![]() The book opens with a brief autobiographical chapter, and it's a doozy-tales of Bludso's larger-than-life "granny" (actually his great-aunt) Willie Mae Fields, his childhood in Watts with a police officer father and militant Black Panther-supporting mother, his transition to catering after a brief career as a corrections officer (he got fired), and setting the record straight on what it was really like to live in Compton and operate a barbecue stand there. ![]() Bludso went on to found Bludso's BBQ in Compton, which he later moved to Hollywood and expanded with outposts in the LA soccer stadium and LAX airport as well as down under in the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. As the cover design suggests, it's a story with one foot in Los Angeles and another firmly in Texas.īludso was born and raised in Compton but spent his summers in Corsicana, Texas, cooking at Little Rascals, his granny's unlicensed (and highly illegal) barbecue stand. Let's start with Bludso’s BBQ Cookbook: A Family Affair in Smoke and Soul (Ten Speed Press) from restaurateur and media personality Kevin Bludso. Those recipes are usually grouped thematically in chapters-sauces and rubs up front, desserts at the ends-and each is invariably presented on a two-page spread with full color photo on one side and instructions on the other.īut within that basic structure there's still plenty of room for individual variance, and the two cookbooks released today couldn't be more different in execution. ![]() They typically open with a chapter of personal memoir ("my barbecue journey"), follow that with a primer on basic barbecue tools and techniques, then move on to the recipes. Both of them, incidentally, are from African American restaurateurs-a notable fact considering that, until the publication of Rodney Scott's World of BBQ last year, there had never been a barbecue cookbook published by a Black pitmaster.īoth of these new arrivals hew closely to the now-standardized conventions of the barbecue restaurateur cookbook, for which a rather rigid template has been established. Today happens to be the official publication date of not one but two cookbooks from California pitmasters. The spring barbecue book season rolls on, and here in April the West Coast is starting to get its due. Spring is also the season for new barbecue cookbooks, and I've got a review of two of them this issue. Spring has arrived! Here in Charleston, the azaleas are in bloom, a fine yellow layer of pollen coats every outdoor surface, and n ew barbecue festivals are popping up like daisies. April 12, 2022: Even more spring barbecue books, new innovations in indoor smoking, and more.
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