This lively collection of sauces covers all the best flavors associated with barbecue: sweet, savory, hot and spicy - sometimes mixing all four. Bruce Bjorkman, a.k.a. "Mr. Barbecue," veteran of hundreds of barbecue competitions, takes readers on a journey through the world of barbecue sauces, from Texas to the Carolinas to Cajun country, and from Asia to the Caribbean.

• More than 100 recipes
• Saucemaster Tips
• Barbecue lore and anecdotes
• Mail-order sources of sauces and spices
• Calendar of Kansas City Barbecue Society sanctioned contests

Real Barbecue, one of the treasures of home-grown American cooking, once was the specialty of a few chefs and aficionados. Now, thanks to the ready availability of smoke cookers -- water smokers, wood-fired pits, and kettle grills -- millions of Americans are cooking outstanding "Q" right at home. Smoke & Spice is the cookbook for them, with over 300 mouth-watering recipes and expert tips on how to get the best results from any kind of barbecue equipment.

Authentic Bar-B-Q is as American as the Fourth of July, but often it takes a search party to find the real thing. Now, for the first time, John Willingham, winner of more major grand champion Bar-B-Q awards than anyone else in history, shares his celebrated recipes for a complete Bar-B-Q feast. At the heart of this book are Willingham's acclaimed recipes for mouthwatering beef, pork, fish, and chicken Bar-B-Q. Here are clear instructions for determining what type of cooker to use; laying a perfect fire to minimize smoke and maximize taste; preparing and using assorted dry rubs and marinades; getting a rich, marbled taste out of any cut of meat. The result is such triumphs as Grilled Pork Loin Roast, tender on the inside, golden on the outside; fresh, subtle Herbed Shrimp with Basil; Honey Mustard-Glazed Ribs that can be prepared in a snap; and Hot Sauce-Marinated Chicken.

But it's not just the perfectly prepared meats and sauces on which Willingham lavishes special attention. No Bar-B-Q feast would be complete without starters, salads, fixin's, slaws, and dessert. And Willingham has the blue ribbon recipes for them all. Take, for example, his Smokin' Fastball Wings cooked over hickory or apple wood, melt-in-your-mouth Angel Biscuits, or stand-up spicy Cajun Coleslaw. To cool off, there's Grandma's Raisin Bread Pudd'n with Rum Sauce, Old-Fashioned Custard Pie, or rich Maple Sauce spooned over ice cream, to mention just a few, for dessert.

John Willingham explains what real Bar-B-Q is -- and isn't -- and provides the techniques and tips that have won him accolades but are so simple even a backyard 'cuer can use them. Down-home and authentic, John Willingham's World Champion Bar-B-Q is the sourcebook for weekend enthusiasts and world-class chefs ready to follow in the Willingham tradition of creating delicious Bar-B-Q masterpieces.

This is grilling designed for the novice or pro, the duffer or dedicated man., woman, or child. In addition to covering the basics, Chris and Doc add several new, lighter dimensions to their grilling canon, with more grilled vegetables, more seafood, more pasta, and more surprisingly grillable fruit. Vibrant and adventurous, the recipes combine fresh herbs, chiles, citrus, and spices with that indefinable grilled flavor to create dishes that both satisfy and intrigue.

Special features of the book include:

• An in-depth grill briefing, including tips on easy fire starting, answers to the ten most frequently asked grilling questions, five keys to easy grilling, and for those who cant bear to put the grill away when winter comes-a guide to fireplace grilling.
• A chapter devoted to grilling on skewers, with hints on how to meld flavors and cook ingredients evenly, along with recipes like exotic Grilled Lamb Skewers with Apricots, Single Grilled Swordfish Skewers, Grilled Lamb and Potato Skewers with Tomato-Green Olive Relish,, and Grilled Chicken Skewers with Coconut-Ginger Sauce.
• A section that showcases the uniquely thrilling Hobo Pack Cookery, otherwise known as Boy Scout cooking, with recipes like Eggplant and Tomato Hobo Pack with Lemon and Garlic, and Chicken Hobo Pack with Garlic, Lemon., and Herbs.
• A wide selection of salads and pasta dishes, such as Grilled Artichoke and White Bean Salad or Linguine with Grilled Shrimp and Black Olives, which use grilled fish, meat, and vegetables to add smoky-great flavor.
• For you heat freaks, a chapter of high-heat dishes, from Chile-Coated Chicken Thighs with Couscous and Tomato-Raisin Relish to Grilled Shrimp with Moist-Hot Lime-Chile Booster.
• Slow and low barbecue and grill-roasting., where classic barbecued brisket becomes Mediterranean-Style Slow-Roasted Beef Brisket, and innovative dishes like Corn Bread-Stuffed Barbecued Game Hens with Bourbon-Shallot Sauce come off the grill with deep, smoky flavor.
• A bevy of side dishes that go great with grilled food, from K.C.'s Bengali-Style Spinach to Sweet-Potato Steak Fries with Your Own Catsup to grilled Corn with Lime and Chinese Roasted Salt.
• Dozens of condiments, pickles, and spice rubs that build flavor fast with very little effort.

Packed with practical grilling instructions, anecdotes, and inventive recipes that join simple pleasure with culinary adventure, here's a book that has direct appeal to anyone who's ever wanted to put food over fire. Whether youre a novice looking for your initial License to Grill, an accomplished live fire devotee ready to earn your Ph.G. (Doctorate of Grilling), or you just want to spend some time hanging out by the fire, this is the book for you. So go ahead, unleash your 'griller instincts" and give yourself License to Grill -- permission to fool around with live fire, add a smoky sear to your dinner, and generally turn cooking into the best part of your day.

With that as a starting point, Big Flavors of the Hot Sun takes you on a journey to the intensely flavored, easygoing world of spicy cooking. This culinary odyssey features the loud flavors and time-tested techniques gathered during the authors' twenty years of cooking with live fire and spices.

Here are more than 240 original, innovative recipes for pantropic-inspired food from the spice zone, that geographic band around the Equator where most spices originated and where through the centuries cooks have learned to use their intense flavors to best advantage. Simple to prepare, healthful, and bursting with dynamic flavors, these recipes from Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby, authors of the best-selling The Thrill of the Grill, are perfect for today's cook.

Before you know it, you'll be confidently combining spices with the subtle tastes of seafood, as in Grilled Shell-On Giant Shrimp with Hot Peanut-Chile Butter or Pineapple Steamed Clams with Simple Coconut Curry; blending aromatic spices into easy-to-use, flavor-packed rubs like Persian-Style Nut Rub and East Coast Grill Masala; and enjoying the deep, complex flavors of dishes like Sweet and Spicy Lo Mein Noodles or Grilled Quail with Cardamom, Ginger Sauce, and Grilled Scallions.

Special features of the book include:

• Instructions on how to get the most out of spices, including ideas for buying, storing, and preparation.
• A chapter of international one dish meals designed for minimum work and maximum flavor.
• A whole chapter of wildly flavorful spice rubs, the quick, easy, and healthful alternative to traditional sauces.
• A descriptive chart with 17 spice mixtures from cuisines around the world.
• 16 pages of glorious full-color photographs.
• 60 user-friendly line drawings that illustrate recipe techniques.

In La Parilla, acclaimed chef Reed Hearon reveals the simple glories of this South-of-the-border grilling tradition with dozens of easy-to-prepare recipes, all in his inimitable signature style. He shows how to create the flavorful marinades that Mexican cooks call recados, intended to bring out the natural flavors of fish, poultry, beef, pork, vegetables, and even fruits, as well as how to make vibrant salsas to enliven every course of the grilled meal providing an unexpected and delightful accent.

Fabulous entrees, including Spicy Quail with Green Chorizo and Pork Ribs with Tamarind Recado; zesty accompaniments, such as Grilled Corn on the Cob with Chipotle Rub and Lime; and tempting desserts, like Grilled Tropical Fruits in Banana Leaves, fill this collection of inspired dishes. Uniquely satsifying and undeniably sophisticated, the recipes in La Parilla will fire up your next fiesta with the flavors of the Mexican grill. Que' rico!

A Seriously Funny Search for the Art and Culture of Barbecue

Their quest takes them from the barbecued cow heads of south Texas to the barbecued pig snouts (tasty if tough) of East St. Louis, Illinois. From the all-night barbecue binges on Chicago's South Side to barbecue competition circuit events like Memphis in May and Vienna, Georgia's Big Pig Jig, where people spend thousands of dollars to stay up all night smoking meat. They check out famous and obscure BBQ places from Kansas City, Missouri, to Hope, Arkansas, but ultimately come back to Memphis and Hawkins Grill, a barbecue oasis of Frank's youth, which he now mourns as "a dinosaur without a mate."

Walk into Stamey's Barbecue in Greensboro, or Lexington Barbecue in Lexington, and you'll get a serving of slow-roasted pork shoulder, served with a sweet 'n sour "dip" that includes a hint of tomato sauce. People in Piedmont North Carolina call that barbecue. But if you walk into Scott's Famous Barbecue in Goldsboro, or Parker's inwilson, you'll get barbecue prepared from the whole hog, seasoned with a lively blend of vinegar and pepper, without a drop of tomato anywhere. That's what eastern North Carolinians call barbecue. To barbecue novices-usually people from other states-the differences may appear subtle, but to aficionados, they are significant. (If you're from North Carolina, you're an aficionado; if you just moved here, you'll be one before long.)

But don't get North Carolinians wrong: no matter what part of the state it's from, North Carolina barbecue is barbecue the way it should be. In North Carolina Barbecue, Bob Garner takes us on a delectable journey across the state in search of the best examples of this distinctive North Carolina delicacy. Along the way he explores such important topics as cooking with wood vs. electricity, the proper etiquette for a pig picking, the differences between North Carolina barbecue and the stuff they serve in the rest of the country-even how to make your own Tar Heel barbecue. What he discovers on this journey is that, while the debate rages on, there is no doubt that barbecue is a delicious and important part of the state's heritage and identity.

Here are the secrets of world-class "chili-heads," the legends and lore of Lone Star fare, the authentic best of the Great Empire of Texas. You,ll learn to build a 55-gallon drum smoker and to master the fine art of slow smoking, to dig a four-star BBQ pit, to identify each of the many peppers which lend distinctive zing to everything from killer chili to Jalapeno Pie. You'll learn what a Rocky Mountain Oyster is, who are the hottest chefs on the chili circuit and much, much more.

Sausage making is a simple-to-learn kitchen craft, and getting started is easy and inexpensive. Predika demonstrates his expertise gained from a lifetime of learning the most efficient sausage-making methods and techniques an has gathered the essential information into a few easy-to-follow instructions.

Making sausage yourself you'll be able to eliminate harmful nitrates from your diet and control the use of stuffers and artificial ingredients. You'll become more self-sufficient as you develop your culinary skills and you'll enjoy the satisfaction of creating flavorful gourmet dishes and adding delightfully different taste treats to your everyday fare.

As he grew older he realized that many fine old recipes were being lost with the deaths of older family members. He started to collect them and now he has gained a well-earned reputation as cook and caterer specializing in traditional ethnic recipes. Says Predika, "In my own endeavors to find enlightenment on sausage-making for my own use, I cursed many times over that a book had not been written on the subject. What a beautiful art and it's dying out!"

Jerry Predika, a professional artist and wine counselor for a California winery, brings artistry to everything he does, whether it's painting or teaching wine appreciation classes or making his own sausage. He currently resides in Santa Cruz, California.

Learn the secrets to the world's finest sausage.