Southern Smoke

I love my smoked food and I really grieve the fact that the British art form of smoking has all but disappeared. It’s why I love this book. 
This recipe book isn’t just here to get you googling your nearest smokehouse in town; the introduction gives you the basics for anyone to start a smoker in their own back garden.

Perfect for the foodie in your life.

In Southern Smoke you get to learn the basics, get advice, and get wonderful recipes. I can't wait to try some of these recipes and see if I can do them any justice.

This is an excellent guide for beginners on how to set up a smoker with whatever type of outdoor grill you have.  It has recipes for just about every type of meat, and how to get the right bark.   It also has recipes for side dishes and a bakery section.  My favorite recipes are the macaroni and cheese and a chocolate pie.  I love the recipes for sauces, because you can't buy a barbecue sauce that tastes that good.  It's divided by different sections of the south and their traditional recipes.  I can't wait to try a seafood bake.  This book is a must for anyone who loves to barbecue.

I was thrilled to find this wonderful recipe book!  I can't wait to try them.  They looked so delicious and full of that smokey taste.  We bought a pellet smoker not too long ago and haven't used it that much because of not being sure of how to prepare the food. 

Now we have a collection of wonderful recipes, including sides.  I recommend this for a great bbq ahead!

I received a copy from NetGalley.  All thoughts are my own.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  														
														
From the publisher, as I do not repeat the contents or story of books in reviews, I let them do it as they do it better than I do 😸.														
														
Informed by the history of classic southern recipes, Southern Smoke is an intriguing dive into the barbecue of North Carolina, the Lowcountry, Memphis, and the Delta, with must-try meats, sides, and desserts.

For years, Matthew Register, the owner and pitmaster of Southern Smoke Barbecue, has been obsessed with the history of southern recipes. Armed with a massive collection of cookbooks from the 1900s and overflowing boxes of recipe cards from his grandmother, he hits the kitchen. Over weeks, sometimes months, he forges updated versions of timeworn classics. Locals and tourists alike flock to his restaurant in Garland, North Carolina (population 700), to try these unique dishes. 

In this book, Matthew teaches the basics of smoking with a grill or smoker. He outlines how to manage the fire for long smoking sessions and shares pitmaster tips for common struggles (like overcoming "the stall" on large pieces of meat). 

He then explores iconic barbecue regions and traditions: 
- Start off in North Carolina, the home of slow-smoked pork and tangy vinegar sauce. 
- highlights that include chicken quarters with church sauce, barbecue potatoes, collard chowder, and pork belly hash. 
- Travel the Lowcountry, where seafood meets barbecue.
- Go all out with Frogmore stew, pickled shrimp, and fire-roasted oysters, or sample unique recipes like funeral grits, likker pudding, and James Island shrimp pie. 
- Take a trip to Memphis and the Delta, a longtime barbecue hub known for dry-rubbed ribs. 

Other standouts might surprise you! 
- Learn the secrets behind Delta tamales, Merigold tomatoes, okra fries with comeback sauce, and country-style duck.  
- And, of course, what barbecue spread is complete without baked goods? The final chapter includes everything from skillet cornbread and benne seed biscuits to chocolate chess pie and pecan-studded bread pudding.

Whether you've long been a fan of barbecue or are just starting your own barbecue journey, Southern Smoke offers a unique collection of recipes and stories for today's home cook.
 
Barbequing/smoking/grilling is a HUGE thing in our family: in fact, my niece had a campfire-themed wedding reception last year. (Sounds weird, but yes, it worked!  Beaver chews held the table numbers, the tables were named after different kinds of trees, each table had a Pinterest-worthy centrepiece that looked like a campfire surrounded by rocks and lit by a candle ... trust me, it was gorgeous!) 

This book covers barbeque in such an interesting manner: most of what we call "Barbequing" in Canada is in fact, grilling some kind of meat and slapping some sauce on top. This will take your cooking to the next level and beyond: it is well organized and the recipes and instructions top-notch. It will take you step-by-step into cooking the best barbeque and desserts you have had in your life.

This is such a great book- as the first-anniversary gift is paper, I pre-ordered it for my niece and her husband AND managed to entice a friend who is a serious backyard smoker/griller/barbequer to buy a copy as well - he is part of a "smoking/outdoor cooking group in Toronto so I can imagine many of them buying it as well!)

As always, I try to find a reason to not rate with stars as I love emojis (outside of their incessant use by Millennials on Instagram and Twitter) so let's give it 🍖🥩🍗🍔🐑													
														

NOTE: I cannot link this review to LinkedIn - there is something wrong with the linking/programming and it will not happen.

Anyone who loves southern food will love Matthew Register’s cookbook, Southern Smoke: Barbecue, Traditions, and Treasured Recipes Reimagined for Today. Not only does the book include a great primer on smoking and southern barbeque, but it also features great recipes for southern classics, as well as spice rubs, barbecue sauces, and side dishes.

The recipe for Hoppin’ John is one of the best; the ingredients and quantities make for a delicious side or main dish, and following the recipe to the letter will insure perfect seasoning and flavor. Hoppin’ John is generally a New Year’s dish, but Register’s version is so good, it ought to be served year round. It goes well with Fried Skillet Cornbread. Register’s version of Country Captain is also very good, and can be adapted to the Instant Pot to make it faster. Other recipes in the queue include James Island Shrimp Pie, Memphis Dry Rub Ribs, and Fried Catfish with Dill Pickle Aioli. The desserts are also mouthwatering: Peanut Pie, Chocolate Chess Pie with Pecans, and Chocolate Fudge and Sea Salt Pie to name a few. 

The cookbook is divided into southern regions and features recipes from each region. Register has taken the best recipes and made it so anyone can successfully prepare authentic barbecue along with great side dishes. The recipes are concise and easy to follow; anyone – beginning cooks to experienced cooks – can make the dishes picture perfect. This cookbook also features excellent photographs of most of the dishes in the book, as well as photographs for step-by-step set up of a smoker/barbecue outdoors, which are very helpful.

Anyone who wants to cook traditional southern will want to pick up a copy of this excellent cookbook. Highly recommended.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

I cannot wait to get this book for my husband. These recipes look incredible and will be a part of many summer cookouts in the coming months! The pictures in this book are also great!

Easy to follow recipes that actually turn out as good as they look.  I found myself utilizing this book more than once when planning menus for the week.

Southern Smoke by Matthew Register is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in early May.

Smoking meats with your choice of wood, coal, grill, or smoker and recipes from the Carolinas (tangy), Tennessee (dry rub), and Georgia delta (shrimp boils) arranged in a horizontal way. The limited preamble of meat preparation makes me think this book is geared toward intermediate-to-advanced grill/smoker chefs, but the 4 or 3 to 1 ratio of side dish to meat makes me think the 'Smoke' of the title is more mirrors that true smoke. My favorite recipes are for smoked turkey, cornmeal fried okra, red rice, Delta tamales, and black pepper skillet cornbread.

Quarto Publishing Group – Harvard Common Press
What the saying ? Where there Smoke there’s Fire ! And this book is on Fire with great pictures,recipes and all told with family memories. . Sit down and explore the recipes and history of BBQ with Matthew and be motivated to go outside and fire up the pit. These recipes are great Southern classic that will become part of your family too. 
Have a family member that is into BBQ buy this book they will thank you and maybe cook you something from the book. ( Think Father’s Day ) Yum! Lisa

This right here is some good eating. If you’re from the south or thereabouts you’ll know a few of recipes. I’m from NC so the BBQ and the vinegar sauce are my favorites. I love them but you have to find the right person to cook good for you with a side of Brunswick stew, hushpuppies, and coleslaw you’ll be in heaven. Also shrimp and grits my family loves it I don’t eat seafood but they do so I make it for them. I want to try a seafood boil at least once. Like Louisiana style. Not keen on pickled shrimp though.

This book was an awesome surprise. It takes you through creating BBQ (the low and slow smoked meats) all the way through hosting a BBQ ( the gathering).

The first section is a guide to setting up your smoking apparatus, choosing fuels and those effect on flavor, how too maintain a safe fire, and guidelines for cooking. This was a good read, as while I really enjoy eating BBQ I haven’t yet made any myself. This book breaks down the steps in a way for beginners to try and go int more advance steps to tackle after more practice.

The next 3 sections are by region with recipes for meats and sides that are local and go together. I was really happy to see Brunswick stew included because that is my #1 favorite dish.

Finally, a fun surprise for a smoking book, was a baking section with complementary breads and desserts. I am excited to try some new cornbread recipes.

This book was awesome and well rounded! Thanks to #netgallery for the digital ARC to review,
Helpful

Who doesn’t love a good bbq? And this book should be a go to bible for anyone who loves doing a good barbie. With fantastic hints and tips and amazing mouth watering recipes I can’t wait to get stuck in.

Southern Smoke begins by giving readers a brief introduction to the basics of barbecue: from selecting a grill or smoker, the type of fuel you'll use, and a brief guide to the most common woods used for smoking to how to set up your grill and get smoking! There's also some handy lists of useful items, guidelines, and tips and tricks.

From there, the recipes are divided into chapters: North Carolina, The Low Country, Memphis and the Delta, and The Southern Bakery. Each chapter shares dishes and traditions from that region with clear and easy to follow instructions.

There are several classic Southern staple recipes for buttermilk fried chicken, fried skillet cornbread, mac and cheese, low country boil, and Brunswick stew included throughout as well as plenty of fried or pickled foods. I liked the small collection of supper menus at the end of the book included for inspiration.
There are recipes for smoked Boston butt, ribs, tenderloin, chicken quarters, turkey, and shrimp to fire up your smoker.

I gauge a cookbook by the end result so I've used this Memorial Day weekend to test some of the recipes and can safely say the Memphis dry-rub ribs and chocolate chess pie with pecans are both incredible! (Photos will  be included on my blog post).

I'm looking forward to making the okra fries with comeback sauce this summer and have enough strawberries left to make the sweet buttermilk biscuits with strawberries. I'm also excited to try collard chowder, fried catfish with dill pickle aioli, and James Island Shrimp Pie.

Overall, I love the layout and design of this book: from the helpful information shared in the introduction to the recipes divided into chapters with ingredients that are all reasonably easy to find in most grocery stores and instructions that are easy to follow.

Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group - Harvard Common Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Southern Smoke: Barbecue, Traditions, and Treasured Recipes Reimagined for Today was released on May 7, 2019.

Very nice book! Well thought out recipes and we learned a lot about smoking our food. I would recommend to anyone who has a smoker or wants to get one!

I am a transplant in North Carolina so know how much they love their bbq. I was so excited to read and see the recipes. The information provided with how to smoke was also very great that my husband was so excited he is planning on using the recipe this weekend. The recipes has great photos and very easy to follow.

Anyone who loves the South, Southern cooking, or barbecue of any kind will love Southern Smoke.  It is inviting, eclectic, and practical while being fun and interesting.  The recipes seem primarily to be from the restaurant of the same name (which I am now dying to try!), but are nonetheless manageable by home cooks.  Some of the ingredients--namely, the fresh seafood--won't be accessible to many, but there are a lot of other options, and the anecdotes and backgrounds provided help to make up for that disappointment.  Recommended not just to cooks, but to anyone with an interest in the culture of the BBQ parts of the U.S.

This is a must-have for anyone who loves Barbecue!!  This has everything you need in one handy place! Beautiful pictures. hints, tips, rubs, recipes and everything you ever need to know for the best Barbecue ever!! I found this very helpful and a must have for my kitchen! 5 mouth-watering, lip-smacking stars from me!

One thing Southerners learn from the time they can walk is how to grill. Sunday dinners, birthdays, holidays revolve around bbq hamburgers, cookouts, ribs, and good 'ole fashioned pulled pork. Of course that also has to include all of the trimmings - the side and the marvelous desserts. Southern Smoke by Matthew Register, is compilation of some of the very best recipes from all across the south because each region has its own set of flavors and delicacies. As someone who has moved north, this book was a godsend. I thought that creole cooking would always be available to me, or the flavor of Memphis style bar-b-que sauce but sadly I was mistaken. Southern Smoke has helped me re-created some of the flavors I have been missing for the past decade. 

Whether you are new to grilling or bbq or a pro looking for new ideas, I highly recommend Southern Smoke.

This book opens with how to set up your grill types of wood to use and the difference between each one as in flavors and also the difference between wood and charcoal. He then takes you through the different regions of North Carolina, Memphis, the Delta, and the Low Country. The author gives you many different recipes that are unique to each region. Having visited a few of those places and had their barbeque I can say each one is truly different. Much, much better than having grown up in Southern California dealing with people trying to copy. Now you have recipes for vinegar sauce, a mustard crème sauce which sounded good, also a pork belly sweet potato hash that if you like hash you have to try, made this very good. You also get a Memphis dry rub and BBQ SAUCE. I had to make the Memphis slaw for it reminded my wife and me when we visited there. You also have a dessert section with the author giving you a pie crust recipe in a BBQ book go figure, win, win.  A book for any cook and a must for any person wanting to enhance their skills at the grill or if they are just beginning.

A terrific guide for serious pit masters and for backyard weekend warriors alike. Loved it and am sure to use the tips over this holiday season!

An informative book on barbecuing and smoking. This would make a great gift for anyone who is new to smoking. I will be putting ma y of the tips to good use this summer.