Peace, Love, and Barbecue: A Must Own Cookbook

Rodale, 2005, 312 pages, paperback, numerous recipes, numerous B&W photos.

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-time 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.”