3 Stars: Franklin Barbeque: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto by Aaron Franklin & Jordan Mackay

Title: Franklin Barbeque: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto
Author: Aaron Franklin, Jordan Mackay
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Genre: Cooking, How-To
Release Date: April 7th 2015
Source: Blogging for Books
Purchase: Amazon

A complete meat- and brisket-cooking education from the country's most celebrated pitmaster and owner of the wildly popular Austin restaurant Franklin Barbecue--winner of Texas Monthly's coveted Best Barbecue Joint in Texas award.

When Aaron Franklin and his wife, Stacy, opened up a small barbecue trailer on the side of an Austin, Texas, interstate in 2009, they had no idea what they’d gotten themselves into. Today, Franklin Barbecue has grown into the most popular, critically lauded, and obsessed-over barbecue joint in the country (if not the world)—and Franklin is the winner of every major barbecue award there is.

In this much-anticipated debut, Franklin and coauthor Jordan Mackay unlock the secrets behind truly great barbecue, and share years’ worth of hard-won knowledge. Franklin Barbecue is a definitive resource for the backyard pitmaster, with chapters dedicated to building or customizing your own smoker; finding and curing the right wood; creating and tending perfect fires; sourcing top-quality meat; and of course, cooking mind-blowing, ridiculously delicious barbecue, better than you ever thought possible.

Who doesn't love a good barbecue? In our house, we bbq at least once a week, and we always like to try new things. So when I was offered this book for review, I totally jumped on the opportunity, thinking that this would be completely awesome, that we would find one or two new recipes to try, at the very least. However, I was sadly wrong. In 213 pages, you would think that you would find some pretty amazing recipes, right? Well, you couldn't be more wrong. This book has a total of twelve recipes, 12! So unless you are looking to make baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad or one of four bbq sauces and maybe a rub for either pork, beef, ribs, turkey or brisket (which are pretty close to the same rub), this book is not for you.

This cookbook reads more like a cooking biography. It takes you from the beginning of Franklin Barbecue all the way until now. It also teaches you his techniques on smoking and barbecuing. But that is pretty much all this book covers. So, unless you want a smokehouse biography and not a recipe book, I would not recommend this one.

 

Disclaimer: *I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own.

Aaron Franklin is a Austin Texas based barbecue cook, restaurant owner, educator and writer. Aaron is a self taught bbq expert, who has quickly risen to be one of the most well known pit bosses in the barbecue world. He never cuts corners on choosing quality meats and spending the time it really takes to make the best bbq in the country. (even if he is losing sleep).

Find Aaron: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Jordan Mackay is the wine and spirits writer for San Francisco magazine. His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Decanter, The Art of Eating, Food & Wine, Gourmet and many others. He is the author of Passion for Pinot and (with Rajat Parr) the James Beard Award-winning Secrets of the Sommeliers. Currently, he is working on a book about Texas barbecue and two more books on wine. He lives in San Francisco.

Find Jordan: Instagram | Twitter