Chris Lilly - Fire and Smoke: A Pitmaster’s Secrets

Copyright 2014 by Chris Lilly
Photographs copyright 2014 by Ben Fink
Illustration on copyright 2014 by Matthew Allen

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.clarksonpotter.com

CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a registered trademark of Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lilly, Chris.
Fire and smoke / Chris Lilly.First edition.
Includes index.
1. Barbecuing. 2. Cooking (Smoked foods). I. Title.
TX840.B3L55 2014
641.76dc23 2013026050

ISBN 978-0-7704-3438-0
eBook ISBN 978-0-7704-3440-3

COVER DESIGN by Laura Palese
COVER PHOTOGRAPHS by Ben Fink

v3.1

You can braise and roast and saut all you want, but you cant get the same smoky, crusty char and deep flavor on foods without the intense heat of an open flame or smoldering wood. As a partner and pitmaster of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Alabama, Ive been tending fires for years, gaining all the expertise I can in how to coax major flavor and succulent tenderness out of all shapes and sizes of meats. Most of my professional work is bigwhole pork butts (shoulders), mounds of beef brisket, hundreds of whole chickens at a timeand while I can go head-to-head with other pitmasters in competition or catering, I have to figure out something else to do when I cook at home! The same recipe that works for the Memphis in May World Champion Barbecue Cooking Contest needs a good bit of reworking for me to make it for a backyard cookout for a few friends.

Now, I know I cant keep going here without addressing that same question that comes up all the time: What is the difference between barbecuing and grilling? If youve read any of the outdoor cookbooks on the market, you will know that barbecue is cooking over low indirect heat and grilling is utilizing high direct heat. There are clear differences between the two, but have we ever adequately explored the charcoal-gray area in between? As I started tweaking recipes here and there, working on the equipment I keep at home, I realized something: You can get some pretty great results when you mix barbecuing and grilling techniques for the same recipe. For example, a whole butterflied turkey sizzled over direct flame to yield a beautiful crisp charred skin, but then transferred to indirect heat to maximize the juiciness of the meatis this barbecuing or grilling? Or when cooking breaks all the rules by cooking at a high temperature over indirect heat. We can argue all day about which method should be used in different circumstances, but its actually the food that determines it. More often than not, and especially when cooking at home, its best to use a combination of both barbecuing and grilling to get the greatest flavor.

Fire & Smoke will teach you how to get the most out of your outdoor cooking equipment and master the art of cooking with flames. Start with the recipes here that Ive designed for grills and smokers, but then move on to adapt your own indoor recipes to the outdoors, thus reimagining dishes usually untouched by smoke and char. Youll be amazed at how fun and delicious it is to take unexpected foods to the grill or smoker. Yes, you can cook a dish of red-skinned potatoes in your oven, but wouldnt they be better simmering in the slow-cooked juices dripping from a so good.

Theres a whole world of barbecue to explore, so lets get on outside, invite some folks over, and fire up the grill or smoker. And with that, Id like to propose a toast. To good friends and great Q!

The puzzling question Im most often asked is What is the best cooker to purchase for my own backyard? This is impossible to answer on the spot, because without knowing a persons cooking style, I cant match them with the perfect cooker. This choice goes much deeper than what looks the best on your patio. Of course it makes sense to recommend a grill for people who are only interested in a quick cook over high heat and a smoker for those who fixate on cooking large cuts of meat low and slowbut there are many other things to consider. Do you like to cook with charcoal? Do you prefer wood? Is flavor or convenience more important to you? How often do you open your grill when cooking? Do you baste, turn, or flip? Are you more of a hands-off cook with the motto If youre lookin, you aint cookin!? Exactly how much smoke flavor do you like? How big is your family? Do you entertain guests often at your home? What do you cook most often? Do you like to cook multiple things at once at different temperatures? There are more questions than cooker types, but with each answer you get closer to reaching a perfect harmony of fire and flavor.

The only absolute in outdoor cooking is that there is no absolute right or wrong way to barbecue, and no perfect techniques when it comes to grilling. Your preferences and style may be completely different from mine, but you will never hear me say that my way is the only way. For example, basting is one way to add flavor while keeping the meat from drying out during the cooking process. Another way to achieve the same things is to keep the lid shut to trap the natural moisture from the meat. Both techniques work, but you may like one method over the other. It makes little difference whether you are cooking on a $20,000 combination smoker/grill or in a hole in the ground; both can come to the same delicious conclusion.

I like a cooker that provides flexibility. Im a huge fan of the flavor charcoal imparts to food, and therefore opt for a cooker that uses charcoal as the main fuel source. My favorite cookers have the versatility of cooking with high or low temperatures, and direct or indirect heat. For example, I can cook slabs of ribs over low indirect heat, and then transfer them to direct fire to quickly caramelize the sauce. The ideal alternative is to have both a grill and a smoker.