The Cook’s Illustrated Guide to Grilling and Barbecue?

[Wesman61]

Does anyone have experience with this book? It mostly seems to deal with charcoal and gas grilling. I have and love America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I just wanted to get a good grilling book for kicks.

[CarolinaQue]

If it's like any thing else they've done, it'll be truly outstanding!!!

[HeSmellsLikeSmoke]

I am a big fan of their work too. I will get a copy. Thanks for the head's up.

[bmanMA]

I'll be interested in your opinion of it also. I subscribe to the periodical and it's usually a good read. However, one of their favorite things to do is streamline recipes. I've seen them streamline BBQ and it makes me cringe.

[billm]

I like a lot of the recipes and guides in the Cooks Illustrated magazine but was never impressed with their bbq related ones

[smokeydog]

I have had a copy for a couple of years. It has good information, articles about best buys for the kitchen, grill etc. It isn't about smoking as we practice it. It will tell you how to cook something on a Weber charcoal and using gas. THe Weber kettle is the go to for them. If you get a discount coupon at Barnes and Nobles I'd buy it, thats what I did. All in all it has good information. IMO

[bobaftt]

Its great however it seemed to me that they are very quick to use the oven on barbecue...

[beerguy]

I call them CROOKS Illustrated. Has more to do with their billing and marketing, but thats another thread in woodpile.

[gtr]

It's allright - some good grilling stuff. For low & slow, they're basically assuming you don't have a smoker & their method involves using the Weber kettle as a smoker - while there is nothing wrong with that, I'm confident most if not all people here have some kind of smoker. They talk about soaking wood chips (ahem), but there are some good basic rub & sauce recipes.

I haven't looked at the book in awhile, but my basic take would be the recipes are good but if you've been bbqing for awhile, you should probably go with the methods you already know. I've made a couple things out of apl's Serious Barbecue book lately and have really enjoyed that.

[NeoTrout]

I agree with gtr. Very basic and the recipes are nothing too thrilling. If you want a cool grilling book might I suggest, "The Thrill of the Grill: Techniques, Recipes, & Down-Home Barbecue" by Christopher Schlesinger. It's one of my favorites.

[caliking]

Its an ok book, but as with many CI recipes, etc now I find myself somewhat disenchanted. I think the book is good when you are beginning to grill/barbecue, but you will probably outgrow it soon.

One good feature of many CI recipes is that they are pretty reproducible since they have worked all the kinks out of the recipes. And as someone pointed out above, they don't really dabble in smokers. if you get a good deal on it then buy it, but I wouldn't spend a lot of $$ on it.

[HeSmellsLikeSmoke]

Thanks for saving me a few bucks for not adding this book to my collection.

On the other hand I still like Cook's Illustrated a lot.

[gtr]

I like the Cook's Ill mag as well. I've learned general cooking principles from them that I otherwise wouldn't have known & I've had a lot of success with their non-bbq recipes.

[TheRancheroGuy]

+1 on the CI mag. I've learned several INDOOR cooking techniques that have paid off in spades.

[Big Rich]

I've had it for a few years and it's good food for thought, even for the experienced griller. As mentioned the smoking assumes you are using a kettle or the oven.