These reviews are of books I have bought and read from cover to cover. Because they are not made up of words copied from the dust jacket or a publicist's blurb, they might have the potential to offend some authors. So be it.

THE BARBECUE BIBLE
By Steven Raichlen	TOP

With the ambitious title of ‘The Barbecue Bible’, US author Steven Raichlen’s book sure has a lot to live up to. And it succeeds. Steven spent four years and travelled more than 300,000 kilometres visiting 25 countries to produce this magnificent 550 page publication.

This book, which has sold more than 2 million copies, was the catalyst for Steven’s career as a leading barbeque writer and teacher. He currently has five books in Amazon’s list of the 25 top selling barbeque books.

Australia is well represented in The Barbecue Bible with recipes for barramundi, beer-barbecued chicken, lamb steaks, Moreton Bay bugs and honey sesame ‘shrimp’. All of Steven’s recipes in this massive book follow the same pattern. A short description of the dish is followed with a list of ingredients (alternatives are listed for some difficult to source items) and an easy-to-understand procedure to follow.

Despite featuring 500 recipes, it is much more than just a barbecue cookbook. It’s also a very enjoyable travel book that provides a cultural context for many cuisines such as Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese and Argentinian – to name just a few.

One of Steven’s greatest strengths is that he never assumes his readers have any previous experience with barbecuing/grilling. His books always cover the basics of choosing and using barbeques and these sections are so informative that even experienced barbequeologists are likely to learn something new.ORIGIN: Australia

ORIGIN: United States

FIRST PUBLISHED: 1998

VERDICT: You will never regret buying this book.

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