Evans Samantha - The hang fire cookbook : the 100 best US barbecue recipes and secrets from the Hang Fire Girls

This book is a huge thank you to each and every person thats supported us by coming to our events and eaten our barbecue. Quite simply, this book wouldnt exist without your support and loyalty. We even invented a word to describe you, Custo-friends, customers who invariably become our pals by the time theyve placed their order. It always feels like feeding a big, extended family. Now, hand us your plate, whos for seconds?

#BBQlove

CONTENTS

We didnt grow up slathering whole hogs with vinegar or operating a pulley pit in the Texas wilds. We ate burnt burgers from disposable grills and our idea of saucing meats was solely reserved to ketchup. So what can a couple of Celtic girls tell you about American-style slow and low barbecue that you havent already read or watched on TV? Three years ago, we made a dramatic decision to quit our long-standing careers in London and embark on a six-month road trip of a lifetime across America, eating at every BBQ joint we could afford, and becoming increasingly possessed by the spirit of smoke and fire with every meaty mouthful. This is the story of our metamorphosis from occasional backyard barbecuers to an award-winning, smokin duo with an obsession with fire and meat.

We fell in love with the Southern States and their attitude to food and gatherings. Southern hospitality really is the ninth wonder of the world. And as we travelled around we learnt that there is so much more to barbecue than just the grill. Barbecue is a serious business.

We witnessed a heated argument about the best barbecue between a Texan and North Carolinian where the Texan had his hand on his holster the whole time. In the US, barbecue is defined by its State variations and we wanted it all: mustard and vinegar whole hog in the Carolinas, sweet and saucy burnt ends in Missouri, long horn beef in Texas, and dry rub ribs in Tennessee. As a guy from Arkansas at one BBQ competition said to us, So youre one of these bar-bee-cue fence-sitters, huh?. And I guess we are.

We were so inspired by that taste of the South that we couldnt go back to our old lives when we returned to the UK. For us, and for so many others, barbecue has become a lifestyle choice. Our recipes may not be 100 per cent faithful to how the BBQ legends smoke a hunk of meat, but they are our take on what those inspirational pit masters taught us (and often the result of our own trial and error!).

The Southern States may be the birthplace of slow and low but at last this style of barbecue has drifted across the Atlantic, smoldering into life in British back gardens and beyond. BBQ is now so popular that thousands of us eat at chains of barbecue restaurants up and down the country and we even hold KCBS (Kansas City Barbeque Society) sanctioned BBQ competitions. US-style barbecue is flooding the UK like a meatwave.

After arriving home in the UK we knew we had to share what we had discovered immediately. In fact, wed decided on the name Hang Fire and had even designed the logo while in Nashville we werent messing around. Our first kitchen takeover was a weekly pop-up in a back-street pub, The Canadian, in Cardiff. We fed 10 people the first week, 40 the following week, and by the next month we were averaging 100 a night. Our dream was coming true but thats not to say it was all a breeze. Within our first couple of months, we dealt with grease fires in the smoker, badly smoked meat, burns up and down our arms and a trip or two to A&E. Sounds like hell? It was but we loved every minute of it.

That was back in 2013. Since then weve sold over 22,000 plates of barbecue in 2 years with just 2 people (2 is the magic number here!). We are on first-name terms with almost all the people who visit us, and many of our customer/friends have been eating our barbecue since The Canadian days. They are truly amazing.

As with any cookbook, our recipes are simply suggestions: this is not the gospel according to Hang Fire, and so you have our blessing to tweak any recipe you like to your own finger-lickin satisfaction. There will be grilling, plenty of smoking, and we may even suggest you cook a dish or two in the oven.

So enjoy our book, build your own smoker, have fun with the recipes and create your unique style of slow and low barbecue.

Like any other obsessive hobby, you can totally geek out and go to town buying all sorts of gadgets, from airflow control systems to high-end thermometers that record both meat, pit and outside air temperatures, and specialised wire racking to cleaning tools. The prices range from affordable to top dollar. All of these gadgets will probably improve the outcome of your barbecue if used correctly, but none of these gadgets will actually teach you the art of slow and low smoking. This, my friends, comes with practice.

But getting back to basics, you can create amazing barbecue with a simple grill as long as it has a lid. Youll also need some essential tools, a great piece of meat, quality wood and charcoal, and a little patience.

	Heat proof gloves
	Chimney starter
	Flamers fire lighters
	Hardwood lumpwood charcoal
	Hardwood logs
	Cooks knife
	Knife sharpener
	Instant-read thermometer
	Flexible boning knife
	Shaker for rubs
	Silicone basting brush
	Bear claws
	Long-handled tongs

As slow and low cooking gains popularity in the UK, you can now easily buy a grill or smoker online or even at some supermarkets. You can pretty much turn any regular grill with a lid into a smoker. But what if you want to customise or make a cooker that fits your style?