Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto [A Cookbook]

Why this book is awesome is he doesn't try to overcomplicate the process or recipes and the photos are great. You also get a feel for what BBQ cooking is all about.Even if you only read a couple recipes you'll walk away feeling like a brisket and sides is something you can make.

This cookbook was recommended to me by a coworker of mine, who described it as his favorite cookbook. He said that he loves the Author, as well. I bought it for my son-n-law’s Birthday. He has really gotten interested in different meat smoking techniques, and is always looking for recipes and ideas on ways to improve. He was very happy with this cookbook!

It's a great read and tool for any BBQ lover.

As described

Very informative and some interesting recipes

Great book on bbq brisket; it covers the art of cooking brisket well Surprisingly no recipes on pull pork.

If you love Texas bbq—if you love bbq at all!—this is a must have.Franklin keeps it simple for beginners. This book answers every question you might have in an attainable way. My husband loved smoking meats and now thanks to Aaron Franklin he has made some of the best bbq we’ve ever had!!

I bought Aaron Franklin’s manifesto on smoking meat on impulse when the add popped up, didn’t even read the ad or description, just bought it. Glad I did.This is not a “how to” book, although, Aaron does tell you how to do it.This is not a recipe book, but there are recipes.This is a comprehensive study of the philosophy of smoking brisket!The author doesn’t tell you how to build a fire, he explains why you build the fire. He doesn’t say this is how to season a brisket, he explains why you should or should not use seasoning.The list goes on… let me just say, if you have or want a backyard smoker and want to improve your BBQ game, this is the book for you!

I found the book very entertaining to read, but very much limited in the "how-to" department. The background on Mr. Franklin was really the entertaining part and it in many ways explained how and why he chooses to BBQ the way he does. It is quite apparent that he is an artist and has established brisket as his palette, a stick-burner as his brush, and post oak as his paint. And like many great masters, his choices reflect his passion for his art. But like many artists, their choices leave us more pragmatic kind of guys stymied.As far teaching how to make great BBQ, his method, while undoubtedly resulting in great food, is probably far too difficult and expensive for the average backyard BBQ. For instance, he only speaks about stick-burners and goes to great lengths to say how difficult it is to make great BBQ on a cheap offset smoker; you know, the one that most people are gonna have. I roger that a 5000#, duel axle offset with a firebox bigger than my first house can certainly provide better heat stability than my 20 year old Brinkman, but regular Joes like myself will never own such a rig. He then spends a lot of time describing how much better UDSA Prime brisket is than the stuff you can find in a store. Again, most of us do not have the resources to purchase a $130 piece of brisket. Makes me wonder what a smoked beef tenderloin from Sam's or Costco would taste like since it is cheaper than one of those briskets. There seemed to be some inconsistencies in when to wrap a brisket. In one section it says don't pull off the brisket to wrap during the stall and that allowing it to continue to cook through the stall will result in dry meat, yet in another I got the distinct impression he wraps at the end of the stall? I would also have to guess he has made a conscience decision not to use any other form of smoker from the old R2D2, to pellet grill, to vertical, etc. so there will be no information in the book about that. On the other hand, I certainly agree with his assessment of wood choices (I'm an old West-Texas kind of guy, so absolutely love the biting taste of mesquite but find my neighbors differing in their opinion) and he spend enough time on this to really understand what standard of smoke he is looking for.So to sum this up, the book is a good biography about a successful BBQ artist who has done very well in life through an intense work ethic, laser-focused attention to his craft and the most understanding wife I have ever heard of. I bet he would be a lot of fun to hang out with, eating good chow and alternating shots of hot espresso and cold beer. If you are purchasing the book to learn more about making great BBQ on your new Pellet/Propane/Electric/Kettle/Egg smoker for typical backyard affairs, you will likely be disappointed.As FYI, I grew up on BBQ from around Lubbock Texas, spent 20 years in the Navy and live in North Florida now. My taste in BBQ is anchored to my childhood where the wood was mesquite, the smoke flavor was prolific and the meat was raised at home. Since your background is different, opinions will vary :)

Making great BBQ comes only as a result of a slow, relaxed approach, a Zen style state of mind, good wood, good meat, a lot of hours in the smoke, and drinking beer. There is no other method that works, every one of those items is required. Yes you have to drink beer, no...wine doesn't work, and hard liquor will be a disaster. It isn't that smoking a great brisket has a super-secret, hell, we've been making great BBQ in our backyards forever here in Texas. Most of us that have worked with our hands for a living at some point in our lives understand the process, have been doing it naturally and doing it without conscious thought, and enjoying that succulent-just-perfect-brisket that makes people go suddenly silent as they eat with an introspective intensity that would make a brain surgeon at work seem flighty.What this book does is explain all this in detail and keeps your interest as it does. It explains what good wood is, what good smoke looks like, how that smoke acts on the meat, what good meat is, and how it takes the long slow (low and slow) steady approach to accomplish the goal. It also provides a very interesting personal history of the man behind the book, worth reading all by itself as a rags to riches success story - and his success is from a work ethic that few would be able to maintain for more than a month, yet Franklin does it every day, year after year after year. When you see the number of hours he puts in each week you'll shake your head in wonder that any man can keep that up.Many of the reviews say there is no magic instruction that if you follow you'll get it right - but there is, it's not just one thing though, it is all of the things. Follow those things and you'll end up a pit master yourself. What he does do is give you the mental tools to handle the multitude of variables that life can throw at you while making that brisket - and so it seems like kind of vague instructions to some. But they aren't vague at all. They are specific, detailed, thorough, logically sequenced, systematic, and even passionate.This is a fun read, and an instructive one.

What other book makes you a better backyard BBQ enthusiast and also makes you a better parent?While this book has recipes and some step-by-step instructions for making fantastic meat (and vegetables too), it is so much more than just a cookbook. It abounds with stories about a boy with a dream, some luck of the "NeverEnding Story" kind to score & restore a magic cooker, and healthy portions of moral values like perseverance, friendship, responsible deforestation, and saving for large purchases. There are down to Earth descriptions of the meat cooking process from selection to slicing. There is even a recurring Easter Egg sprinkled throughout the book's photos. No, it isn't dongs. It is the multiple instances of bare hands holding meats just pages away from Aaron extolling his firm belief in the virtues of sanitary cooking or how he "always" uses gloves when handling meat. Some fantastic conversations occurred between my 4-year old and me, especially when he asked why that man wasn't wearing any gloves if gloves should always be worn when handling meats (see pages 158 and 185-187). This fantastic bonus means that you can use this book to teach your kids crucial concepts like the distasteful compromises adults sometimes make like choosing between the artistic values (presumably) needed to sell books and the importance of remaining true to the text or the hypocrisy of that last statement as there are photos in the book with gloved hands holding meat. You could talk about standing up to bullies and how during the first photo-shoot the mean photographer wouldn't let poor Aaron wear gloves even though gloves are essential to the sanitary preparation of meat. One could go with the with the story that the photographer wasn't truly mean. He just didn't know the importance of gloves given that he was from a generation that hadn't discovered germs yet. Even though Aaron had easy access to a knife vs. the photographer's bludgeoning camera & disorienting strobe, Aaron choose to use rationale arguments to come to a non-violent solution that let good Aaron wear gloves in all of the book's future, photography sessions that involved the direct handling of meat unless it was clearly intended to show a patron eating the food that someone else cooked for him (presumably) using gloves throughout the cooking process.This book should be required reading in all college philosophy departments.

Absolutely fantastic book. I bought 1 for myself...and then bought 1 for my Dad and one for my Father in Law...Probably get one for my Stepdad Soon as well. I laughed when I read the 1 star reviews. This is NOT a cookbook. This book is about how Aaron Franklin ascended to his position as being one of the best BBQ Cooks in the Nation. He talks about what he did, why he did it, and what he learned along the way. He talks about his victories and defeats and how he gained just a little bit of knowledge during each cook. What he could use he kept, what didn't work, he noted it, and tossed it aside. This is a great book on the science and theory of what is actually happening when you smoke something. The different kinds of wood that is used, the kind of smoker he likes, what temperature he prefers (275'), what he spritz's his meats with while they cook, when to pull the meat off, when to wrap it, what to wrap it with, how and why to rest it..etc. etc...I have been grilling for 20+ years, and been smoking meat for about 10, and this book really really taught me a lot of things, and cleared up some things that I have noticed, but hadn't really figured it out. He explains how to smoke meat in very simple terms. It IS simple to smoke meat...but you can totally screw it up if you don't do it right. A perfect example that he talks about, and I did this when I first started, but luckily figured it out years ago is the fact that rookies see that Beef is done at 160-165 degrees and they think, welp, its done, might as well pull it off. They pull it off and let it sit, and when they slice into it, its tough or if its pork, it doesn't pull or shred at all, and none of the fat has rendered and they think "What happened?? Well what happened is that yes, the meat reached a safe temp to eat, but not the OPTIMAL temp for BBQ. You want the internal temp at 203 degrees instead so the fat can liquefy and give the meat its juiciness and tenderness.That is just one example. He lays it all out there for you, and doesn't hold anything back. This is a simple process, but the devil is in those details, and he is adamant about them. There are a few recipes in the book, but this isn't a cook book per se. I did like the recipes on the BBQ sauces though and Ive made them all. Aaron keeps it straightforward and simple. If you don't learn anything from this book then you aren't paying attention. I read a 1 star review and the guy goes, "Yeah, I learned to use salt and pepper and post oak....lame"If you have that sort of mentality, then this book is definitely not for you, but if you want to reach in to what BBQ is, and how it is done right, and then you actually DO what he talks about, you will never screw up a piece of meat again.

I felt so compelled to write this review after reading some of the negative reviews. I think the chief complaint is the lack of recipes in this book or that Aaron left out some of his “secrets.” While the latter may be true, he’s very clear that it’s mostly salt and pepper. It’s also all about meat selection according to him. I truly believe this is a very integral part. I doubt many of us have the meat suppliers he has.Now on to the reason I bought this book. A friend of mine helped me build my first side-by-side wood smoker. I am new to this and had no clue on how to move forward with cooking a brisket. This book has great reviews and I’ve heard a lot about his BBQ place. I don’t live in Texas, New Mexico to be exact, but I do have family in Austin. I hope to try that some day, but I really don’t think I’ll wait 3 hours of more. What this book gives me is a very detailed step-by-step process in getting started. I have cooked 3 briskets following his instructions.My first attempt was edible, which is about all I can say. It wasn’t that great at all. I figured out that I cooked it about an hour longer than I should have before wrapping it. The bark had formed about as well as it was going to. It was hard to judge, because the pepper I used was too course. The book calls for 16 MEH pepper. I had no idea what that was. I also used hickory to cook this first one. One day at Costco I found a pepper that was slightly less course, but not fine. I’m pretty sure its 16. I used that pepper in my rub (salt/pepper) on my second brisket. I also used oak like he mentions for smoking briskets. Following his instructions, my second brisket was PERFECT. I was very impressed that I could cook something that great. My wife loved it as well. I only cooked it for me and her, as I wanted to get this somewhat perfected before inviting family and friends. Dinner and leftovers for a week were amazing. My third and most recent brisket I cooked for New Years. I did all of the same stuff, invited family and friends over, and all but 5 pieces of the brisket was left. My meat selection was just “select.” I didn’t want to spend too much money in case I messed it up. My next brisket will definitely be a prime grade.I definitely rate this book 5 stars, because without it I would not be anywhere near where I am today in cooking briskets. As for making dry rubs for your brisket, there are plenty other books on the market to help you accomplish that. This is definitely a book worth buying if you are starting out like I am.

I really wanted to like this book, and ordered it as soon as I saw it. Unfortunately, it's a bit... enigmatic?... and I'm shocked by the huge number of five star reviews -- must be a touch of the cult of personality around him.I'm honestly not sure who the target audience is. If you are a capable hardwood smoker interested in Mr. Franklin's technique, there's nothing new here. If you're a casual backyard griller/charcoal-smoker, little of what he discusses applies. If you want to replicate his product and you're ready to buy a side-fire smoker and cook with properly aged wood, this will save you *years* of learning by trial and error... but how many people like that are out there just looking for a book to take hold of their hand? Besides, there are plenty of great websites and forums filled with live, helpful human beings ready to give specific guidance (in fact, in his sources, he cites one that probably should be given credit for the entire contents of the book, not mentioned only as a resource). More than many cookbooks and food books, this thing could be a two star or a five star, from reader to reader.First, understand that it's an appropriately titled book: It is most definitely a rambling, opinionated, often repetitive manifesto, *not* a cookbook -- there are, maybe, 10-15 recipes in the thing, and really only 2-4 important ones. That doesn't make it a bad _book_, of course, just know what you're getting. It is a nice, well produced book, but in the "country-hipster matte" style instead of "high end glossy." (For that matter, if you are particularly sensitive to Treacly, Self Righteous Hipster Try Too Hard-ism, you may want to move along. Quickly.)Second, understand that Mr. Franklin *only* covers stick-burning smokers. The book only briefly mentions, then swiftly dismisses, everything else (however it is generous about the potential of _cheap_ stick burning smokers from your local hardware store... gotta give him that, since most hard-core smokers deride the things mercilessly). That's fine, but, chances are that if you know what a stick burning smoker is, there's not a whole lot in here for you. If, on the other hand, you're new to smoking and want to jump into the deep end of long, slow cooks with dried hardwoods in side-smoker-box cookers, buy this book before you buy any other cooking equipment! However, if you're already cranking out good smoked meat (or even, really, if you've already read one of the many other books on the method), and you're not interested in a lengthy telling of his origin story (however true it is as represented) and the highly opinionated and not always rational thoughts of one particular famous Texas BBQ chef, it's really kinda meh. It's not well written (the best writing is probably the co-author's introduction) and there's nothing new being said.In fact, the book could have been a pamphlet: Truly, the secret to Mr. Franklin's high-quality product is... high quality ingredients. He insists on Prime or better local, grain-fed beef and heritage pork, which he then trims brutally, keeping only the core best part of the brisket. No wonder Frankli BBQ is the best joint in Texas: Everyone else in the area must be using subpar grades believing the method masked their inferiority.Beyond that, he is personal and revealing (but, somehow, the writing lacks any charm), and shares his opinions on spices (none beyond salt and pepper, _maybe_ a bit more if cooking at home), tools (knives named by make and model, for example... is that important to you?), beer (local Texas microbrew lovefest and anti West Coast IPA), and technique (275* for as long as it takes, using a wrap/crutch after the stall). Perhaps the most helpful bits were step by step photos of trimming, wrapping, and his preferred method of slicing, and a good description of how to judge when a brisket is done by feel. But... if ya' got that down, or are just happy with your current end results... there's just a whole lot of not much here.Finally, to mention one specific tangent, I found it interesting that he (intentionally?) fueled the controversy around the *actual* merits of "low and slow," with his anecdote of a terrible night of smoking included at the beginning of a chapter in an attempt to give a bit of "anyone can have a bad night, don't give up" support: Condensing his pages of description of a bad night with a late start and mixed fuel and bad weather and everything else... essentially he cooked his meat at a much higher temperature than normal, for a much shorter period of time -- and it was fine. Ladies and Gents, there ya' go: Start with REALLY good meat, then pull it at around 205* but go by feel once you have experience, then let it come down to 140-150* before slicing. Et voila, _really_ good result. Everything else is superstition.

Franklin Barbecue by Aaron Franklin and Jordan MackayI thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. If you want a barbecue cookbook that has lots of unique, creative recipes, this is not your book. This book is for people who enjoy smoking and eating meat and who enjoy reading about the experiences of someone who learned how to smoke meat and soon opened an extremely popular restaurant. There are four barbecue recipes, and they don’t start until page 147. The recipes are for brisket, pork spare ribs, beef (plate) short ribs, and turkey breast. At page 174, he’s on to other topics. There are also recipes for four sauces and three sides. He winds up with recommendations for beer to drink with your barbecue.Chapter One is Aaron’s life story – how he learned how to build and adapt things, including barbecue smokers, how he bought used equipment and started his restaurant on a shoestring budget. And he reviews some of the great BBQ restaurants in Central Texas.Chapter Two gives a brief description of several types of smokers – the original pits, the offset smokers, and the upright drum smoker. He does not mention the Weber Smokey Mountain or any similar vertical types that have a fire chamber in the bottom, a water pan above that, and food grates above that. I suppose I could consider these to be variations of the upright drum smoker. All of Aaron’s smokers are offset. He started on a very cheap, flimsy New Braunfels Hondo. After that all of his smokers were offsets homemade from 500 gallon or 1000 gallon propane tanks. He briefly mentions the Big Green Egg and similar kamado style cookers. Not surprisingly, his cookers have names – Number One, Number Two, Muchacho, Rusty Shackleford, MC5, Nikki Six, and Bethesda. Then he tells quite a bit about how to build your own offset smoker – how to procure a used 1000 gallon propane tank, add doors, grates, legs, chimney, and fire chamber, including the necessary welding and cutting equipment. Not many readers of this book are going to take this on, I’ll bet. The most useful information here is his recommendation for a thermometer – the Tel-Tru Barbecue Thermometer BQ300. (p 62)Chapter Three is Wood. All of Aaron’s smokers are made to burn wood, not charcoal. He likes all kinds of hardwoods but mostly uses post oak, because he likes it and it is plentiful around Austin. He started out shopping for wood in Craig’s List, and found that a lot of sellers were dishonest. They would stack wood in such a way to make to look like a cord when it was much less. Then he found a seller who was honest and dependable and stayed with him. There is a glut of oak available in central Texas because the drought is causing trees to die. It is best to cut down a live tree, cut and slit it into smaller pieces, and let it dry for 6-12 months, until it is about 20% water. But sometimes you go with trees that died from drought. Mesquite is pretty strong. Hickory is strong, but not as strong as mesquite. Fruit tree wood is milder. Wood should be dried for a few months, or it will be too green, it will have too much water in it, and won’t burn well. Green wood is heavier and you can feel that it is heavier.Chapter Four is Fire + Smoke – how to start the fire and keep it going with good smoke. Aaron lights a few charcoal briquettes in a chimney starter, puts them in the fire chamber, and puts some wood on top of them, and they light. He only uses wood for cooking. You don’t get smoke from charcoal, gas, or electricity. You need wood for smoke. Most other books say to use charcoal plus a few chunks of wood to get the smoke. I do that with my Weber Smokey Mountain and I think it works fine. Smoke contains solids, liquids, and gases. The gases are invisible, but they do the most to penetrate into the meat and give it flavor.Chapter Five is Meat. Aaron always gets Angus, grade prime, which is ethically raised, with no growth hormones or antibiotics, not frozen and never been frozen. Freezing breaks down fibers and makes the meat floppy and mushy. The lesser grades, in order, are choice and select, and they have less marbling fat. Aaron keeps his briskets 14 to 21 days after the packing date before he cooks them. Dry aging means hanging it or putting it on a rack to dry. Wet aging is done in a vacuum-sealed package. You don’t want dry aged for barbecue. Aaron doesn’t want a lot of rock-hard fat on the outside of the brisket – it is a sign of growth hormones and antibiotics. Yellowish, not white, fat indicates grass-fed beef. There are three cuts of beef ribs: chuck, rib, and plate. Ribs 1-5 are chuck, 6-12 are rib. He says “We go for the plate ribs 6, 7, 8 – right in the middle of the rib cage, which have the longest, widest, meatiest bones, like brontosaurus ribs.” Aaron really doesn’t like pork ribs that have been “enhanced” – injected with water and salt. He likes pork from a hybrid heritage breed – a mix of Chester White and Duroc.Six is the cook. T...

This is now my favorite bbq book and I have a large collection. I had this book on order for several months. First off, I am a serious bbq smoker and griller. It is one of my hobbies and we cook just about all meat meals outside on either our Weber Summit grill or our Pitts & Spitts off-set wood burning smoker pit. I have and have read quiet a few books on bbqing and have learned a lot from reading them. I was not prepared for Aaron Franklin's book to give away so many of his "secrets".If you are looking for a book of recipes, it is not for you. This book tells Aaron's journey from his first bbq pit that would only hold one or two briskets, to where he is now, captain of 6 huge wood burning pits that all burn at the same time. He reflects that on a good day, his restaurant crew will smoke 2,000 pounds of meat. That's a lot of meat.His story takes you from his love of music to his love of smoking great BBQ. His story is compelling and interesting and when he starts talking about firewood, how to place it in your pit, how to buy it and not get taken, how to adjust the vents for the best air flowand much, much more. Also, what kind of seasoning, how much to season, how to season correctly, why he uses the seasoning that he uses and much, much more.You will learn that Franklin's BBQ is open 6 days a week. Arron puts in close to 20 hours a day, every day they are open. He moved from a food trailer into a building where a failed BBQ joint was. Now, if you want to buy some of this delicious BBQ brisket, ribs or turkey, you will most likely have to wait in line for up to 3 hours to be served. They stay open until they run out of meat and then they close. They are most gracious and hand out samples and sometime even cold beer to those in line.Visiting Franklin's and trying their famous brisket is high on my bucket list. I will tell you that I used some of the seasoning that they use on a prime top sirloin and it was delicious. Buy this book and take the time to stand in line for the real thing. You won't regret it.

This was a great book. Just a word to the wise, if you're buying this book thinking there are a lot of great recipes inside, look elsewhere, this is a book on how to smoke meat the TEXAS way, which means super simple. You will not find anything about brown sugar, sweet bbq sauce, mopping, or anything else like that. Franklin shows you how to make the meat be the star of the show. This book is great for beginners and people brand new to smoking meat, as for myself I have been smoking meat for a couple of years now and I found the information in this book to be very helpful, even though some of it I had already picked up. My favorite chapters were on the meat, or how to pick meat, the different cuts, what is good meat what to avoid that was very helpful, the cook and smoke chapter were also very helpful, Franklin delves into the science of smoke and what good smoke and bad smoke is. He also addressees some very common problems that might arise during the cook and how to fix or avoid it, he also stresses that it takes a lot of trial and error. On the flipside the chapters I did not care for much were the ones on the types of smoker and the wood chapter, very good chapters for the uninitiated, but we those of us who know a thing or two are initiated aren't we? All in all very good book if you are thinking about how to go about smoking a brisket or some spareribs when you have never touched a smoker in your life, this is the go to book, or if you aren't a stranger to smoking meats and want a few tips from the man himself, I would also suggest this book. If, however you are looking for some type of golden ticket top secret recipes or way to smoke meat, look somewhere else, Franklin prides himself on being super simple (salt and pepper mostly), and letting the meat speak for itself, this is also not a book geared toward competition bbqing, Franklin does not really endorse the use of fruit woods or fancy shmancy stuff like that. If you wanna make TEXAS BBQ at home that tastes fantastic and is super simple to make pick this gem up.