The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook: Recipes and Techniques for the Most Flavorful and Delicious Barbecue

For Father's Day, I bought my dad a Traeger grill. It's been a new experience for him to use any sort of grill as we did not have one growing up, so I started looking up cookbooks that would be useful to him, specifically that would work well on a wood pellet grill. I picked out this gem (I do like that it's hardcover - It'll make it more durable for outdoor use) and was SCHOOLED. Jautaikis put together a pretty comprehensive guide to how to barbecue and smoke meat. First of all, there are SO MANY terms and tips for cooking well. If you are complete newbie, this book has all the details necessary to succeed, but given in a completely digestible way. If you're a seasoned griller, you still will learn a thing or two. Like "The Texas Crutch." First time I heard this in my life, but it makes so much sense. Oh, and the fact that you can smoke cheese in two hours? Mind blown.
Once we get past the breakdown of what every thing does on a WPG, why to choose a WPG (this stands for Wood Pellet Grill btw), how the heat is distributed, storage, food pairings, accoutrement and seasoning tips (actually a bunch of good information that doesn't take up a lot of space)... there are the RECIPES! I mean, that's what we all came here for, right? There is meatloaf, steak, fish, BLUEBERRY COBBLER? I mean, come on! It's pretty much guaranteeing that there will be no "Summer body" for me. I'll be too busy eating and watching my dad master the craft that is smoking and grilling with wood pellets.

WOW! It is not often that a book, or any product for that matter, far exceeds my expectations. This is one of those books. I consider myself a hardcore backyard BBQ enthusiast. I love the blue smoke!! I turn out some good BBQ IMHO but I am always looking for something better or different. I have many good BBQ books but this book just jumped to the head of the class. Here's why:

Pros:
1. Great layout and readability.
2. Useful and clear pictures. Lots of high-quality photos.
3. Every recipe is something I might actually make, wonderful choices, especially on poultry.
4. The section on brines and sauces is the best I have seen. I may make every one of them to try.
5. Covers the basics well; ribs, butts, brisket, chicken
6. Great value for a book this good.
7. I really liked his approach to naked bbq;. Let the food speak for itself, add BBQ sauce for those who want it instead of slathering everything.

Cons:
1. Needs a better discussion on injections and mops. If the author doesn't like these tell us why.
2. A couple of comments on meat-sourcing and choosing meat quality for certain foods would have been useful.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Peter, you knocked this one out of the park!! If you write another book I will buy it!!

I own a Texas Traeger Pellet Grill. This book provides many great recipes to try, with recommended pellets to use. Additionally, helpful info on how pellet cookers function, trouble-shooting, recommended accessories, and cooking tips and techniques. It also has chapters on brines and rubs, and conversion charts. This is the perfect, all-in-one, pellet cookbook for rookies or experienced backyard chefs.

I am a certified BBQ judge with KCBS, I found this cookbook to be "spot on" for creating competition quality smoked meats. Easy to understand and use.

If you are like me and have never owned, or even just considering buying a pellet smoker/grill (PSG), this is a must have. It really gives you an understanding of what this appliance is capable of. This has some great basic recipes and ideas, and how to prepare them in the unique environment of a PSG. It also gives you a general description of how the internals work, along with tips on how to keep you PSG working at it's best. What this is not, is an overall smoking cookbook This is dedicated to showing you how to get the most out of a PSG, and if you're looking to buy, what features to look for.

This is a great cookbook for BBQ. I bought this for my husband for Father’s Day. Of course I gave it to him as soon as it arrived. We have a pellet BBQ. Recipes are easy to follow and the illustrations are exquisite. Prep time, cook time and types of recommended wood flavors are included in each recipe. I really like that the text is larger and very easy to read. An entire meal can be made at one time. Chapters include appetizers and sides, poultry, red meat, pork, seafood, and extras (desserts :) There are also recipes for brines and rubs. Can not wait to try the atomic buffalo turds!

THE book for wood pellet smoking and grilling. It is well-organized with easy-to-follow recipes. All the succulent standards included (brisket, pulled pork, ribs, chicken, turkey) plus several seafood recipes, including salmon. Includes some side, appetizer, and dessert recipes. Step-by-step pictures and tons of tips make all the difference for success. Especially great are 14 brine, rub, and seasoning recipes. The author’s style is friendly and book easy to use. If you get only book, get this one!

This is a comprehensive and beautifully made / laid-out book. Besides the awesome introduction, which goes over what a pellet cooker is, different types of accessories, and general knowledge related to pellet cooking, there are seven recipe sections. These sections, from pork to chicken to brines/rubs, are full of easy to follow delicious recipes. Every recipe is accompanied by great, high quality pictures of the food (the intro also has lots of awesome pictures) which makes you hungry before the cooking even begins! It's clear that a lot of passion and love for cooking went into this cookbook, and the author is certainly knowledgeable about the art of pellet-cooking. The conciseness and clarity of his writing is also much appreciated. As a side-note, I highly recommend the crabmeat stuffed mushrooms recipe; you won't regret it, Happy Cooking!

Although I have a pellet grill for quite a few years, I still ned all the help I can get when cooking on this kind of cooker. This book is perfect to bring on our RV trips because of the times and temperatures I tend to forget. We have a tailgating pellet cooker and take it wherever we travel.

Each recipe is styled as a kind of recipe card, with plenty of pictures to make your mouth water. The author's writing style is genuine, to the point, and delightful to read. I have literally no hard copy cookbooks I enjoy, but this one is definitely a keeper.

For Father's Day, I bought my dad two wood pellet grill cookbooks. This one in particular is fantastic. It is a nice, hardcover book with tons of photos (something I personally love in a cookbook!) I looked through this book before giving it to my dad, and I fell in love. The book begins with an introduction to wood pellet smoker-grills with tons of information. I learned so much from this intro- it was easy to read and again, lots of pictures to help follow along. The recipes themselves were also great. Not only did the book contain recipes of food I am dying to try (Bacon Cordon Bleu!!), but the recipes were easy to follow and often contained multiple photographs per recipe. My dad loved this book as well. He spent a long time looking through the book and pointing out recipes to me. We loved it! Highly recommended for anyone who loves smoked and flavorful barbecue.