Karen Adler - The BBQ Queens Big Book of BBQ

The Harvard Common Press
535 Albany Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02118
www.harvardcommonpress.com

Copyright 2005 by Karen Adler and Judith M. Fertig

The BBQ Queens is a trademark of Karen C. Adler and Judith M. Fertig

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

L IBRARY OF C ONGRESS C ATALOGING-IN -P UBLICATION D ATA

Adler, Karen.
The bbq queens' big book of barbecue / Karen Adler and Judith M. Fertig.
p. cm.
Includes index.

ISBN 1-55832-296-5 (hc : alk. paper)ISBN 1-55832-297-3 (pbk : alk. paper)
1. Barbecue cookery. I. Fertig, Judith M. II. Title.
TX840.B3A32 2005
641.5'784dc22

2004029897

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Cover and interior design by Richard Oriolo
Illustrations by Laura Tedeschi
Grill photograph courtesy of Bob Lyon
Cover photography by Terri Voyles with Omni Images

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To our families, especially Karen's husband, Dick, and Judith's children, Sarah and Nick, who are always ready to praise and encourage us and to taste a tender morsel or two and say, "That's not bad!"

We love to cook outdoors because it's relaxing and a great way to share techniques, recipes, great food, and cool drinks. Whether it's schmoozing with friends and family on a deck or patio, conversing over a smoker at a barbecue competition, or shoot-in' the bull at a tailgate, count us in! Although this book is a salute to women who sizzle and smoke, we also owe a lot to the men in our lives. Karen's son-in-law Brian Young's experimentation with smoking wild game has been inspiring. Her other son-in-law, Jimmy Donnici, is also an ace at the grill and has shared many recipes with her. Good friend Don Coffey is an exceptional cook and outdoor smoker who has a special way with wild duck.

Judith's father, Jack Merkle, learned the meat trade from his generations-old family business and has taught her a lot.

We want to thank the staff of the many cooking schools where we have enjoyed teaching and meeting new food friends, including Larry Oates, owner of KitchenArt in West Lafayette, Indiana; Priscilla Barnes, owner of Cook's Nook in McPherson, Kansas; Deb Lackey at Dorothy Lane School of Cooking in Dayton, Ohio; Viking Culinary Centers all across the country; Carol Tabone at Jungle Jim's Cooking School in Fairfield, Ohio; Marilyn Markel at A Southern Season in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Kitchen Conservatory and Dierberg's in St. Louis; Kathleen Craig and the great staff at Cooks of Crocus Hill in Minneapolis and St. Paul; Byerly's in Minneapolis and St. Paul; Chef's Gallery in Stillwater, Minnesota; Marshall Field's Culinary Studio in Chicago; Debbie Meyer at Market Street in Dallas; Central Market's Cooking School at various locations in Texas; Cooks Warehouse in Atlanta; Sur La Table Cooking Schools throughout the United States; Hall's Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri; Culinary Center of Kansas City in Overland Park, Kansas; Rebecca Miller at Whole Foods Market in Overland Park, Kansas; and Denise Manu at Roth Concept Center in Lenexa, Kansas.

Special venues where we have met great people while we cooked up a royal feast include the Seattle Grillfest in Seattle and Charlie Trotter's To Go in Chicago. Special people include Cheryl Parker at the American Royal Barbecue Cooking Stage in Kansas City, Missouri, and Mark Dressler and Matt Sutherland, who supported and promoted the BBQ Queens at the First Annual Traverse Epicurean Festival in Traverse City, Michigan.

The Kansas City Barbeque Society, under the guidance of cofounder and executive director Carolyn Wells, has guided so many of us toward true slow-smoked American barbecue. The society promotes good food with good friends and emphasizes "having fun while doing so!" We hope that we live up to the honors that have been bestowed on us by our friend Ardie Davis, a.k.a. Remus Powers, Ph.B.: Karen's Master of Barbecue from Greasehouse University and Judith's place in the Order of the Magic Mop.

We thank all of our friends and colleagues in Les Dames d'Escoffier International and charter members of the Kansas City chapter for their encouragement and support. Our involvement with the International Association of Culinary Professionals has helped steer our culinary careers to new vistas. We have enjoyed all the good people from our Slow Foods Convivium in Kansas City, led by Jasper Mirabile Jr. Our involvement with the American Barbecue Hall of Fame and Museum is in its infancy, but we hope that the vision of our chairman, George Vesel, has us cooking at a venue solely dedicated to barbecue in the near future.

We're grateful for the wonderful recipes submitted by our friends the BBQ Babes and the Grill Gals: Carolyn Wells, Cheryl Alters Jamison, Diane Phillips, Dotty Griffith, Paula Lambert, Karen Putman, Candy Weaver, Janeyce Michel-Cupito, Beckie Baker, Julie Fox, Kathy Smith, Celina Tio, Bonnie Tandy Leblang, Rozane Miceli Prather, Latifa Raoufi, Debbie Moose, and Lisa Readie Mayer. Additional barbecue friends and companies that have helped us include Donna Myers, Paul Kirk, Dennis Hayes, Steve Raichlen, Nick Nicholas, Jim Eber, Dave Eckert, KitchenAid, Traeger, and Cookshack.

Special thanks goes to our many "foodie" friends, including the Kansas City Cookbook Club (Dee Barwick, Liz Benson, Vicki Johnson, Gayle Parnow, Mary Pfeifer, Kathy Smith, and Roxanne Wyss) and all the 'Que Queens (Beckie Baker, Dee Barwick, Janeyce Michel-Cupito, Cathy Jones, Ronna Keck, Kathy Smith, Jean Tamburello, Lou Jane Temple, Bunny Tuttle, and Carolyn Wells).

Of course, we want to thank everyone at The Harvard Common Press, from publisher Bruce Shaw to editors Pam Hoenig and Valerie Cimino to P.R. experts Skye Stewart and Liza Bethand everyone else there. Special recognition goes to our agent, Lisa Ekus, and her able staffand to the radio DJ who said that women couldn't barbecue!

Last, we would be remiss to leave out two womenour mentorswhose wacky partnership keeps on inspiring us: Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz.

Thanks, everybody!

Some women wear false eyelashes. Some women wear purple. The BBQ Queens wear tiaras and beauty queen sashes, lots of jewelry, and sometimes even big hair. It's all for a good cause, thoughgetting people excited about the thrill of the grill and the art of slow smoking. We, Karen Adler and Judith Fertig, the BBQ Queens, are cookbook authors, culinary instructors, and members of an all-girl barbecue team that was formed when a local Kansas City DJ infamously proclaimed, "Women can't barbecue!"