Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue

by Tuffy Stone, Tuffy Stone

Five time Barbecue World Champion Tuffy Stone’s complete guide to barbeque

Flame, smoke, and meat―these simple elements combine to make great barbecue. Creating the perfect bite of tender, spicy, smoky barbecue is a science and an art form, and Tuffy Stone―five time World Champion Pitmaster, co-host and judge of Destination America’s BBQ Pitmasters , and co-owner of the award-winning Q Barbecue restaurants―has mastered it.

Cool Smoke is the distillation of all his years of experience and wisdom. Inside you’ll find a wealth of barbecue information including:

- How to choose the right cooker
- The best way to trim a cut of meat
- How to prepare your own brines, rubs, and sauces
- Insider tips and hints for taking on the competition circuit
- Over 100 creative, delicious recipes to make you a barbecue master

The recipes include classic barbecue dishes with updated preparations like Smoked Ribs with Cherry Barbecue Sauce, Dove Breasts with Crispy Bacon and Chipotle White Sauce, and even the Holy Grail of barbecue: the Whole Hog. As no plate of ‘cue is complete without a generous helping of sides, there are also recipes for Corn Pudding with Poblano Pepper, Collard Greens with Pepper Relish, and Pineapple Hot Pot, along with delicious desserts like Frozen Coconut Lime Pie.

For backyard barbecuers who are interested in taking on the competition circuit, Cool Smoke offers tips and tricks from one of the best in the business. Stone’s competition secrets―gleaned from more than a decade of success on the circuit―have never before been shared beyond the walls of his cook school in Richmond, Virginia. Cool Smoke gives an insider’s look behind the scenes and offers advice on creating perfect competition turn-ins that have made Stone a World Champion five times over.

With mouthwatering recipes, over 200 hundred color photos, essential guides to cookers and equipment, and expert advice, Tuffy Stone’s Cool Smoke is the definitive guide to all things barbecue.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food

304 pages, Hardcover

Published May 15, 2018

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything you need to know about barbecue and then some! For the novice, the weekend griller and the rest of us!

We have a charcoal smoker, a gas grill and a small charcoal grill. Depending on what we are making, we may use one or two or at times, all 3 to get the results we are looking for, or for a large group/party.

Over the years we have experimented with different recipes and have some tried and true favorites. But like anything else, there’s always a quest to see “what else is out there” to discover and taste.

Highly recommended reading if you love to barbecue or love to EAT barbeque! There are easy recipes for rubs, gravies, barbeque sauces and brines. There is an easy recipe for refrigerator pickles that reminded me of my grandma’s Polish pickles. There are dessert and salad recipes to supplement your main entree.

This book was authored by the barbeque great,Tuffy Stone, with a foreword by Steve Raichlen. Steve is his friend, and another famous barbeque name, which we follow as well.

So how are you cooking YOUR turkey dinner this Thanksgiving? We grill one and bake one in a roasting bag in the oven - dare I say which one gets eaten first? 😛

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't recommend this BBQ book enough. Every recipe I've tried has come out as my best (ribs, brisket, chicken, steak). Tuffy Stone seems more chef than "BBQer" as he emphasizes recipe/prep more than the grilling/BBQ part (which contrasts him significantly with Franklin's and Amazingribs/Meathead). But my BBQ comes out better with this book. And I learned grilling techniques from Meathead and applied them here. Note: these recipes are more complex than other BBQ recipes I have used and you end up flipping between 3 pages of rubs, sauce, meal prep which can be a bit overwhelming. Not an easy midweek meal to prep.

I've now bought this book for 4 other friends and will continue gifting this to any friend who shows an interest in BBQ as one attempt at any of these recipes will turn them into a BBQ hobbyist - and I can always use more of those in my life.

[Brad Theado · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was just ok. It’s well produced much like any other tv food network cookbook. I own a bbq restaurant so I found it odd that it explained the basics of bbq (like every tired bbq cookbook does anymore) chapters called Fuel or Fire just seems so overdone in a bbq cookbook while at the same time assuming that the reader understand bbq at a deep level using works like brisket flat or point without explaining what either of those are. Over all I found the recipes to be overly complex with some recipes having as many as 20 ingredients, many of which would be hard to find in most markets (fennel pollen? Outside of a city like Richmond have fun finding that). That said the pictures are great and I pulled a couple of ideas out of the book.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting more competition style bbq recipes, which there are a few, but mostly we get higher end recipes that seem stray away from traditional bbq. Not for me but could be for others.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good beginners introduction to means and methods for what appears to be solid BBQ.

Is it weird that the most intriguing recipe was for Spiced Pecans?