. Brisket is tricky to get right. If you have tons of money and wouldn't be upset to destroy a $30+ cut of beef in maiden smoke, that's one thing. But your maiden smoke is hard. Believe me- my first time, I literally took three hours to get my rig up to temperature. I actually wondered if there was a risk that my pork shoulder spoiled on the way to being cooked (it didn't, but I'm sure I'd get a ticky mark from a health inspector). The bratwursts are there to keep you fed during the 10 hours your pork shoulder (or whatever) takes to cook.

As for chips/charcoal ratio, I would suggest you read up a bit about BBQ before starting. You really want to use hardwood lump charcoal, and you should avoid chips if at all possible. The reason is that when you buy a nice bag of hickory or cherry chips, it's probably 50-80% cut with oak. Think: how often do you drive past a stand of hickory trees? How often do you drive past a stand of oak trees? This tip and lots, lots more will be covered in any good BBQ book. I recommend two:

1. Smoke & Spice
   
2. Peace, Love, and Barbecue
   
   If you hate books : ( then there's a fantastic online resource called Amazing Ribs (which discusses all types of BBQ, including I'm sure your coveted Texas-style brisket).
   
   As I said before, don't buy wood chips. Buy chunks or logs. You'll find a few types at your local Home Depot or Lowes, and any type of wood you can't find there is available at Barbecue Wood. They're a bit pricey, but they ship anywhere in the lower 48 free. And when I say any kind of wood, I mean any. I've been itching to try some of their pecan wood; just haven't gotten around to it because I'm sitting on a big pile of hickory I don't want to get moldy.
   
   Hope that helps! Feel free to send me a PM if you want (though I'm a bit slow these days as I'm moving), and remember that at /r/BBQ you'll probably get more responses to your equipment inquiries.

Websites worth reading: BBQ Brethren Probably the best and and most noob friendly bbq forum on the net.

any off the current offset smokers sold for less than $600 of so are total shit. Yes youcan buy them and mod them to hell to make them work well but that would be expensive. Here is what i suggest get on craigslist and search for smokers buy a used Smokin Pit Pro (SnP) or New Brauffels Black Diamond (NBBD) for $70 and have a pit that is 10 times what you would buy at lowes or home depot. The problem with the current crop of offset smokers is how thin they are. Smoking meat is all about temp control and the mass (and there for ability to hold heat) of of your smoker comes into play quite a bit. My NBBD uses steel that is probably 1/8th inch thick (pro pits are 1/4th inch at the minimum with some using 1/2 inch) and i still need to load up the chamber with bricks to add mass the stuff they are selling now are much closer to 1/16th thick. Sadly the time for pretty good quality back yard smokers for cheap has gone.

If you MUST get something new your best bet is going to be a Weber Smokey MOuntain (WSM) it has a HUGE FOLLOWING and turns out some great product,

Alternatively you could make an Ugly Drum Smoker (UDS) on the cheap provided you can get ex food metal 55gal drums for cheap/free. there is a HUGE thread on BBQ Brethren dedicated to the UDS.

Also i hightly suggest you pick up Smoke and Spice is an EXCELLENT resource full of techniques and recipes for real wood burning bbq.

if you are interested in sausage making Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman is the book you want it is by far one of the best entry level sausage/curing book out there.

If you have any questions i am currently bored silly here at work so feel free to ask away and i will do my best to answer them

Personally, I have gotten much enjoyment and use from Smoke & Spice, even as a beginner. It also has solid information on smoking techniques for beginners, which I still consider myself.

How in the fuck has nobody said Smoke & Spice yet? It's a really balanced book, simple recipes, and literally nothing I've tried in it has ever let me down. There's a recipe for smoked beans in there that I can't recommend highly enough.

Smoke and Spice by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. This is a true BBQ/smoking book that lays it out in clear language. There's great recipes, tips, history, and notes of interest. Most of the recipes are traditional, but there are a few more adventurous combinations.

Got a slew of books, but as has already been mentioned, Amazing Ribs is my primary source for pertinent BBQ data. There is simply no better resource out there, print, binary or otherwise. It's my go-to for technique.

For recipes, I have a decent library. Here's just a few of my books: [Smoke and Spice by Cheryl and Bill Jamison](http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Spice-Cooking-Real-Barbecue/dp/1558322620/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343976826&sr=1-1&keywords=smoke+and+spice0, Peace, Love and BBQ by Mike Mills, Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book by Chris Lilly, Low and Slow by Gary Wiviott, Championship Barbecue by Paul Kirk, Real Grilling by Jamie Purviance, and few specialty books like Asian Grilling by Su-Mei. All excellent resources for recipes.

Smoke and Spice by Jamison & Jamison, and Mastering Barbecue by Stines. Steven Raichlen also has a couple good books.

http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Spice-Cooking-Real-Barbecue/dp/1558322620/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345019615&sr=8-1&keywords=smoke+and+spice

The cookbook Smoke and Spice has a great recipe for a knockoff of Big Bob Gibson's sauce.

Alabama Great White Sauce:

1 Cup mayo (real stuff not miracle whip)

2 tablespoons vinegar (preferably cider)

1 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon of salt

pinch or two of onion powder

pinch or two of cayenne

*Whisk all ingredients together and you're all set. Use it as a dipping or basting sauce for pretty much anything.

I liken it a lot to a southern ranch dressing.

Buy this book:http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Spice-Cooking-Real-Barbecue/dp/1558322620/ref=pd_sim_b_21

Cook everything in it. Die of a heart attack in sheer bliss.

Get this book. Smoke and Spice

This is a good book if you ask me.

This looks awesome! I actually ended up doing this without the marinade and I made my own BBQ sauce. Turned out great. I've been thinking of getting the book Smoke and Spice but I might have to get both.

Smoke and Spice, the best BBQ related cookbook I've ever seen.

Mine is slow smoked brisket.

Early in my marriage, I bought a small smoker and cooked some ribs. The recipe called for them to be smoked at 225 for 4 hours. While I was out on the small balcony of our Chicago apartment, my wife completely left me alone. I had 4 glorious hours of solitude while I tended the ribs in the smoker. And they came out tender and juicy and delicious. My wife was very proud of my new found skill.

20 years later, we live out in the country and I have a full sized smoker on my deck, and my wife still gives me the temporary solitude that I enjoy.

Now, on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, I wake up at 4AM and get the smoker going. I will smoke the biggest brisket I can find, usually north of 15 pounds. I will smoke it at 190-200 ALL DAY LONG. From 5AM til 11PM, usually. If it is still not cooked to perfection, I will finish it in the oven overnight.

I use mesquite usually, but sometimes oak or a mix of oak and mesquite. I am a huge fan of this cookbook, and use their recipe for the brisket. If you like smoked meat, I highly recommend it (the hot smoked salmon and martini leg of lamb recipes are also amazing, but all of the recipes in are good. There is even one for 'smoked butter', and that is something you need to try.)

Smoke & Spice: Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue

https://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Spice-Cooking-Real-Barbecue/dp/1558322620

I've gifted more of these books than I care to remember. Any time a friend or family asks "How did you get so good at making BBQ?" I buy them this book and say start here.

This recipe is from Smoke and Spice by Bill and Cheryl Jamison. This is a tried and true cookbook for me, I have tried many recipes and all of them have been smash hits. This recipe is no different. It is a mix of 1 lb ground pork, 1 lb ground beef, 1/2 c chopped peppers, 1/2 c chopped onions, 1.5 c bread crumb, 1 egg yolk, cumin, salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste. I combined all of the ingredients and put it in a loaf pan. Once in the loaf pan I added cajun seasoning to the top. Once the smoker was ready I smoked it on 250 for 45 minutes. At the end of the 45 minutes I took the loaf out of the pan and set it directly on the rack for 1.5 hours. In the second picture you can see I did have to cook it to finish it in the oven before dinner time for 15 minutes to get it up to temp. I was happy with the final product and even got a nice smoke ring! We are glad we will be having this for dinner a couple of times this week.

Smoke and Spice:

http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Spice-Cooking-Real-Barbecue/dp/1558322620/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370901393&sr=1-1&keywords=smoke+and+spice

One of the first I bought. Besides great recipes (mains, sides, desserts, and drinks), it also has stories from the BBQ trail .