A couple months back I saw that Tuffy Stone was releasing a cookbook and I got pretty excited. Tuffy Stone is one of the winningest competitors on the competitive bbq circuit (5 time World Champion), has some barbecue restaurants, and is on a number of different TV shows. I first saw Tuffy Stone on the BBQ Pitmasters show and always liked how he came across on that show and I could tell he had a very deep knowledge of barbecue. So when he announced that his cookbook Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue was coming out I hopped on Amazon, pre-ordered it and it arrived today.
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Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue Review
First off, let me say that I haven’t had a chance to try out any of the recipes in this book so anything I say isn’t based on actually cooking any of the recipes. That will come over the next few weeks.
Overall I was very impressed with this book. Tuffy Stone trained with an acclaimed French chef and ran his own catering company with his wife before getting into barbecue and that experience comes through in many of the recipes in this book. There is a lot more to this book than just “rub the meat and cook it”. For example there are 16 different rub recipes. Of course there is a standard bbq rub he calls his “Cool Smoke rub” but there are also rubs like fennel pollen rub, caraway rub, celery seed rub, and a bunch of others. These rubs are used on a number of the recipes in this book as are the 20 different sauces.
The recipes are broken down by type of meat. So you will see recipes for pork, beef, poultry, seafood and other meats, sides, and even desserts. Of course there are the standard bbq recipes like pulled pork and brisket but these go beyond just a standard bbq recipe. Tuffy shares his competition recipes which are quite a bit different than what most people would cook in their backyard or what you would have at a restaurant.
With competition bbq you really need it to be “one bite good”. The judges will only take one or two bites of your meat so you need that one bite to be amazing. Because of this the flavors and technique are a bit different than what you would get at most barbecue restaurants or what you would cook up on your backyard smoker for a meal. Tuffy has won competitions all around the country so you know his competition recipes are sure to deliver great results.
The recipe that most intrigues me in the book is the Smoked Loin Back Ribs with Cherry Barbecue Sauce. The ribs are a pretty standard barbecue recipe but the cherry barbecue sauce uses cherry preserves and dried cherries. That tart flavor from the cherries would pair great with the tender back ribs. I am also interested to try his competition pork butt recipe. I have never injected a pork butt and generally don’t use a regular sauce on my pork but this has won a ton of competitions so I am eager to see how it compares to my normal pork butt. And the dill coleslaw he pairs with it on some sandwiches sounds delicious.
I am excited to try a few of these recipes over the next few weeks. For the most part I like to keep my meat cooks very simple but some of the sauces, rubs, and other additions Tuffy adds to these recipes could make for some great variety. His Tri-Tip with Celery Seed Rub is one that has piqued my interest. I would usually just use salt and pepper and would never have thought to pair celery seed with tri-tip.
Along with some great recipes Tuffy also starts the book off with some barbecue basics. He talks about the different types of smokers available, how to use sauces and rubs, different types of fuel, and also some great information on competition barbecue.
Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue is a great addition to the arsenal of most barbecue lovers. It is currently $26.99 on Amazon and will also make a great Father’s Day gift for any dad that loves to fire up the grill.
