I recently came across the book How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques by Steve Raichlen. I loved it. What I liked most was all the ideas and techniques for grilling almost any type of food.

There are over 1000 photographs that show each technique in detail. And each technique is accompanied by a recipe. And the recipes are actually something that I would eat. I don't usually get into the extremely fancy gourmet recipes on the grill, so the first thing that I look at in a book is for recipes that I think I would eat. And this book has them!

I utilized Steve'e technique for grilling asparagus, as shown in my post, Grilled Asparagus - A Delicious Grilled Vegetable. The results were great and I look forward to trying even more of the techniques outline in this book.  In fact, it is full of the "how to's".  You'll find a bunch of new ways to grill and bbq all sorts of different types of foods.

What The Barbecue! Bible is to inspiration, How to Grill is to technique.  You'll be shown how to grill just about any cut of meat.  It will give tons of help to the beginner and at the same time will give some challenges to the expert. If you own just one grilling and barbecuing book, How to Grill may be it.

If you would like more information about this book and see the what others have said, click here.

P.S. For more of my favorite outdoor cooking books, see below:

How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

BBQ USA has over 774 pages of information, recipes, and history with all the regional tips and tricks explained and recipes provided. With its 425 recipes, you'll be busy trying all the different foods and techniques for many, many weekend to come.

Even if you are a beginner, you could pick up this huge book, big almost anywhere, with any recipe and be able to cook delicious dishes. While it includes information and recipes for both grilling and bbqing (low slow cooking with smoke), it's not an introduction to grilling. If you want that, try How to Grill.

Once you start using this book, there will never be a reason for your family to complain of boring food ever again! And you'll be pushed to expand your skills and abilities.

If you want to:

• Learn to cook brand new dishes on the grill
• Expand your outdoor cooking skills
• Amaze your friends and family
• Have a new dish new you can cook every weekend for over 8 years

BBQ USA – Outdoor Cooking Books is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

BBQ USA – Outdoor Cooking Books is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

• Information on smokers
• Woods to use
• Managing your fire
• Brining, marinating, injecting, sauces
• Cooking tips for the big four in competition: chicken, pork ribs, pork butts, and brisket
• Smoking tips for turkey
• Guide to trimming spare ribs, St. Louis style
• Science of BBQ
• BBQ competitions

I was looking at this ebook primarily from a backyard BBQ point of view.  Most of these are topics that are applicable to the backyard BBQ, but some are much less so, such as the section on BBQ competitions.

To be honest, I was disappointed that so much of the ebook was spent on the competition aspect (about 12 pages out of 74).  I hadn't remembered the sales page saying much about that part, so went back and checked and it was my memory--it clearly states that there is information for those who want to compete. It isn't that none of that information is applicable to the backyard BBQer but you'll have to dig a little bit to find it and apply it.   It is more directly applicable to those doing competition.

With regards to the rest of the book, there is a lot of very specific information about how Bill Anderson cooks his meats at competition.  Bill is part of the Chatham Artillery BBQ Team and has done very well in competitions recently.  He must be doing something right!

I've seen some complaints that all of the information in this book can be found on the Internet.  That's probably true!  But you'll have to search high and low and test and try many things to find the combinations that work.  Bill has already done that and shares it all with you in the ebook.

Bill provides specific information about cooking time and temperatures for chicken, pork ribs, pork butts, brisket, and turkey.  He also gives a number of recipes, including:

• 1 injection recipe
• 7 rub recipes
• 12 barbecue sauce recipes
• And a few miscellaneous others

Note that there are not a bunch of recipes--if that's what you are looking for, Competition BBQ Secrets is not for you.  But if you want some recipes that have done great in competitions, then it's worth checking out.  I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, so can't comment on them, but I look forward to trying and testing them and see what I think. I've you've tried any of these, please let us know what you think in the comments below.  I'll do the same as I try the recipes.

The one thing that I read that I completely disagreed with was a suggestion that lighter fluid be used to start the charcoal.  Bill says that if you let it burn long enough, the fluid will burn off and the odor will be gone.  That's not my experience, and I start all of my charcoal now with a chimney.  In another part of the book, he talks about an experience where he tasted some barbecue that had a bit of an after-taste.  When he checked with the cook, she said that she had used lighter fluid.  His point was that you should not risk using lighter fluid to light your coals when there were other ways.  I agree--use a chimney!  It takes a little bit longer, but you run no risk of it affecting the taste of your food.

All in all, this book has some solid information and if it is what the Chatham Artillery BBQ Team is using during their recent success, then it's worth looking at.  At the present time, the book goes for $29.95.  This may seem a bit expensive, and you might even be a bit underwhelmed after reading it (I was at first), but then you need to remember that your time is worth money and Bill has shared proven tips, tricks, and recipes with you--no need to spend your time trying to figure out what works and how to BBQ.  He'll easily save you that $29.95 in your time.

That doesn't even include the savings that you'll have from not having to buy meats and other related items to test and see what works.  Heck, a brisket alone can run around $20, so you can easily save that money by following what Bill has found to work.

I recommend that you get a copy of the Competition BBQ Secrets ebook.  You get access to it immediately (that's the beauty of an ebook) and there is a 60 day money back guarantee.  With that, you can't go wrong.  (Please note that if you click on one of my links and purchase Competition BBQ Secrets, I get a commission.  It's not a ton, doesn't change the price you pay at all and helps me keep Outdoor Cooking Magic going.)

Enjoy!

Competition BBQ Secrets Review is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Competition BBQ Secrets Review is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

I recently had the opportunity to review a very interesting book, "Cooking Backyard to Backcountry" by John Rittel and Lori Rittel. John and Lori siblings who up on a guest ranch in Montana, spending much of their time outdoors.  They share their outdoor cooking expertise in this book.

One of the big reasons that I enjoyed this book so much was that it provided information about cooking outdoors using a variety of methods, part of what Outdoor Cooking Magic is all about.  "Cooking Backyard to Backcountry " gives tips and information about 12 different ways to cook outside, including:

• Barbecuing
• Grilling
• Deep-pit barbecue
• Cooking with wood planks
• Dutch oven cooking
• Cooking on stone slabs
• Cooking with foil
• Cooking on a spit
• Cooking with a reflector oven
• Steam pit cooking
• Fireless cooking
• and Stone boiling cooking.

John and Lori go into depth with each one of these areas, providing detail instructions, color photos, and recipes for each method.  In fact there are 150 recipes in all. Consider Oak Plank Grilled Chicken Breasts, Montana-Style Sweet and Sour Pork, and Barbecue Spit Roast Beef, just to name a few.  There are a lot of recipes that I am looking forward to trying.

The only downside that I had with the book is the lack of index, which would be helpful to find recipes.  Other than that, I highly recommend Cooking Backyard to Backcountry if you have any interest in cooking outdoors with any of these methods.

Book Review: Cooking Backyard to Backcountry is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Book Review: Cooking Backyard to Backcountry is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic