2022 Book of the Year

By Doug Mosley

Where has the time gone? I know, I say that every year, but seriously it doesn’t seem like 12 months have passed since we announced the Rodney Scott book as the Barbecue News Magazine Barbecue Book of the Year. Nonetheless, here we are in December again and that means it is time to hand out the 16^th annual Barbecue News Magazine Book of the Year award so let’s dive in!

First, let’s take a look at the state of the publishing world for books on barbecue. It was a bit of a lean year, probably a bit of a hangover from the pandemic. I’d had the privilege of taking part in Brian DeCoud’s monthly Zoom meeting of barbecue judges and I’d mentioned to that group how book publishing seems to be in a transition period. The pandemic certainly juggled things, such as those always important PR and media contacts at each publishing house, but technology has also played a role in bringing change. Does that mean every new release is going to be digital from here on out? No, not at all. I still see a strong market in printed books. But things have changed.

Fortunately, we still had some outstanding books come to market, so let’s get to the finalists for this year. They are:

“Ultimate Book of Barbecue Sauces: American Classics and International Favorites” by Sterling Smith ($14.99, Rockridge Press, 116 pp.)

“Easy BBQ: Simple, Flavorful Recipes for Home Grilling” by Glenn Connaughton ($14.99, Rockridge Press, 122 pp.)

“Big Green Egg Basics From a Master Barbecuer” by Ray Shaheen ($21.99, Page Street Publishing, 168 pp.)

“Life of Fire: Mastering the Arts of Pit Cooked Barbecue, the Grill, and the Smokehouse” by Pat Martin and Nick Fauchald ($35, Clarkson Potter, 320 pp.)

Congratulations to these outstanding finalists!

Before we announce this year’s winner, let’s look back at 16 winners we had over the past 15 years (Remember the year we had a tie? Thus the 16 in 15.):

2007 – “Dr. BBQ’s Big-Time Barbecue Road Trip” by Ray Lampe ($16.95, St. Martins Griffin, 272 pp.)

2008 – “The Best Barbecue on Earth: Grilling Across 6 Continents and 26 Countries With 170 Recipes” by Rick Browne ($22.95, Ten Speed Press, 254 pp.)

2009 – “Big Bob Gibson’s BBQ Book: Recipes and Secrets from a Legendary Barbecue Joint” by Chris Lilly ($24.99, Clarkson Potter, 256 pp.)

2010 – “The Kansas City Barbeque Society Cookbook 25^th Anniversary Edition” by Ardie Davis, Paul Kirk and Carolyn Wells ($24.99, Andrews McMeel, 318 pp.)

2011 – “Smokin’ with Myron Mixon: Recipes Made Simple from the Winningest Man in Barbecue” by Mixon and Kelly Alexander ($22, Ballantine, 192 pp.)

2012 – “Wicked Good Barbecue: Fearless Recipes from Two Damn Yankees Who Won the Biggest, Baddest BBQ Competition in the World” by Andy Husbands and Chris Hart ($21.99, Fair Winds Press, 224 pp.)

2013 – “America’s Best BBQ Homestyle: What the Champions Cook in Their Own Backyard” by Ardie Davis and Paul Kirk ($19.99, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 180 pp.)

2014 – “Wiley’s Championship BBQ: Secrets That Old Men Take to the Grave” by Wiley McCrary, Janet McCrary and Amy Paige Condon ($19.99, Gibbs Smith, 216 pp.)

2015 – “Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto” by Aaron Franklin and Jordan Mackay ($29.99, Ten Speed Press, 224 pp.)

2016 – “Smokin’ Hot in the South: New Grilling Recipes from the Winningest Woman in Barbecue” by Melissa Cookston ($22.99, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 192 pp.)

2017 – TIE: “Praise the Lard: Recipes and Revelations from a Legendary Life in Barbecue” by Mike Mills and Amy Mills ($25, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 336 pp.) AND “Pitmaster: Recipes, Techniques & Barbecue Wisdom” by Andy Husbands and Chris Hart ($24.99, Fair Winds Press, 224 pp.)

2018 – “Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue” by Tuffy Stone ($29.99, St. Martin’s Press, 288 pp.)

2019 – “Operation BBQ: 200+ Smokin’ Recipes from Competition Grand Champions by Stan Hays, Tim O’Keefe and Cindi Mitchell ($30, Page Street Publishing, 352 pp.)

2020 – “Award-Winning BBQ Sauces and How to Use Them: The Secret Ingredient to Next-Level Smoking” by Ray Sheehan ($21.99, Page Street Publishing, 176 pp.)

2021 – “Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ: Recipes and Perspectives from the Legendary Pitmaster” by Rodney Scott and Lolis Eric Elie ($29.99, Clarkson Potter, 224 pp.)

If you want to have a pretty impressive barbecue books bookshelf, you’ll look really good with those books alone.

Now for this year’s winner. This book had me from the first page to the last. It came from a restaurateur and I’m already looking forward to making a visit there when I go to Nashville on a business trip next spring. Yep-, the winner is “Life of Fire: Mastering the Arts of Pit Cooked Barbecue, the Grill, and the Smokehouse” by Pat Martin and Nick Fauchald. Congratulations to the authors and their publisher, Clarkson Potter.

So that’s a wrap for 2022. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and look forward to what 2023 brings us.