Peace, Love, and Barbecue

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Mike Mills and daughter Amy Mills Tunnicliffe have co-authored Peace Love, and Barbecue, a major work on the subject of barbecue, an important topic these days. Anyone presuming to author a book should have proper credentials, and Mike Mills has them in abundance.

Barbecue is in Mike Mills' genes. He hails from the southernmost part of Illinois, an area far closer to Memphis than Chicago, both geographically and culturally. He grew up watching his Daddy smoke meat in the back yard and his Mama produce gallons of the family sauce from her own kitchen. Although a dental lab technician by profession, he, like the rest of his family, was an excellent cook. So it wasn't much of a stretch when he bought a little restaurant as a sideline.

Mills cut his competition-cooking teeth in chili cook-offs, but later organized a barbecue cook-off and, later still, formed his own barbecue cook-off team and "got bit hard by the barbecue bug." In fairly short order, his Apple City Barbecue team won World Champion in ribs and overall Grand World Champion at Memphis in May, the Super Bowl of Swine. Twice.

He has gone on to open restaurants in Las Vegas and New York City.

This series of events, of course, is all nicely told in the book, but the point here is credentials. Yes, Mike Mills’ barbecue credentials are impeccable.

Peace Love, and Barbecue is a lot more than a cookbook. Oh, there are plenty of recipes, most of them gleaned from the dozens of pitmasters, competition judges, food writers and barbecue police the authors called upon during their 100,000-mile odyssey from one barbecue region to another. The resulting interviews with all these folks make the world of barbecue sound like a very nice place, albeit a place where there's a lot of hard work and lively competition.

The book itself is well organized and highly readable. When I review cookbooks, I do not usually read them straight through but, once I got started, I couldn't put Peace Love, and Barbecue down. The narrative is pleasantly conversational, as if the reader is sitting across the table from Mike Mills in a favorite barbecue joint. The photographs, many of them candids taken during cook-offs and events, expertly capture the sometimes light-hearted but always determined spirit that inhabits the competition barbecue circuit.

If you know anything at all about making good barbecue, you realize that the recipe is only part of the picture. The secret isn't always in the sauce. There is meat selection, charcoal and wood selection, ingredient selection and spice preparation, pits and smoker selection – whew! – and we haven't lit the fire yet. Once the pit is fired up, there's temperature, timing, mopping, saucing and a host of other considerations to be made. Peace Love, and Barbecue covers it all with close attention to process and a multitude of tips and pitmaster "secrets".

If you are looking for recipes, however, you will not be disappointed. Mills is careful to distinguish the differences among the various types of regional barbecue in the U.S. There are no less than eight sauce recipes, and that doesn't count the dry rubs, plus a section on developing your own sauce and a dry rub primer. Paul Kirk, known far and wide as the Kansas City Baron of Barbecue, parts with his Kansas City Brisket recipe, which includes the brisket rub, the mustard slather and entire start-to-finish process. Pork, beef, chicken and even fish are given their due.

Side dish recipes abound and desserts are well represented, too.

The Resources section is exceptional in its listing of barbecue films, books, publications, sanctioned cook-offs, organizations, supplies and recommended restaurants and caterers in 21 states.

Peace Love, and Barbecue is a book for the novice and the experienced alike. It will inspire the beginner to get started and the experienced to make better barbecue. It is also highly useful to anyone interested in competition barbecue.

Peace Love, and Barbecue is a must-have book. And I do not advise lending it out. It's a real keeper.

From Peace Love, and Barbecue:

Paul Kirk's Kansas City Brisket
Paul served this succulent brisket to much acclaim at the 2004 Big Apple Barbecue Block Party. Be sure to request Certified Angus Beef brisket; it will make a noticeable difference in the final product. And if you can, start this the day before you're going to smoke it. Best smoked with a combination of oak, hickory, and apple woods on a charcoal base.

1 Certified Angus Beef brisket (9 to 12 pounds)

Brisket Rub

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dried dark brown sugar (see page 64)
1/3 cup seasoned salt (Paul uses Lawry's)
1/3 cup garlic salt
1/4 cup celery salt
1/4 cup onion salt
1/2 cup paprika
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon pepper
2 teaspoons ground sage
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon ground chipotle powder
1/2 teaspoon ground thyme

1/2 cup prepared yellow mustard
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup good beer

Make the slather: Whisk the mustard, vinegar, and beer together until incorporated. Set aside.

Trim the brisket, leaving a 1/8- to 1/4-inch fat cap on the fat side; this is enough fat to keep the brisket moist. Coat the brisket with the mustard slather, using a pastry brush or just your hands, covering it all over with the slather. Season the brisket with the rub. You'll need about 1/2 cup of the rub for the brisket. Store leftover rub in a zippered plastic bag in the freezer if you're not going to use it right away. Marinate overnight if possible.

Smoke at 230 to 250 degrees for about 1-1/2 hours per pound, turning the brisket at each half time. So, if you have to cook for 15 hours (as you would for a 10-pound brisket), turn it at 7-1/2 hours and again after 3-3/4 hours more and again after about another 1 hour and 20 minutes. Cook to an internal temperature of 185 to 190 degrees.

Serves 8 to 10.

Softcover: 312 pages
Publisher: Rodale Books; (may, 2005)

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     Softcover

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