Black Smoke - (A Ferris and Ferris Book) by Adrian Miller (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Across America, the pure love and popularity of barbecue cookery has gone through the roof. Prepared in one regional style or another, in the South and beyond, barbecue is one of the nation's most distinctive culinary arts. And people aren't just eating it; they're also reading books and articles and watching TV shows about it. But why is it, asks Adrian Miller--admitted 'cuehead and longtime certified barbecue judge--that in today's barbecue culture African Americans don't get much love? In Black Smoke, Miller chronicles how Black barbecuers, pitmasters, and restauranteurs helped develop this cornerstone of American foodways and how they are coming into their own today"--

Book Synopsis

Across America, the pure love and popularity of barbecue cookery have gone through the roof. Prepared in one regional style or another, in the South and beyond, barbecue is one of the nation's most distinctive culinary arts. And people aren't just eating it; they're also reading books and articles and watching TV shows about it. But why is it, asks Adrian Miller--admitted 'cuehead and longtime certified barbecue judge--that in today's barbecue culture African Americans don't get much love?

In Black Smoke, Miller chronicles how Black barbecuers, pitmasters, and restauranteurs helped develop this cornerstone of American foodways and how they are coming into their own today. It's a smoke-filled story of Black perseverance, culinary innovation, and entrepreneurship. Though often pushed to the margins, African Americans have enriched a barbecue culture that has come to be embraced by all. Miller celebrates and restores the faces and stories of the men and women who have influenced this American cuisine. This beautifully illustrated chronicle also features 22 barbecue recipes collected just for this book.

Review Quotes

"Black Smoke chronicles a rich culinary contribution. . . . [Miller] details the history of barbecue back to its Indigenous roots in pre-Columbian days, and recounts how it became part of the culture of enslaved Africans."--New York Times

"A must for serious barbecue scholars and a solid choice for any food historian."--Library Journal

"A trailblazing new volume that catalogues the contributions of Black men and women to American barbecue . . . rigorous scholarship. . . . Miller is creating a lexicon to ensure that these Black contributions to American culture can't be written out of history."--Washington Post

"An engaging storyteller, Miller brings his subjects to vivid life . . . [Black Smoke also] provides plenty of mouthwatering recipes by Black barbecue artists for sauce, meat and fish, and side dishes as well as profiles of unsung Black barbecue trailblazers across three centuries. . . . A highly entertaining, celebratory, and essential reader for history buffs and barbecue lovers alike."--Kirkus Reviews

"Exuberant . . . studious but not stuffy. . . . Miller never forgets that barbecue is, at its heart, about pleasure: about smoke, sizzle, and joy. Black Smoke is scholarship with a little sauce on its chin."--Garden and Gun

"Fascinating . . . Sets the record straight on who actually created barbecue."--Daily Beast

"Long before the Aaron Franklins of the world had smoked their first briskets, untold generations of Black American pitmasters laid the groundwork for that great and uniquely American culinary tradition we call barbecue. Bravo and thanks, Adrian Miller, for this brilliant book, which shines a light on America's forgotten barbecue heroes and a new generation of Black chefs and pitmasters who are reinventing a style of cooking that's as old as America itself."--Steven Raichlen, author of the Barbecue Biblecookbook series and host of Project Fire and Project Smoke on PBS

"Miller brings African Americans back to center of smoked-meat narrative."--Houston Chronicle

"Miller marshals considerable evidence to show in Black Smoke, his thorough, scholarly, enjoyable study [revealing that] barbecue is deeply rooted in African-American history and culture. . . . [The book] highlights the fundamental racial interconnectedness that lies at the heart of American life, and the American table."--The Economist

"While other barbecue books share knowledge in the form of recipes and steps, or history as told from a white perspective, Miller gets us closer to seeing the full picture, and to acknowledging that the story is richer, and more delicious, with these shared stories."--Local Palate

About the Author

Adrian Miller is a certified Kansas City Barbecue Society judge and recipient of a James Beard Foundation Book Award for Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time. A consultant on Netflix's Chef's Table BBQ, Miller's most recent book is The President's Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas.