The best books and magazines about food and cooking
Below are some of my favorite food books, magazines, newsletters, and periodicals. Click the title to see the current price on Amazon.com. Click here for a complete list of all of the barbecue books on Amazon.com. Click here for a complete list of all of the cooking books on Amazon.com. They also offer many books in audio form and they gift wrap. If you have others to recommend, please contact me with the info.
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This beautiful book has 305 large pages with more than 200 recipes and perhaps 300 superb color photos. Purviance begins with managing the grill, and although Weber's grills are featured, the advice is broad enough to cover most charcoal and gas grills. Shockingly, there is nary a mention of the Weber Smokey Mountain, considered by many to be the best bullet smoker on the market, and winner of a Meathead's Hot Stuff Award. So, although there are several smoked meat recipes, they are all cooked on the Weber Kettle or a gas grill. You can cook barbecue on grills and braziers, but a specialty smoker is a better tool for the job.
Then it's off to describing tools and accessories, ingredients, and a chapter on rubs, marinades, and sauces. Despite the omission of a real smoker in the book, if you want some superb, contemporary as well as traditional outdoor meal recipes, this is the book to buy. Purviance is a witty fellow, and his text is fun reading. Not surprising, his cooking instructions are precise and easy to follow. He knows his food.
As good as the text is, I must spend a minute praising the photographer, Tim Turner. His work has made this the most beautiful book on barbecue and grilling on the market. The lighting, the composition, color, are all superb. You really get a sense of what the dish could look like (but of course we both know it never looks as good as the photos).
Chris Lilly is the Executive Chef of one of the nation's classic old joints, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, in Decatur, AL. He is also the head of the restaurant's much decorated competition team. Surprisingly thin with a pointy chin and piercing eyes, his angularity is significantly softened by his drawl.
Most barbecue chefs have a pretty small repertoire, limited to the classic Southern barbecue canon, ribs, pulled pork, brisket, chicken, sausage, and sides like beans, cornbread, and slaw. Yes, they're all there in this superb book, but Lilly also includes fun riffs on Caribbean Jerk Pork and Bacon Wrapped Shrimp. There is also a version of Big Bob's famous white chicken sauce, but I he clearly felt restrained from giving away the restaurant's secret recipe, and frankly, I think my reverse engineering of the ingredients comes closer to the real deal.
Lilly is a fine story teller, and he shares with us what it is like to work at a small town barbecue joint, as well as the fascinating legend of Big Bob and his family all the way back to 1925.
The photos by Ben Fink are rich and rustic, and it's a shame he is only mentioned in small type in the back of the book. He deserves cover credit. The images really make the recipes look worth cooking and make Big Bob's look like a destination. Likewise the historic images give the reader a real sense of the heritage of the recipes.
I have one other nit to pick, and that's the table of contents, which contains only chapter titles and not a listing of the stories and recipes. If classic Southern Barbecue is your goal, this is the one book you need.
A superb hardbound, 420 page book with more than 450 recipes. The limited illustrations are mostly high quality black and white pen drawings with a handful of beautiful large color plates scattered throughout. As I have exclaimed perhaps too often and too breathlessly elsewhere on this site, Cook's Illustrated, the magazine, the website, the book publisher, and producer of America's Test Kitchen on PBS, is my favorite source for no-nonsense, thoroughly tested info. The editors take little for granted and they are constantly questioning and testing accepted wisdom and wives' tales. And these folks really understand barbecue.
Here's a sampling: "Ounce for ounce, hardwood lump charcoal burns much hotter than briquets. However, the differences are less dramatic when the coals are measured by volume. (Because of their shape, briquets compact more easily so you can fit more coals into the same amount of space.) For all practical purposes, a heaping chimney of charcoal briquets will make a fire that is as hot as a level chimney of hardwood lump charcoal. So if you need to substitute briquets for hardwood, use slightly more briquets to achieve the same heat level." They then show a chart of equivalent volumes.
Shewchuk is a Vancouver based competitor who really knows his stuff. This is a good beginner's guide to serious barbecue with many of his competition recipes. Unfortunately there are only two recipes for ribs. One is called "Cheater ribs" for people in a hurry, and it involves boiling water. This oversight is balanced by the quality of the other recipe for ribs and his great advice on everything from brisket to smoked duck salad. Ingredients are measured in both standard English measurements (pounds, cups, tablespoons, Fahrenheit) as well as metric (kilograms, liters, Centigrade).
From a section called "All I ever needed to know, I learned from barbecue" here's a quote: "Think of what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had barbecue and peach daiquiris about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down for a nap with a bag of charcoal for a pillow."
This is my favorite of Raichlen's books. Published in 2003, it is a whopping 774 pages with 425 recipes. He begins with a history of barbecue that is fun and enlightening. Then there is a primer on grilling and barbecue with lots of great tips. Most of the recipes come from restaurants, from joints to white tablecloth temples of food. There are more useful tips and fun facts in the sidebars. I love the sepia toned photos of pitmasters and plain folk cooking, but I'd love to see some color photos of the finished products.
Here's a typical passage: "A great deal of ink, beer, and maybe even blood have been spilled over the great debate: charcoal or gas," he starts. He praises the convenience of gas grills, and then tells us "If I could use only one grill for the rest of my life (or take it to a deserted island), it would be my trusty charcoal kettle. Why? For starters, charcoal burns hotter than gas, so it sears better (better searing makes for bolder flavors). It's also easier to smoke on a charcoal grill. Charcoal imparts a distinct flavor all its own, one that's less pronounced that that from grilling over a wood fire (which, by the way, is easy to build on a charcoal grill), but definitely more discernible than what you get from gas. And, of course, charcoal gives you the thrill of playing with fire."
Raichlen sums this book's concept up with this quote: "When I grew up, barbecue meant the main course. Today, we grill everything, and I mean everything from appetizers to desserts."
Nobody knows more about barbecue than Steven Raichlen. This book and this author have had a greater influence on the meteoric growth in popularity of barbecue in the US than anything since the Weber kettle grill was invented in 1951 by George Stephen. With several other books on barbecue and grilling, Raichlen has had the kind of influence on men who cook, that Julia Child had on women who cook and has probably vastly improved the way we eat in the summer. In fact, this book has been given a Julia Child Cookbook Award.
Raichlen has since gone on to launch a cooking school called BBQ-U, a television show, a lecture tour, and a line of outdoor cooking tools.
The Barbecue! Bible was his first book on the subject. Published in 1998, this 556 page tome with 500 recipes covers everything from hamburgers to bread. The illustrations are little more than black and white clip art. Cute, but not very educational, and there is no depiction of what the finished product looks like.
The BBQ guru with the oval sunglasses and denim shirt dishes up more than 200 savory liquids to soak your food in or slather on it. A wide range of creative flavors from around the world.
Mike "The Legend" Mills has earned his nickname with achievements as a restaurateur (17th Street Bar and Grill in Southern Illinois and four Memphis Championship Barbecue restaurants in Las Vegas), an award-winning chef (three-rime Grand World Champion at Memphis in May), president of the National Barbecue Association (2004-2005), and now, with the help of his daughter (herself an accomplished chef, writer, and photographer), he has created a classic in the pantheon of barbecue literature. Peace, Love, and Barbecue, published in 2005, not only contains the expected count of excellent recipes and cooking tips, but includes interviews with the legends of barbecue, and visits to the "shrines, shacks, joints, and right respectable restaurants." This is a first rate reference and a fun read.
Here's a quote: "I never told either of my wives the recipe [for our secret family barbecue sauce]. Let me tell you, this didn't set well with either one of them. I have had it in my head, so it isn't written down anywhere. It's not as thou they could've found it in the recipe box.
"My first marriage lasted only seven years, so keeping a secret wasn't too much of a problem, although Wife #1 wasn't amused. Marriage to Wife #2 lasted for only 27 years, so she didn't make the cut either. Now if we'd made it to 30 years, I might've broken down and spilled my guts. But she would've had to change her ways."
If you have a new WSM you absolutely positively must buy Gary Wiviott's book. Wiviott, who is extremely knowledgeable about food, may seem pedantic in his tutorial, but if you follow his procedures you will be richly rewarded.
Paul Kirk is known as the Baron of Barbecue. He teaches classes in barbecue and, as a competition cook, has won more awards than can be counted. This book has 175 sauces, marinades, dry rubs, wet rubs, mops, and salsas. Nothing fancy, no long-winded tales and stories, just tried and true recipes, mostly from his buddies on the competition circuit. He's not the best writer, but he has a lot to teach.
Here's a quote: "People ask me what is the most important aspect of barbecue: the rub, cooker, smoker, fire, wood, charcoal, meat, what? All things being equal, my answer is without a doubt the rub or barbecue seasoning! If you have good rub, your chances of being the neighborhood Barbecue King, or this year's big winner in barbecue competitions, are very good. The next thing people usually want to know is what's in my rub and whether I'll give out my recipe. My answer is, sure, you can have what's in my rub, but I won't give you the proportions. My rub consists of sugar, salt, paprika, chili powder, pepper, and other spices."
A former columnist for the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and editor of Food & Wine magazine, Bill Rice is one of the great food writers of our time. In this 246 page book he teaches us how to come close to great steakhouse porterhouse steaks with the classic accompaniments like creamed spinach and steak fries. He teaches us how to buy steaks, store them, prep them, carve them, cook them outdoors, cook them indoors, how to season them, garnish them, and what to serve with them. The beef recipes range from stewed to stuffed, fajitas, curry, orange beef, and even pot roast. The sides include mango guacamole, chicken liver pate, gazpacho, fried zucchini, cowboy beans, apple Stilton cole slaw; and the desserts include a grilled dessert pizza, cobbler, mud pie, and bread pudding.
A quote: "Do not try to dry-age steak in your home. Only large primal and sub-primal cuts are suitable to the process. The bacteria that will collect on a single steak could cause illness. Keep fresh steak in the refrigerator, well wrapped, for no more than four days. If you choose to freeze uncooked steak, do it under the coldest temperature possible because the faster it freezes the less fluid loss there will be when you thaw it."
Is there anything that bacon doesn't enhance? Yes, even that is enhanced by bacon. This paean to pork bellies is a winner. The standards such as quiche, carbonarra, BLT, are there among 168 intriguing recipes by an experienced cookbook author, including chocolate truffles with peanut butter and bacon, bacon Parmesan biscuits, cauliflower with bacon and pimento, conch and bacon stew, peppered bacon cornbread, Maryland crab and bacon chowder, bacon wrapped salmon, and a whole bunch of stews and salads. Only one complaint. No bacon ice cream. Yes, there is such a thing, I have seen the recipe, and people I know who have tasted it say it is the perfect dessert. He also explains how bacon is made, defines all the different kinds of bacons, tells us how to buy bacon, and tells us about some of the best artisan bacon makin' places.
A quote "Virtually all bacon is cured, but not all bacon is smoked... Smoking not only imparts more flavor to the bacon but also enhances the curing process and renders some of the fat. Smoking methods vary enormously from one craftsman to the next, but most American and European Artisinal producers smoke their cured sides of bacon naturally and slowly in smokehouses over wood logs or chips (hickory, applewood, oak, cherry, maple, beach) or dried corncobs, a time-consuming technique that can last up to a week or longer for double-smoked bacon. Giant commercial companies can either smoke their bacons with sawdust in stainless-steel smokers for four to six hours or simply inject the meat with liquid smoke. Since long smoking partially cooks bacon and reduces fat content, a pound of raw artisinal bacon yields about three-quarters of a pound cooked, whereas more ordinary, quick-smoked bacon produces as little as a quarter to a third. The ideal result of long, careful smoking is a dense bacon with firm, smooth fat and dark to mahogany lean meat; one that does not shrink excessively in the frying pan; and one that delivers just the right rich balance of meat and crackling fat and a mellow smoky flavor."
This wholly wonderful book is meant as a cookbook, as described in the subtitle "100 Recipes from America's Best Smokehouses, Pits, Shacks, Rib Joints, Roadhouses, and Restaurants". But it is much more. Davis and Kirk probably have visited more barbecue joints than anyone I know, and they know the good stuff from the bad. For this book they have picked some of the best barbecue restaurants, describe them, and share a recipe. Davis and Kirk are not professional photographers, but their snapshots do a fine job of conveying the ambiance of the restaurants, the personalities of the people, and the taste of the food. I have used it more than once as a reference when I hit the road, and they have never steered me wrong.
The narrative is folksy and personal. Here they are discussing pig snoot sandwiches: "Ardie hasn't made it through a whole snoot sandwich yet, even after downing a shot of Pig's Nose Scotch first. Paul downs them with gusto reminiscent of a New Yorker eating clams or oysters on the half shellArdie says they taste like bacon fat with barnyard rub. When he gets to the whiskers, he stops and orders a tenderloin sandwich or a cheeseburger." Yes, they offer a recipe that even Ardie will eat.
This book is a wonderful piece of scholarly research that is also a great read. Walsh has delved into the history and lore of Texas barbecue, it origins, its ingredients, its personalities, and its tall tales. He recommends the best places to eat when in the Lone Star State, what to eat, and provides recipes from pitmasters to help you replicate the real thing at home. Even the photos are fascinating.
A quote: "The majority of Texas barbecue joints now serve a little bit of everything. You'll always find some kind of beef offered, and usually German-style sausage along with Southern-style pork with barbecue sauce, Mexican tortillas, West Texas beans, and sides from all over the place. Not to mention banana pudding, coconut cake, and sweet potato pie. Some places try to maintain a degree of stylistic purity, but few succeed. That's why when you say "Texas barbecue," no one can ever be sure about what you are talking about... The best way to preserve our tradition is to constantly disagree about what Texas barbecue really is."
A 46 minute DVD narrated by the late former Governor Ann Richards and directed by Chris Elley. This clever 2005 documentary features some of the characters and culture of Texas barbecue including the Sowpremes (women who dress like hogs and root for barbecue), and Kinky Friedman (novelist, humorist, former candidate for governor, songwriter, and leader of the band Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys). "Jesus loved barbecue. That's well known," asserts Friedman.
George Hensler is the captain of a barbecue team, and he has written a very helpful short book on what you need to know before entering your first Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) contest.
Startin' the Fire is informative, friendly, funny, and conversational, with a real homespun feel. There are 29 chapters in the 99 pages with titles such as Team Building, Selecting a Team Name, Transportation, Equipment Selection, Site Safety, Box Building 101, and more.
A well regarded culinary historian and Professor Emeritus of History and Humanities at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Scholarly yet clever and entertaining, Kraig probably knows more about the history of the hot dog than anyone and he meticulously dismissed the many myths about the origin of the frankfurter, the bun, and its name. He does a good job of explaining how hot dog culture spanned the nation and even the world.
Up to date on the latest historical research, a fun read, and fascinating profiles of the iconographic hot dog stands around the nation with recipes from most.
Culinary historian, John T. Edge is a fun read. This book follows him cross country as he seeks regional styles and historical techniques that will help him unravel the story of the All-American hamburger. Here he describes his encounter with Jucy Lucy at Matt's in Minneapolis, MN: "The burger at bottom right begins to wobble, ballooning outward and then quaking like a capsized turtle. Remember Alien? It's not unlike that. If you missed Sigourney Weaver's money shot, I'll be more precise: it's as if something is trapped inside that burger; it's as if something wants out.
"Finally a minor geyser erupts, a thin stream of cheese spouting upward in a textbook exhibition of fluid dynamics. I hear a treble-register swish, an exhalation. And I watch as a blob of cheese exits the side of the burger... I learn from a woman two stools down that I have just witnessed what Jucy Lucy cultists know as a blowout."
Culinary historian Andy Smith is a thorough researcher. I once attended a seminar he did on researching cultural history through food and was blown away by his thoroughness and the tricks of his trade. This definitive little book unwraps the mystery of the origin of the hamburger and its name, and traces its spread across the globe. The stories of White Castle, McDonald's, and other chains and Mom & Pop burger stands is worth the modest price of admission. He debunks the myths that the Tartars invented hamburgers, that they first appeared on a menu at Delmonico's in NYC in 1834, that Ray Kroc founded McDonald's, and that the first Mickey D's is in Desplaines, IL. All untrue.
George Motz has traveled the four corners of the nation to find the best and most interesting burger joints. Many are cultural and community icons, and Motz interviews the owners, writes about their burgers, and photographs the places beautifully.
Photography books
There are a small handful of good food photography and styling books I have reviewed. Just click the link to see them.
The award medallion at right is given to products that are highly recommended, that I have tested personally or that have been tested by reliable sources. Awards are based on features, quality, and value. Rest assured that when I recommend a product, it is really because I like it, not because someone has paid me to say so or because the company is an advertiser or sponsor. I purchase most products I review although occasionally suppliers send me samples.
When a product is available on Amazon.com, I often provide a direct link. Amazon.com often has the best prices anywhere, even better than many manufacturers' websites. That's because manufacturers know that if they undercut retailers, these important resellers may drop their products. In addition to low prices, Amazon.com offers fast delivery (often free), no sales tax (in most states), gift wrapping (on many items), and painless refund policies. Amazon's Gift & Wish Registry is a great way to drop not so subtle hints about what you'd love to get for Christmas, Mother's Day, Dad's Day, your wedding, housewarming, graduation, birthday or other event.
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If you want to know why we do what we do in the kitchen, not just what to do or how to do it, this fat tome is a must have. It is a fascinating and easy to read textbook that explains what food is made of, and how it reacts with heat and other foods. McGee describes scores of different kinds of foods and their characteristics as well as every cooking method and how it changes the food. The meticulous black and white pen and ink illustrations are illuminating, and if you have the technical bent, the molecular drawings will give you the real nitty gritty. This book belongs in every kitchen.
Here's a typical passage: "Get down on all fours and 'graze,' and you'll notice that the neck, shoulders, chest, and front limbs all work hard while the back is more relaxed... Tenderloin is appropriately named because it is a single muscle with little connective tissue that runs along the back and gets little action; it's tender."Here's something more technical: "The basic texture of meat, dense and firm, comes from the mass of muscle fibers, which cooking makes denser, dryer, and tougher. And the elongated arrangement accounts for the 'grain' of the meat. Cut parallel to the bundles and you see them from the side, lined up like logs of a cabin wall; cut across the bundles and you see just the ends. It's easier to push fiber bundles apart from each other than to break the bundles themselves, so it's easier to chew along the direction of the fibers than across them. We usually carve across the grain, so that we can chew with the grain." And here's my favorite tip. He tells us how to have a safe rare hamburger! He explains that rare hamburger is dangerous because fecal contamination can get on the surface of the meat, and it then gets mixed in as the meat is ground. When you cook a rare steak the surface is sterilized, but when you grind meat, the interior can be contaminated because the surface is mixed into the interior. So here's his solution: "Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, immerse [unground pieces of meat] in the water for 30-60 seconds, then remove, drain and pat dry, and grind in a scrupulously clean meat grinder."
This may be the most important book about food since Upton Sinclair's The Jungle drew back the curtain on the Chicago stockyards in 1906. Both books take an analytical and critical look at how food gets to our table. The New York Times named The Omnivore's Dilemma one of the 10 best books of 2006.
Pollan documents in fascinating detail how food and feed are grown, how government influences what we eat, and how what we eat influences our health, our environment, our politics, and our humanity.
He begins by reminding those of us old enough to remember that a cross country trip in the 1970s meant the strobe of farms populated with horses, beef cattle, dairy cattle, chickens, pigs, a seasonal vegetable, and fruit trees. Now such a trip reveals unbroken rows of corn and soybeans, monotonous "monocultures." Corn, it seems, has subsumed everything beginning with some innocent sounding decisions by the Nixon administration, and it now is the vast industry whose by-products find their way into 25% of the products in the packaged goods in the grocery store. It is in all the animals we eat, and just about everything we eat with them. It is even in the toothpaste we use to clean up after. "Tell me what you eat," said Brillat-Savarin, "and I will tell you what you are." We are corn.
He goes on to demonstrate how corn has allowed a handful of politically powerful huge multinational conglomerates to control pricing of almost all farm products and have driven calories per acre yields to incredible records while driving the profit per acre for the farmer to the point of bankruptcy.
He shows how the quest for cheap calories has impacted our diets and the far reaching impact on everything including our health care system. He shows the relationship of our dependance on corn on our dependance on foreign oil, and I'm not talking corn oil.
His descriptions of the confined feedlot operations (CFOs) on which cattle are fattened for slaughter are revelatory. But he is not just another food Nazi. Some of his greatest surprises are found in his section describing the organic food industry and how far it has strayed from its roots.
In the final chapter, he hunts wild hog and enters into a tortured debate with himself over the morality and the benefits and disadvantages of eating meat. He asks all the right questions, and quotes positions of proponents of many of the various positions. It is one of the most informed unbiased debates I have seen on the topic.
Pollan is insightful, thoughtful, deadly serious without being pedantic (well, just a little), and occasionally witty.
There are some slow spots in the book, but the first 200 pages are riveting. This is a must read for people who love food, love the commonwealth, and wonder what the future holds.
A short paperback that you can easily swallow on a short airplane trip, Pollan, the author of such important books as the Ominvore's Dilemma (above), In Defense of Food, and The Botany of Desire, summarizes what he has learned about good eating habits in the form of "rules" which he describes in a few sentences. A sampling:
Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
Avoid food products that make health claims.
Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.
If you have the space, buy a freezer.
Eat like an omnivore.
Have a glass of wine with dinner.
Stop eating before you're full.
Buy small plates and glasses.
Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.
He summarizes the whole book perfectly in one rule "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
This is the definitive reference on all the different cuts of meat, with charts, excellent photos, a glossary, and nutritional info. It is aimed at butchers, chefs, and ranchers, but a home chef can learn a lot.
A quote: "Spareribs shall consist of at least 11 ribs and associated coastal cartilages and may include portions of the sternum and diaphragm. The membranous portion of the diaphragm, close to the lean, and any portion of the diaphragm not firmly attached close to the inside surface of the ribs, shall be excluded. The lean shall not extend more than 2.0 inches (5.0 cm) past the curvature of the last rib and coastal cartilage. Heart fat on the inside surface of the ribs shall not exceed 0.25 inch (6 mm) average depth. Leaf fat shall be trimmed practically free from the diaphragm and transverse abdominis." OK. So it's a bit technical. But don't let this deter you if you really want to learn about meat. The charts and pictures are worth the price alone.
The Tummy Trilogy is actually three books in one, all long out of print, but occasionally available used. Trillin is witty, urbane, observant, and ironic, and he has written intelligently on everything from politics to barbecue. These three books, American Fried (1974), Alice, Let's Eat (1978), and Third Helpings (1983), are insightful recountings of meals, eateries, and eaters. Although so much has changed on the culinary scene since then, Trillin is a great storyteller, and his wisdom paved the way for people like us to openly admire "common" food like ribs, hotdogs, and burgers.
The American Fried, the first in the trilogy, speaks directly to rib eaters with its first sentence: "The best restaurants in the world are, of course, in Kansas City. Not all of them; only the top four or five. Anyone who has visited Kansas City and still doubts that statement has my sympathy: He never made it to the right places." A few pages later he drives home his point: "It has long been acknowledged that the single best restaurant in the world is Arthur Bryant's Barbecue at Eighteenth and Brooklyn in Kansas City." There are a lot of folks I know who agree with this statement to this day.
Most of us have never tasted foie gras. If you're among them, I'm here to tell you that there is nothing like it, and that, if you love food, you must try it. When prepared properly, the taste is unforgettable.
But the delicacy has been at the center of a controversy that has given it a bit of a bad taste. So I came to Mark Caro's book hopeful that he would answer the question for me: Is the way they make foie gras cruel?
Caro is a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, and when, out of the blue, the Chicago City Council, decided to ban the serving of foie gras, even though many members admitted to never having heard of it, no less tasted it or studied its production, he was assigned to cover the story. It grew into a fascinating tale that weaves together Chicago politics, animal husbandry, physiology, Philadelphia politics, history, culture, California politics, the animal rights movement, new age farming, New York politics, food fights between chefs, and cooking. And he does it well, with more than a few chuckles along the way.
How can the livers of geese and ducks be so controversial and interesting? It seems that, as long ago as 5,000 years, hunters discovered that geese and ducks, when preparing to migrate, gorged on food to build their fat reserves for the long journey, and at that point in time, their enlarged livers were spectacular tasting. Rich, complex, not like any other liver, more akin to eating a stick of the richest buttery cream cheese imaginable. They wanted it year round, so they came up with a method of replicating the process on their farms. The took a funnel, stuck a tube on the end, and inserted it in the mouth and down the throat of their geese and ducks. Then they poured in the feed.
French farmers became experts at the technique, where it is sold in groceries and gas stations. In the US, at one time, the dish was served only in fancy French restaurants, but in recent years, it's popularity has grown slightly, showing up on upscale menus, and even occasionally in unsuspecting places, like embedded in hamburgers.
Despite the fact that very little of it is made and it is sold only to the wealthy, animal rights activists, especially vegetarians, saw foie gras a low hanging fruit, an easy target for advancing their cause. They declared the method of feeding, called gavage, to be torture, made some video of the birds being fed, and started showing it on the web and to politicians.
Caro gets to know the animal rights activists and introduces them to us, as well as the farmers, the chefs, importers, physiologists, and the politicians, and weaves their fascinating personalities and tales into a fine story. He visits farms in California, New York, Minnesota, and even stays on a farm in France, where he is allowed to observe the process.
So, is gavage as painful? Alas, if you come to this book hoping that Caro will give you a simple answer, you will be disappointed. There are only a handful of legitimate studies, and the results are inconclusive. Among them, there are documented cases of animals coming towards the feeder willingly, while others shy away. Scientists point out that the throats of ducks and geese are a lot different than ours, and they have no gag reflex. Remember, they swallow spiny fish whole. Caro reports these studies and more in detail.
Early in the book he tells us how superstar chef Charlie Trotter quietly, without fanfare, decided to stop serving foie gras. Caro mentions this to another star, Rick Tramonto, who calls Trotter's decision hypocritical. "Either you believe in eating animals for sustenance or you don't." Ouch.
Caro asks Trotter for a response and gets this: "Rick Tramonto's not the smartest guy on the block. Yes, animals are raised to be slaughtered, but are they raised in a way where they need to suffer? To then be slaughtered for pure enjoyment? He can't be that dumb can he? You should quote me on that. What's up with that? It's like an idiot comment: 'All animals are raised to be slaughtered.' Oh, OK. Maybe we ought to have Rick's liver for a little treat. It's certainly fat enough." Touché!
Chicago, my home town, is also home to practically every ethnic group and language and there are enclaves of immigrants and their descendants served by grocers, butchers, restaurants, bookstores, music stores, and churches rich in their culture. Pocius, a trained chef and a woman of eclectic and boundless taste (she has been seen on television teaching us how to cook bugs) has compiled this definitive guide to culinary Chicago. There are also some great recipes, sources for specialized equipment, and even cooking schools. For more about the author, check out her website. Useful to the tourist, this book is a must for locals.
This is a great cooking magazine. The authors have grown from a really good magazine that people in the know swore by, to a great website, to a TV show, and have recently added another magazine.
The outstanding feature of their approach is that they test every assumption and often dispel myths. Their specialty is rethinking old recipes, and developing new techniques that work better than the tried and maybe no longer true. They will do things like cook a sauce at five different temperatures to determine what is the optimum. They also often develop techniques for shortening the preparation or cooking time for a dish. Or lower the fat. Or make it more flavorful.
In addition, they test equipment in a rigorous fashion similar to Consumer Reports. What is the best saucepan? They test nine of them by steaming rice, scalding cream, browning onions, and making pastry cream. They also have lots of little tips and tricks from their staff and their readers. There are no ads, and the painting on the front cover is elegant and mouth-watering. The back cover usually is a painted poster showing, for example, 12 different kind of peaches. The main body of the magazine is illustrated in realistic black-and-white pen-and-ink drawings, and small color photos appear on the inside back cover.
Here's how staffer Sean Lawrence approached the problem of developing a recipe for the ultimate Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon: "I recalled the test kitchen's prior frustrations with peppercorn crusts. Peppercorns fall off in the pan, interfere with the meat's browning, and - used in sufficient quantity to create a real crust - delivering punishing pungency." He solved the problems by crushing the peppercorns by rocking a skillet on them; defanged them by simmering them in olive oil; improved adherence by pressing them into the filets and then covering them with plastic wrap and letting them rest for an hour; then sautéd the meat in a well-oiled skillet until the meat browned beneath the peppercorns; and finished them off by roasting them in the oven to complete the cooking and brown the sides. Clever, no?
A big, sumptuous feast of recipes and ideas, drool inducing photos, probing interviews, memoirs, travel, tips on technique, culinaria, restaurant guides, product reviews, what to drink, trends, pop culture, and eternal culture. Emphasis on fast, easy, and fresh by authors who really know their stuff. The title may sound snooty, but don't let it fool you. I read every issue as soon as it arrives.
Easily the leading beer magazine, each of the six issues per year contains features about different beer types, breweries, the interesting characters who make it, places to drink it, beer and food matching, the politics influencing the marketplace, insider news, new releases, ratings and reviews, travel, commercial brewing, home brewing, beer tasting, cooking with beer, results from beer competitions, collecting beer memorabilia, history, interviews, glassware, calendar of events, travel, book reviews, pub hopping, as well as brewery openings and closings. Publisher Daniel Bradford is well respected and brings great insight to the subject, as do columnists Michael Jackson, Fred Eckhardt, and the others.
The leading wine periodical comes out 16 times a year, and it is rich in features about the endless range of wine types, the regions from where they come, and the fascinating people who make them. Each issue has hundreds of wine reviews and ratings on a 100 point scale. There is a special issue devoted to their Restaurant Grand Award Winners, another on the Top 100 wines of the Year, and another on Great Wine Values. Every issue comes with a Wine Spectator Buying Guide, full of reviews and ratings for over 500 wine releases. While their articles occasionally sound boosterish, their ratings seem fair, despite occasional grumbling that they are influenced by advertising. I once published a magazine that competed with the Spectator, and I never saw evidence that they favored advertisers. There are also some great recipes and insightful travel pieces.
Robert Parker is the most influential individual in the wine world. He and his associates taste thousands of wines each year, and that's pretty much all you'll find in this newsletter. No photos, no biographies swooning over iconoclastic winemakers, just ratings and descriptions of wines. Occasionally they mention the better restaurants and hotels they've encountered on their travels. The problem is that the top rated wines sell out almost overnight and are practically impossible to buy. My biggest complaint is that they taste too many wines per day and as a result they seem to favor bigger, more powerful wines that stand out from the crowd. Delicate, more subtle, elegant wines seem to fall by the wayside. In addition, some wineries will not send them samples, so they are forced to taste these important wines at the winery, from selected barrels, with the winemaker hovering. Not surprisingly these wines seem to score very high. But if I owned a restaurant, I would read my copy of the Wine Advocate the same day it arrived.
Aimed at commercial food service executives, Restaurant Hospitality is a beautiful glossy magazine that is well written and researched. They tend to delve into subjects a bit more than Nation's Restaurant News, and typically have good pieces on menu planning and marketing, design and decor, as well as operations ideas for managing people and expenses. The features include profiles of industry leaders, interviews, and product reviews. The recipes are often creative, and scaled for large production. Full disclosure: I write for them occasionally.
A classic trade publication, this glossy color tabloid comes out 50 times per year and is fat with trends, statistics, news, mergers and acquisitions, openings and closings, opinions, interviews with movers and shakers in the world of food and drink, profiles of restaurants and restaurant chains, analysis of government regulations, debates, and advertisements from vendors of everything from pork to paper goods. Nation's Restaurant News is a must for anyone currently in the biz or planning to get into the biz.
Tell Meathead what you think, or ask him a question
But please, please, please read this first:
1) Please use the sitemap or the search box, at the top of every page. There's a good chance the answer is already on this site.
2) Please read this article about thermometers.Chances are your thermometer is the problem! I cannot help you troubleshoot unless you tell me that you are using a digital oven thermometer at meat level (not in the lid), and/or a digital meat thermometer. You simply cannot believe your grill's built-in bi-metal dial thermometer. They are often off by as much as 50°F!
3) Please tell me everything I need to know to answer your question.
4) Please don't ask me "What grill (or smoker) should I buy?" Read my Buyer's Guides and follow the links. I've shared just about everything I know on those pages. I cannot pick the right cooker for you any more than you could pick the right car for me. But I've explained everything you need to know to make your decision.
AmazingRibs.com is all about the Zen of barbecue, grilling, and outdoor cooking, with great BBQ recipes and techniques: Barbecue baby back ribs, spareribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, steak, burgers, chicken, smoked turkey, lamb, barbecue sauces, rubs, and side dishes, with the net's best buying guide to barbecue smokers and grills. It is written, photographed, illustrated, and coded solely by Meathead.
My philosophy about food is simple. First of all it must taste great. It must be easy to make and emphasize fresh seasonal products with a minimum of processed ingredients. I think that people need to know why as well as how, and that there are no rules in the bedroom or dining room.
About Product Reviews and Meathead's Hot Stuff Awards. Meathead's Hot Stuff Awards are highly recommended products that I have tested personally or that have been tested by reliable sources. Awards are based on features, quality, and value. Rest assured that when I recommend a product, it is really because I like it, not because someone has paid me to say so or because the company is an advertiser or sponsor. I purchase most products I review although occasionally suppliers send me samples.
About links on this site. Other than clearly marked ads, links and recommendations on this site are all products, services, and websites I truly admire, and are never paid endorsements. Your suggestions are always welcome. If you would like me to link to your website, click here to read my links policy first. Advertising policy. I do not accept ads from products that I review such as grills, charcoal, etc. Click here for more on my advertising policy.
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Disclaimer. The information on this website is for educational purposes only. All material within comes without warranties of any kind. I am human, and capable of mistakes, so I make no guarantees as to the accuracy, completeness, or safety of the information. Under no circumstances am I liable for any damages that result from use of the site (so you can't sue me if you burn your tongue on hot ribs, or get a tummy ache, OK?).
GrillGrates are the best new product I have tested in years and the best thing to happen to beef since salt and pepper. The base superheats, eliminates hot spots, smokes, and blocks flareups. This is the concept behind the expensive new infrared grills. Click here for more about GrillGrates.
The Smokenator:
A Necessity For Weber Kettles
If you have a Weber Kettle, you need the amazing Smokenator and Hovergrill. The Smokenator turns your grill into a first class smoker, and the Hovergrill can add capacity or be used to create steakhouse steaks. Click here to read more.
ThermoWorks Pocket Thermometer - No More Guessing
A good thermometer is why I never serve overcooked or undercooked food. No more guesswork. This one has a very thin tip with a tiny thermocouple so it gives an accurate reading in just six seconds. I cannot recommend it more highly. It will improve your cooking overnight. And it is inexpensive. Click here for more about thermometers.
This link takes you to Amazon.com and tags anything you buy with my affiliate code so I get a small referral fee. It works on anything from grills to diapers and it has zero impact on the price you pay. Low prices, fast delivery (often free), good refund policies, and often there is no sales tax, are the best reasons to buy from Amazon.com, but clicking on that link before you shop helps me devote more time and money to you. Thanks!
This beautiful book has 305 large pages with more than 200 recipes and perhaps 300 superb color photos. Purviance begins with managing the grill, and although Weber's grills are featured, the advice is broad enough to cover most charcoal and gas grills. Shockingly, there is nary a mention of the 
Chris Lilly is the Executive Chef of one of the nation's classic old joints, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, in Decatur, AL. He is also the head of the restaurant's much decorated competition team. Surprisingly thin with a pointy chin and piercing eyes, his angularity is significantly softened by his drawl.
A superb hardbound, 420 page book with more than 450 recipes. The limited illustrations are mostly high quality black and white pen drawings with a handful of beautiful large color plates scattered throughout. As I have exclaimed perhaps too often and too breathlessly elsewhere on this site, Cook's Illustrated, the magazine, the website, the book publisher, and producer of America's Test Kitchen on PBS, is my favorite source for no-nonsense, thoroughly tested info. The editors take little for granted and they are constantly questioning and testing accepted wisdom and wives' tales. And these folks really understand barbecue.
Shewchuk is a Vancouver based competitor who really knows his stuff. This is a good beginner's guide to serious barbecue with many of his competition recipes. Unfortunately there are only two recipes for ribs. One is called "Cheater ribs" for people in a hurry, and it involves boiling water. This oversight is balanced by the quality of the other recipe for ribs and his great advice on everything from brisket to smoked duck salad. Ingredients are measured in both standard English measurements (pounds, cups, tablespoons, Fahrenheit) as well as metric (kilograms, liters, Centigrade).
This is my favorite of Raichlen's books. Published in 2003, it is a whopping 774 pages with 425 recipes. He begins with a history of barbecue that is fun and enlightening. Then there is a primer on grilling and barbecue with lots of great tips. Most of the recipes come from restaurants, from joints to white tablecloth temples of food. There are more useful tips and fun facts in the sidebars. I love the sepia toned photos of pitmasters and plain folk cooking, but I'd love to see some color photos of the finished products.
Nobody knows more about barbecue than Steven Raichlen. This book and this author have had a greater influence on the meteoric growth in popularity of barbecue in the US than anything since the Weber kettle grill was invented in 1951 by George Stephen. With several other books on barbecue and grilling, Raichlen has had the kind of influence on men who cook, that Julia Child had on women who cook and has probably vastly improved the way we eat in the summer. In fact, this book has been given a Julia Child Cookbook Award.
Mike "The Legend" Mills has earned his nickname with achievements as a restaurateur (17th Street Bar and Grill in Southern Illinois and four Memphis Championship Barbecue restaurants in Las Vegas), an award-winning chef (three-rime Grand World Champion at Memphis in May), president of the National Barbecue Association (2004-2005), and now, with the help of his daughter (herself an accomplished chef, writer, and photographer), he has created a classic in the pantheon of barbecue literature. Peace, Love, and Barbecue, published in 2005, not only contains the expected count of excellent recipes and cooking tips, but includes interviews with the legends of barbecue, and visits to the "shrines, shacks, joints, and right respectable restaurants." This is a first rate reference and a fun read.
Paul Kirk is known as the Baron of Barbecue. He teaches classes in barbecue and, as a competition cook, has won more awards than can be counted. This book has 175 sauces, marinades, dry rubs, wet rubs, mops, and salsas. Nothing fancy, no long-winded tales and stories, just tried and true recipes, mostly from his buddies on the competition circuit. He's not the best writer, but he has a lot to teach.
A former columnist for the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and editor of Food & Wine magazine, Bill Rice is one of the great food writers of our time. In this 246 page book he teaches us how to come close to great steakhouse porterhouse steaks with the classic accompaniments like creamed spinach and steak fries. He teaches us how to buy steaks, store them, prep them, carve them, cook them outdoors, cook them indoors, how to season them, garnish them, and what to serve with them. The beef recipes range from stewed to stuffed, fajitas, curry, orange beef, and even pot roast. The sides include mango guacamole, chicken liver pate, gazpacho, fried zucchini, cowboy beans, apple Stilton cole slaw; and the desserts include a grilled dessert pizza, cobbler, mud pie, and bread pudding.
Is there anything that bacon doesn't enhance? Yes, even that is enhanced by bacon. This paean to pork bellies is a winner. The standards such as quiche, carbonarra, BLT, are there among 168 intriguing recipes by an experienced cookbook author, including chocolate truffles with peanut butter and bacon, bacon Parmesan biscuits, cauliflower with bacon and pimento, conch and bacon stew, peppered bacon cornbread, Maryland crab and bacon chowder, bacon wrapped salmon, and a whole bunch of stews and salads. Only one complaint. No bacon ice cream. Yes, there is such a thing, I have seen the recipe, and people I know who have tasted it say it is the perfect dessert. He also explains how bacon is made, defines all the different kinds of bacons, tells us how to buy bacon, and tells us about some of the best artisan bacon makin' places.
This wholly wonderful book is meant as a cookbook, as described in the subtitle "100 Recipes from America's Best Smokehouses, Pits, Shacks, Rib Joints, Roadhouses, and Restaurants". But it is much more. Davis and Kirk probably have visited more barbecue joints than anyone I know, and they know the good stuff from the bad. For this book they have picked some of the best barbecue restaurants, describe them, and share a recipe. Davis and Kirk are not professional photographers, but their snapshots do a fine job of conveying the ambiance of the restaurants, the personalities of the people, and the taste of the food. I have used it more than once as a reference when I hit the road, and they have never steered me wrong.
This book is a wonderful piece of scholarly research that is also a great read. Walsh has delved into the history and lore of Texas barbecue, it origins, its ingredients, its personalities, and its tall tales. He recommends the best places to eat when in the Lone Star State, what to eat, and provides recipes from pitmasters to help you replicate the real thing at home. Even the photos are fascinating.
A 46 minute DVD narrated by the late former Governor Ann Richards and directed by Chris Elley. This clever 2005 documentary features some of the characters and culture of Texas barbecue including the Sowpremes (women who dress like hogs and root for barbecue), and Kinky Friedman (novelist, humorist, former candidate for governor, songwriter, and leader of the band Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys). "Jesus loved barbecue. That's well known," asserts Friedman.
George Hensler is the captain of a barbecue team, and he has written a very helpful short book on what you need to know before entering your first Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) contest.
Culinary historian, John T. Edge is a fun read. This book follows him cross country as he seeks regional styles and historical techniques that will help him unravel the story of the All-American hamburger. Here he describes his encounter with Jucy Lucy at Matt's in Minneapolis, MN: "The burger at bottom right begins to wobble, ballooning outward and then quaking like a capsized turtle. Remember Alien? It's not unlike that. If you missed Sigourney Weaver's money shot, I'll be more precise: it's as if something is trapped inside that burger; it's as if something wants out.
Culinary historian Andy Smith is a thorough researcher. I once attended a seminar he did on researching cultural history through food and was blown away by his thoroughness and the tricks of his trade. This definitive little book unwraps the mystery of the origin of the hamburger and its name, and traces its spread across the globe. The stories of White Castle, McDonald's, and other chains and Mom & Pop burger stands is worth the modest price of admission. He debunks the myths that the Tartars invented hamburgers, that they first appeared on a menu at Delmonico's in NYC in 1834, that Ray Kroc founded McDonald's, and that the first Mickey D's is in Desplaines, IL. All untrue.
The award medallion at right is given to products that are highly recommended, that I have tested personally or that have been tested by reliable sources. Awards are based on features, quality, and value. Rest assured that when I recommend a product, it is really because I like it, not because someone has paid me to say so or because the company is an advertiser or sponsor. I purchase most products I review although occasionally suppliers send me samples.
is a great way to drop not so subtle hints about what you'd love to get for Christmas, Mother's Day, Dad's Day, your wedding, housewarming, graduation, birthday or other event.
If you want to know why we do what we do in the kitchen, not just what to do or how to do it, this fat tome is a must have. It is a fascinating and easy to read textbook that explains what food is made of, and how it reacts with heat and other foods. McGee describes scores of different kinds of foods and their characteristics as well as every cooking method and how it changes the food. The meticulous black and white pen and ink illustrations are illuminating, and if you have the technical bent, the molecular drawings will give you the real nitty gritty. This book belongs in every kitchen.
This may be the most important book about food since Upton Sinclair's The Jungle drew back the curtain on the Chicago stockyards in 1906. Both books take an analytical and critical look at how food gets to our table. The New York Times named The Omnivore's Dilemma one of the 10 best books of 2006.
A short paperback that you can easily swallow on a short airplane trip, Pollan, the author of such important books as the Ominvore's Dilemma (above), In Defense of Food, and The Botany of Desire, summarizes what he has learned about good eating habits in the form of "rules" which he describes in a few sentences. A sampling:
This is the definitive reference on all the different cuts of meat, with charts, excellent photos, a glossary, and nutritional info. It is aimed at butchers, chefs, and ranchers, but a home chef can learn a lot.
The Tummy Trilogy is actually three books in one, all long out of print, but occasionally available used. Trillin is witty, urbane, observant, and ironic, and he has written intelligently on everything from politics to barbecue. These three books, American Fried (1974), Alice, Let's Eat (1978), and Third Helpings (1983), are insightful recountings of meals, eateries, and eaters. Although so much has changed on the culinary scene since then, Trillin is a great storyteller, and his wisdom paved the way for people like us to openly admire "common" food like ribs, hotdogs, and burgers.
Most of us have never tasted foie gras. If you're among them, I'm here to tell you that there is nothing like it, and that, if you love food, you must try it. When prepared properly, the taste is unforgettable.
Chicago, my home town, is also home to practically every ethnic group and language and there are enclaves of immigrants and their descendants served by grocers, butchers, restaurants, bookstores, music stores, and churches rich in their culture. Pocius, a trained chef and a woman of eclectic and boundless taste (she has been seen on television teaching us how to cook bugs) has compiled this definitive guide to culinary Chicago. There are also some great recipes, sources for specialized equipment, and even cooking schools. For more about the author, check out her 
This is a great cooking magazine. The authors have grown from a really good magazine that people in the know swore by, to a great website, to a TV show, and have recently added another magazine.
Easily the leading beer magazine, each of the six issues per year contains features about different beer types, breweries, the interesting characters who make it, places to drink it, beer and food matching, the politics influencing the marketplace, insider news, new releases, ratings and reviews, travel, commercial brewing, home brewing, beer tasting, cooking with beer, results from beer competitions, collecting beer memorabilia, history, interviews, glassware, calendar of events, travel, book reviews, pub hopping, as well as brewery openings and closings. Publisher Daniel Bradford is well respected and brings great insight to the subject, as do columnists Michael Jackson, Fred Eckhardt, and the others.
The leading wine periodical comes out 16 times a year, and it is rich in features about the endless range of wine types, the regions from where they come, and the fascinating people who make them. Each issue has hundreds of wine reviews and ratings on a 100 point scale. There is a special issue devoted to their Restaurant Grand Award Winners, another on the Top 100 wines of the Year, and another on Great Wine Values. Every issue comes with a Wine Spectator Buying Guide, full of reviews and ratings for over 500 wine releases. While their articles occasionally sound boosterish, their ratings seem fair, despite occasional grumbling that they are influenced by advertising. I once published a magazine that competed with the Spectator, and I never saw evidence that they favored advertisers. There are also some great recipes and insightful travel pieces.
Robert Parker is the most influential individual in the wine world. He and his associates taste thousands of wines each year, and that's pretty much all you'll find in this newsletter. No photos, no biographies swooning over iconoclastic winemakers, just ratings and descriptions of wines. Occasionally they mention the better restaurants and hotels they've encountered on their travels. The problem is that the top rated wines sell out almost overnight and are practically impossible to buy. My biggest complaint is that they taste too many wines per day and as a result they seem to favor bigger, more powerful wines that stand out from the crowd. Delicate, more subtle, elegant wines seem to fall by the wayside. In addition, some wineries will not send them samples, so they are forced to taste these important wines at the winery, from selected barrels, with the winemaker hovering. Not surprisingly these wines seem to score very high. But if I owned a restaurant, I would read my copy of the Wine Advocate the same day it arrived.
Aimed at commercial food service executives, Restaurant Hospitality is a beautiful glossy magazine that is well written and researched. They tend to delve into subjects a bit more than Nation's Restaurant News, and typically have good pieces on menu planning and marketing, design and decor, as well as operations ideas for managing people and expenses. The features include profiles of industry leaders, interviews, and product reviews. The recipes are often creative, and scaled for large production. Full disclosure: I write for them occasionally.
A classic trade publication, this glossy color tabloid comes out 50 times per year and is fat with trends, statistics, news, mergers and acquisitions, openings and closings, opinions, interviews with movers and shakers in the world of food and drink, profiles of restaurants and restaurant chains, analysis of government regulations, debates, and advertisements from vendors of everything from pork to paper goods. Nation's Restaurant News is a must for anyone currently in the biz or planning to get into the biz.
With a $25 donation you'll get a 100% cotton brushed twill adjustable low profile cap with the AmazingRibs patch sewn on. I'll even toss in a small bag of 
