Best Smoker Cookbook-Recipe Book for Smoking Meat

You have a smoker but you do not know all of its uses, then surely you can not get maximum advantage from it. Best smoker cookbook is extremely helpful in learning plenty of recipes. That’s how one easily became a Masterchef and can enjoy different delicious recipes.

Apart from a number of amazing dishes, the Best smoker book guides about maintaining and controlling the smoker. It helps in selecting the right wood according to the cooking material. Additionally, cookbooks provide complete details of roasting, barbecuing, and cooking different chickens and meats.

If you want to make your outdoor party special with untapped cuisines then you must have the Best smoking cookbook. One can surprise his guests and present himself as Masterchef in front of guests. 

So, for creative chefs who always want to try and explore something new, cookbooks are their best friends. Such kinds of chefs not only use given recipes but can create new ones by mixing these, or by replacing some ingredients.

Image Product Details   Price
backpac Smokin’ with Myron Mixon: Recipes Made Simple Publisher
Ballantine Books; Original edition (May 10, 2011)

Dimensions
 7.4 x 0.5 x 9.2 inches inches

Item weight
1.25 pounds
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backpac Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling Hardcover – Illustrated Publisher
Harvest; Illustrated edition (May 10, 2016)

Dimensions
8.2 x 1.3 x 10.1 inches

Item weight
 
2.84 pounds
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backpac Project Smoke (Steven Raichlen Barbecue Bible Cookbooks) Paperback Publisher
Workman Publishing Company (May 10, 2016)

Dimensions
7.9 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches

Item weight
1.85 pounds
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backpac The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook Publisher ‏
Ulysses Press (May 17, 2016)

Dimensions 
7.6 x 0.7 x 9.4 inches

Item weight
 
1.37 pounds
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backpac Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto [A Cookbook] Hardcover Publisher
Ten Speed Press; Illustrated edition (April 7, 2015)

Dimensions 
 8.28 x 1.04 x 10.28 inches

Item weight
2.4 pounds
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backpac The Complete Electric Smoker Cookbook Publisher
Rockridge Press (September 26, 2017)

Dimensions 
7.5 x 0.5 x 9.1 inches

Item weight
‎ 
1.1 pounds
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backpac Michael Symon’s Playing with Fire: BBQ and More from the Grill Publisher
Clarkson Potter; Illustrated edition (April 3, 2018)

Dimensions 
7.7 x 1 x 9.8 inches

Item weight
2 pounds
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The smoker is not truly useful without having an attractive cookbook. After reading and thoroughly analyzing dozens of books, we enlist some extraordinary books here. While going through this review, you can easily find the perfect one for your smoker.

1-Smokin’ with Myron Mixon: Recipes Made Simple, from the Winningest Man in Barbecue

Some names are simply brands in themselves, Myron Mixon is one of them. Starting in childhood under his father’s supervision, he became a champion. After spending his whole life exploring some stunning recipes Myron wrote this masterpiece.

best smoker cookbook

Though, there are plenty of smoking cookbooks available in the market no one can beat it just like Mixon. Here, the selection of recipes is amazing. Myron includes more than 75 recipes in this unique book. Most importantly, almost all these dishes are award-winning in different competitions.

Along with the top class and flavorful, Myron’s barbecues are very easy to understand. His simple teaching method with complete photos of each step makes you a Masterchef within no time. This cookbook is available in three formats kindle, paperback, and spiral-bound.

Apart from dozens of unique recipes, he shares his cooking experiences and tips as well. Additionally, a proper guide about wood and fuel selection makes this book crazier. The winningest man in barbecue whose recipes won more awards than any other focuses on always making the cooking simple rather than overthinking.

Whether you are new or old to smoking, this guide not only improves your older recipes but also makes you creative. You can find the best ways to cook ribs, brisket, chicken, and meat. Moreover, it makes barbecuing, smoking, roasting, and grilling very simple. That’s why this best smoker recipe book is highly recommended.

Pros

  • More than 75 award-winning recipes
  • Reasonable Price
  • Covers everything from basic to advance
  • Photos make it easy to understand recipes

Cons

  • Book paper and presentation is not good

2-Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling

As a smoker, it’s essential to know about the science behind smoking. No one can beat this best smoker cookbook in the scientific knowledge of barbecuing and smoking. Prof. Greg Blonder, Boston University food scientist nicely explains the actual science behind the interaction of food, fire, heat, and smoke.

Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling

No doubt, it’s a complete guide of 400 pages that cover everything related to smoking and grilling. It describes grilling equipment, accessories, and also explains the various concepts and methods of barbecuing.

Apart from that, one can get more than 100 stunning recipes including barbecue sauces, delicious burgers, stunning ribs, mouthwatering steaks, and various chicken dishes. Multiple recipes with a scientific guide about each step make this book is one of the best meat smoking books.

Along with providing a strong scientific explanation about multiple smoking techniques. Blonder also explodes some myths that are mostly accepted. Myths like it’s essential to bring the meat to room temperature prior to cooking. One should soak the wood before using it.

Except that, this knowledgeable guide gives the answer to all those questions that can arise in the mind of anyone. As it told, why dry brining is more useful than wet? Why rubs should be salt-free? How to avoid fish sticking? 

And it also explains some other queries as well. The author applies his research to all his recipes and then collects tested ones in this cookbook. So, this book is surely the one you should have as a pitmaster. You can find it on hardcover or on an audio cd.

Pros

  • Gives a great scientific explanation
  • Inclusion of more than 100 unique recipes
  • Cover every aspect of smoking and grilling
  • Fully-colored photos 
  • Shatter some myths

Cons

  • May find trouble in recipe selection

3-Project Smoke (Steven Raichlen Barbecue Bible Cookbooks)

If you are a smoke lover, then you already listen about Steven Raichlen. As per USA Today, where there’s smoke, there’s a Steven Raichlen. So, we can say smoking is incomplete without Steven. It doesn’t matter whether you are an experienced pitmaster or a new one.

best meat smoking books

Project smoke is really a masterpiece and equally important for all smokers. This best smoker book guides about everything from basic to advance. It provides all the information regarding the smoker selection. After helping in choosing the right one, it guides about the comprehensive use of smokers.

Asides from smoker selection, It tells about the usage of various tools, smoking woods, and fuels. An attractive book title surely boosts up the mood of the cook. It is available in three formats hardcover, paperback, and spiral-bound.

Most importantly, this best smoking cookbook covers almost every smoking technique like hot smoking, cold smoking, rotisserie smoking. Interestingly, Steven also includes unique tea smoking as well.

More than 100 recipes that contain ribs, briskets, salmon, turkey, desserts, cocktails, etc. So, this guide is absolutely superb covering everything that one’s needs to become a smoke artist.

Moreover, the explanation of recipes and other things by using fully-colored photos make this cookbook easier and more colorful. As a food lover, you surely want to have this comprehensive book in your kitchen.

Pros

  • Versatility, cover almost everything about smoking
  • Above 100 amazing recipes
  • Detailed information about tools, woods, and fuels
  • Available in multiple formats

Cons

  • Plenty of product advertisements

4-The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook

It’s not simple to give a real wood-smoked flavor to the meat. But if you are successful to achieve that, then it’s simply superb. The wood pellet smoker written by Peter Jautaikis is the right one for smoky-wood flavor.

The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook

After a lot of practical experience, Peter Jautaikis designed this masterpiece that covers all tricks and tips to explain the use of wood pellets. He includes everything whether you are looking for meats or seafood, veggies, or baked food.

This best smoker cookbook provides above 100 recipes of beef, chicken, lambs, duck, turkeys, and others. Furthermore, step by step explanation of everything with photos surely appetite you.

Most importantly, Peter’s traveling experience also comes into this guide to make it unique. He brings various dishes in his book from all around the world. That’s why it sounds perfect for enthusiastic chefs. This book is available in both Kindle and hardcover form.

Having multiple dishes like Cajun Spatchcock Chicken, Texas-Style Brisket, Cured Turkey Drumsticks at a single place surely amuse the cook. So, this guide is absolutely superb having recipes and tips as well. Interestingly, all the tips and tricks are based on practical experience. Consequently, this is the best recipe book for smoking meat.

Pros

  • Recipes give real smoky wood flavor
  • More than 100 superb recipes
  • Full of practical knowledge
  • Photos make it more simple

Cons

  • Only good for wood pellet smoking

5-Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto 

Started a small barbecue business in Texas, became a New York Times bestseller. The journey of multiple award-winning Aaron Franklin is just outstanding. This best smoking cookbook is actually the reflection of his amazing knowledge about wood, fire, smoking, and barbecuing.

recipe book for smoking meat

Though, A Meat Smoking Manifesto is not full of many recipes. However, Franklin discusses the things to do and don’t do while smoking. Moreover, he also includes a lot of practical knowledge based on his personal experience.

Franklin and his co-author design this perfectly for the backyard pitmaster. Actually, this book is a real diamond behind the popularity of Franklin. As a professional, he focuses on the quality of the content rather than covering too many recipes. Most importantly, the division of chapters is perfect that making it simple for the readers. The chapters belong to building an own smoker, finding the right wood, creating fires, cooking mind-blowing, etc.

So, we can say this book is almost giving everything that needs for delicious smoking. Along with a free audiobook, this book is available in kindle, hardcover, and spiral-bound as well. Apart from too many dishes, this book is just exquisite for chefs.

Pros

  • Covering everything from wood to smoke
  • Includes Franklin’s personal experience and practical knowledge
  • Professional and award-winning author
  • Simple and easy to follow

Cons

  • Limited recipes available

6-The Complete Electric Smoker Cookbook

If you have an electric smoker or looking for an electric smoker. Then this cookbook is absolutely superb that gives you an idea of above 100 recipes. As its name suggests, this is a comprehensive guide covering everything about electric smoking.

The Complete Electric Smoker Cookbook

Whether you are just coming into the smoking world or experiencing pitmaster. This best smoker cookbook shares almost every single thing from electric smoker selection to delicious dishes. So, as a beginner one surely have this stunning cookbook.

Moreover, how the control works, cooking techniques, tips, and new ideas make this best smoker recipe book more interesting. Apart from free audiobook and kindle, this is also available in hardcover, paperback, and spiral-bound.

Additionally, there are smoking charts and colorful photos to describe the cooking techniques and recipes. In fact, this cookbook is more simple, easy to follow, and attractive.

Bill west tries to cover multiple unique and simple recipes in his book that don’t require many ingredients. He adds the recipes of chicken, meat, fish, and even vegetables and desserts as well.

Looking at all the aspects, we can say this is one of the best electric smoking cookbooks. That’s why we pick this book on our list to bring more flavor.

Pros

  • Diamond for an electric smoker
  • Cover everything from basic to advance
  • Easy to follow because of charts and photos
  • Perfect for beginners

Cons

  • Only good for electric smokers

7-Michael Symon’s Playing with Fire: BBQ and More from the Grill, Smoker, and Fireplace

Playing with fire will move you everywhere around America while selecting the recipes from every corner of the USA. Briskets from Texas, dry ribs from Memphis, wet ribs from Nashville, burnt ends from Kansas City surely boost every pitmaster.

Michael Symon's Playing with Fire

American native Michael Symon’s signature Cleveland-style BBQ gives a smoky flavor. Apart from 72 mouthwatering recipes, knowledge about the right wood selection, guidance about the various style of grilling, and the inclusion of multiple rubs and sauces make this masterpiece perfect.

So, if you are a lover of American recipes then this best BBQ smoker cookbook is simply magnificent. Rather than giving step by step guide this cookbook share most of the cooking ideas and techniques. 

The author is a real BBQ lover, therefore most part of the book is full of barbecuing and live-grilling. Once you have it in the kitchen, it will train you as an American-style chef. This cooking art is available in both kindle and hardcover format.

Pros

  • Best American based cookbook
  • Perfect for barbecuing and grilling
  • Sharing Author’s practical knowledge and cooking techniques

Cons

  • Not perfect for beginners

How to choose the Best Smoker Cookbook?

There are plenty of books available in the market, so it’s not simple to find the perfect smoking cookbook. Before buying a cookbook you should keep in mind some points. Otherwise, you may purchase a cookbook that is not the best fit for you. 

Here, we will discuss those key points that surely help one to find the best cooking guide. So, review these buying tips prior to the cookbook selection.

Smoker Type And Specifications:

If you already have a smoker and do not want to buy another one, then the first thing you consider about the smoker type. Markets are filled with various types of smokers like electric smokers, charcoal smokers, pellet smokers, wood smokers, etc. 

All above smokers are designed to cook some different recipes. Therefore, some cookbooks include recipes that only smoked perfectly in electric smokers or pellet smokers, etc. So, buy a cookbook that is specifically designed for your smoker type or purchase one that covers versatile dishes.

Recipes Detail:

This is the most important thing to consider while finding the cookbook. There are cookbooks having dozens of delicious recipes of almost every type just as rubs, sauces, grilled chicken and meat recipes, turkey, barbecues, etc.

Along with all these various cuisines, one must be focused on the way these are described. If you are a new smoker, then try to find the one having step by step guide with colorful photos. Additionally, the recipes must be selective and easy to follow.

Another vital aspect of a recipe is the ingredients used to make it. These ingredients must be popular and easy to find. Else, the cookbook is not completely useful.

Versatile In Recipes:

The cookbook must be versatile covering almost all types of recipes cookable for each kind of smoker. The one having fewer or similar types of dishes is not perfect for you as a pitmaster wants to explore various cuisines. In such a case, you have to buy multiple books for every type of recipe.

Ultimately, it will be costly and also tough to carry all the books whenever wants to go for outside cooking. So, always prefer the most comprehensive recipe book including everything according to your taste.

Comprehensive:

Apart from recipes, some other things are also vital in smoking and grilling. Such as the smoker selection and the use of the smoker, smoker controls, right wood for smoking, grilling guide, and smoking tips and tricks. A smoking book that gives knowledge about all the above things is superb.

Whether you are a beginner or experienced chef, these features surely make you a Masterchef. So, must find a cookbook covering all the above stuff in detail.

Book Design And Presentation:

Last but not least is book design and presentation. An attractive outlook with inside colorful photos not only makes the book eye-catchy but also boosts up the pitmaster. 

Another thing is how the author design the book? Is it simple and has a separate chapter for the various thing or does the book has no real hierarchy to follow. If the book is perfectly managed and designed then it sounds well. 

Final Verdict:

After studying a lot of books thoroughly, we enlist some of the masterpieces here. According to our thoughts, the best smoker cookbook should have everything about smoking from smoker selection to the final recipe.

If you are a beginner then purchase a recipe book that provides step by step guide and must be easy to follow. Along with that, it should cover everything about grilling from basic to advance. Recipes should also be simple and versatile.

But as an experienced pitmaster, find a guide having creative recipes along with tips and tricks. A book written by a professional author will help to make a Masterchef. Lastly, before buying a cookbook must think about the smoker you have.

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