Virgil's Barbeque Road Trip Cookbook: The Best Barbeque From Around the Country Without Every Leaving Your Backyard

Author: Neal Corman, Chris Peterson
Genre: Cookbook
Type: e-book
Source: NetGalley
Pages: 336
Publisher: St Martin's Press
First Published: April 8, 2014
First Line: "Virgil's Real Barbeque Restaurant stands at the "crossroads of the world," better known as New York City's Times Square."

Book Description from GoodReads: Open Virgil’s Barbecue Road Trip Cookbook and you’ll find a winning mix of barbecue and grilling recipes plus perfect summer sides for quick weekday dinners and relaxed weekend entertaining. Tapping the secrets of the best ‘cue from Texas, North Carolina, Kansas City and Memphis, Virgil’s has tested and tasted it all until the ninety-eight recipes in this book are foolproof for home cooks and backyard grillmasters.Virgil’s Barbecue Road Trip Cookbook has the instructions you need for anything you’re in the mood for: get serious and do some smoking, in either a basic kettle grill or dedicated smoker, or stay casual and sample some rubs and marinades for succulent grilled meat, fish or vegetables. You’ll make
--Beef: from True Texas Brisket to Chicken Fried Steak with Country Gravy to a Kansas City Burnt Ends Sandwich
--Pork: from Baby Back Ribs to Boston Butt (the Virgil’s Way) to Slow-smoked Ham
--Poultry: from Classic Pulled Chicken to Kansas City Fried Chicken to Jerk Chicken
--Rubs, Marinades and Sauces: from Virgil’s meal-making Universal Flour to Carolina Vinegar Sauce to Alabama White Barbecue Sauce

Surrounded by unstoppable sides and sweets, such as Southern Accent Cheddar Grits, Georgia Pecan Rice and Virgil’s Perfect Banana Pudding, Virgil’s barbecue is about to change the way you eat and entertain: this food will make you happy!

Disclaimer:  My sincere thanks to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary e-book copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Review:  My family and I love food.  We love to eat it, share it and cook it.  Yes, food makes us happy and this cookbook makes my belly oh so very eager for some BBQ'd treats.

We are pretty avid BBQers here in the Bookworm Family.  And by 'we' I mean my husband, Brad.  He BBQs come rain, come snow, come sleet or heat my man is out there Q'ing up some good eats!  He's so devoted that one time he had to chip the ice off of our BBQ in the middle of winter just so we could grill some steaks.  The stomach wants, what the stomach wants and the people at Virgil's understand that.

Even though I'm not a big BBQ'er myself this cookbook laid out its recipes in such a clear and concise manner (with mouth watering pictures) that I think that even I may venture outside of my kitchen to grill up some grub.  Newbie BBQers need not fret because this book is not intimidating for the novice griller.  It points out the important techniques and equipment needed to being your relationship with your BBQ and with the easy to follow recipes even novices will be grilling up some tasty grub in no time.  Honestly, this book has something for everyone.

Virgil's is a very successful restaurant group with three locations - Bahamas, Connecticut and their flagship restaurant in NYC's Times Square.  You'd think that with Virgil's success and popularity that the recipes, techniques and even kitchen gadgets needed to replicate their dishes would be hard for the average person to understand or afford to own.  Or that some of the spices needed would have to come from their signature recipes available only through their business. I'm happy to report that this is not the case here at all.  You get the feeling that the people at Virgil's just want you to be able to make their great food so they give you the tools, directions and even include the recipes for their special rubs and sauces so you can make it happen at home. 

The authors also make it clear that you can make great BBQ'd food with the tools and cuts of meat that you have on hand.  Being able to make a great pulled pork or a brisket that is oh-so-tender is definitely just as important as being able to grill the perfect steak (in my book anyway) and I appreciate the fact that the authors don't focus just on the expensive cuts of meat.

As I mentioned before, the instructions are easy to follow but the authors also include tips, tricks, menu suggestions and even beer pairings for different dishes.  The addition of beautiful pictures of so many of the recipes is the BBQ sauce on the proverbial back ribs.  If I had one wee complaint its that beer was the only alcoholic beverage that was suggested for the dishes.  And while this was a cool addition to the book I've never been a beer drinker and would have loved to have seen a bit more selection in bevvies for us non-beer drinkers.

While this book definitely focuses heavily on the gastronomical desires of all carnivores, they also give a fairly healthy nod to vegetables this book.  I appreciated that they didn't just focus on wild beasties but also included sections for rubs, marinades, salads, sides and even desserts which really shows the versatility of the barbeque.

This cookbook was a pleasure to read.  The recipes are easy to follow, many have beautiful pictures and the narration of the book felt very laidback and easy going giving it the perfect feel for a barbeque cookbook. 

Recommended.

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars