A great tour of the South's best barbecue! One thing I didn't like was the use of bottled sauce in the sauce recipes, but otherwise it's a good read.

This is an excellent book about barbeque and especially pork butts. The author gives you a little history about pork from china, to Rome, then Cuba and finally the South and how it became staple before the civil war and has just increased over the years. There is of course the different methods and types of wood, and of course slow cooking. Everyone has their one way but for the most part the beginning is just going over some of the same, but focus is on the pork butt. He then moves on to some different places in the country that have been around for a while and all of those stories are great. The recipes that the people shared from their places of business really added to this book. The different type of restaurant also gave it a different type of feel. Some of the pit masters are women, and they own or have taken over the family business in order to keep it going. I thought that was great. There also was a Korean Bar B Q that was interesting. When you get past though stories you get into different recipes from the author and some were very interesting and looked very good that I am going to try. Some other not so much, it is just a matter of choice. There are different rubs, and sauces, also salads, desserts, and sides. There was also an interesting bar b q tamale recipe that looked worthy of me giving it a try. The pictures were of good quality, the recipes were written in a way that were easy to follow. Overall a very good book.

I loved this book! It has great stories and great recipes. I enjoyed all the graphics as well!

As someone who lives in The American South, The South's Best Butts is a delight for folks out here who want to live the life of a foodie tourist. The book gives a great description of the different techniques and what makes BBQ out here so great. Fantastic book, with great pictures. It will leave you wanting to run out to the closest BBQ restaurant in town.

The Introduction clarifies that this book is all about the pork butt because “[i]t is humble, affordable, and forgiving….The pork butt is ubiquitous, a veritable cornerstone of BBQ.” The author’s goal with this book is to provide the reader with a peek into the kitchens, smokehouses, and personalities of the BBQ Belt’s most enduring pitmasters, along with some of their tried and true recipes for pork butt and trimmings. After the Introduction, there is an entertaining two-page history of the pig in American barbecue, which begins with the domestication of the pig by the ancient Chinese and ends by discussing the impact of the automobile on barbecue establishments.

After the introductory material, the book is divided into three parts: Fuel Equals Flavor, Smokehouse Stories and Recipes, and All the Trimmings. The first part contained a basic tutorial on the different equipment used to barbecue – open pit, closed pit, smokers – on how to tame the temperature while barbecuing, and on how to use hardwoods to impart flavor. That part ended with recipes with five “mother” sauces: Sweet BBQ Sauce, Vinegar BBQ Sauce, Black BBQ Sauce, White BBQ Sauce, and Mustard BBQ Sauce. The second part contained a dozen different profiles of barbecue joints from across the South, each followed by several recipes. The recipes ranged from their specialty house smoked pork butt and other smoked delicacies to desserts, such as fried banana pudding and sweet potato soufflé. This chapter is truly the heart and soul of the book, which accomplishes the author’s stated objective. The final chapter is purely a recipe chapter, which is further subdivided into Snacks and Starters, Sidekicks, Meaty Mains, Sweet Things, and Condiments. It was difficult to find a connection between the last chapter and the author’s stated goal, as these recipes did not appear to have any connection to any of the profiled Southern smokehouses. Some of them went so far as to lack any connection to Southern barbecue, such as Rosemary Salt & Vinegar Chips, Loaded Baked Potato Dip, and Red Beans and Rice. This last section was so different that I set the book aside for two weeks because I completely lost interest in reading it. Its imminent expiration was the only thing that motivated me to pick the book back up again.

Almost every recipe in the book had a headnote; those that didn’t were the subsidiary recipes that supported a main recipe. In the part of the book about the smokehouse stories, the headnotes were excellent: they tied in nicely with the smokehouse story, giving additional details about how the recipe is prepared by the pitmaster at that particular smokehouse. In the final part of the book that was just recipes, the headnotes were usually bland praise about the recipe. Aside from the subsidiary recipes, each recipe clearly indicates how many servings it makes, the hands-on time, and the total time required for the recipe. The recipe ingredients are provided in American measurements only, in order of use in the recipe. The recipe steps are clearly numbered and clearly written, with temperatures and times. Because the recipes in the smokehouse stories section are from the pitmasters themselves, there is a little more description about the look and feel of things in the recipe steps.

The full color photography in the first and second parts was predominantly of people and places, rather than of the finished recipes. Although the photography was lovely, the selection of photographs gave those parts more of a feel of a travel book than a cookbook. The photographs and accompanying artwork did an excellent job of conveying a sense of the South, and the Southern BBQ joints that the author profiled. However, the photographs of what the finished recipes should look like seemed to be few and far between. The full color photography in the third part was more in line with what I expected from a traditional cookbook. The majority of the styled photographs were clearly labeled as to which recipes were depicted so that it was easy to identify what the finished recipe should look like.

Overall, this book felt awkward. The second part was the clear bright star in the constellation. The first part was a good overview, but it was basically a recap of what I had already read in Steven Raichlen’s Project Smoke last summer. The third part felt extremely out of place. The author’s stated goal had been satisfied by the end of the second part, so the presence of the third part really confused me. It was odd to have such a chatty and opinionated author begin the third part without an introduction. At least have some commentary as to how the recipes that follow tie into the theme of the South’s Best Butts or relates to the goal that the author stated in the Introduction. Not many – if any – of the recipes in the third part seemed to have origin stories in the South or any clear ties to Southern barbecue written into their headnotes. For example, the first four main dishes were two stews, ramen, and pho. Those were followed by four mains featuring BBQ pulled pork: pizza, quesadilla, tortilla pie, and tostadas. And then there was the recipe for BBQ Spaghetti…. It just felt like someone else’s work was appended to a great Southern food travelogue in order to add another 100 pages of bulk to what was already a great book. If I had just stopped reading at the end of Smokehouse Stories and Recipes, I would have been much more satisfied with this book.

I have not prepared any recipes from this cookbook. When I do, I will update this review.

This book goes beyond your typical BBQ book and takes you inside select restaurants to hear stories and tips from experienced pitmasters. Matt Moore showcases one restaurant and pitmaster in each southern state. The restaurants he chose are not necessarily the most popular or well known in each state, but the key element found in each restaurant is pork.

The intro gives a short but interesting history of the pig in American BBQ. Then the book is divided into three parts:
Part 1 - Fuel=Flavor - Discusses different cooking techniques, tips, and fuel types, as well as the different types of meat and sauces from each region.
Part 2 - Smokehouse Stories and Recipes - Moore visits one restaurant in each southern state and sits down with each pitmaster to discuss their BBQ secrets. This section also provides many signature recipes from each restaurant.
Part 3 - All the Trimmings - This last section is more like a traditional cookbook with southern inspired recipes to complement any meal, including 1) Snacks and Starters, 2) Sidekicks, 3) Meaty Mains, and 4) Sweet Things.

This book is filled with mouthwatering full color photos of food and lots of stories, tips, and recipes. I highly recommend it to any BBQ enthusiast. I received this as a free ARC from Time Inc. Books, Oxmoor House, on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book for all tried and true BBQ fanatics. Great history on the whole BBQ experience. I know someone who lives by the TV show "BBQ Pitmaster's" and they will be receiving a copy of this book for their birthday. You get tips from renowned pitmasters, recipes and history as well. I look forward to eating some of the suggestions from this book during my summer getaway. Awesome book!!!! Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the advanced copy in return for my honest opinion.