The Four Fundamentals of Smoking

The Simplest Way to Cook Better BBQ With Techniques for Traeger®, Weber® and Big Green Egg® Smokers

For many, learning how to cook great BBQ is a journey that spans years and even decades—often including cooking a lot of bad BBQ along the way. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pit master right there in your backyard to coach you through each cook to achieve perfectly tender, juicy meat every single time? Chris Sussman is here to help.

During his own BBQ journey, Chris discovered that four fundamental principles have the most impact on whether the meat comes out tasting succulent, tender and pleasantly smokey, or dry, rubbery and bland. These are 1) building the right fire with the right fuel; 2) controlling humidity to infuse smoke flavor throughout the meat; 3) managing the ideal “BBQ Zone” temperature range on the three most popular brands of smokers and 4) recognizing the visual and touch cues that indicate when the meat is ready to pull from the smoker (hint: it’s about way more than cooking to a certain internal temperature). Understand and properly execute the nuances of each step, and you will be able to get the results you want with each cook. Chris will show you how.

Packed with photographs, tutorials, pro tips, helpful reference charts and a complete illustrated tutorial that walks you step by step through a whole packer brisket, this book has the answers to all of your BBQ questions. Chris also shares 50 simple yet unique recipes (and a full-page photograph for each one) to showcase these principles at work in delicious ways. Featured recipes include Bourbon-Glazed Smoked Baby Back Ribs, North Carolina–Style Pulled Pork, Pork Belly Burnt Ends Sichuan-Style, “No Wrap” Smoked Beef Short Ribs and Habanero and Mango–Glazed Chicken Wings. Bring this book out to your smoker, and enjoy the journey.