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.

I bought a Traeger smoker grill from a relative and the manufacturer's information and cookbook were not available. I could have downloaded and printed everything from the manufacturer's website, but I did not want that work or copy quality. Instead, I ordered The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook and it was the perfect solution for a novice user. First, the basics of ANY brand of smoker/grill are covered - how it works; start up; fuel, types of cooking and plenty of practical and helpful tips. Lots of photos and definitions and techniques are provided. The main chapters are organized by food type and are very clear, organized and creative which is very helpful considering there are so many variables in pellet smoker cooking. Brines, rubs and cooking time tables are added too. The recipes are as researched and as well written as any cookbook I own, and again lots of photos, notes and ideas. I will be using this cookbook every time I get the urge to pop those pellets into my Traeger. I really found this book to be helpful as I am learning smoker technique and experimenting but I think an experienced user would like this cookbook as well.

Great introductory guide to wood pellet grills. Explains the mechanics and process, includes recipes and rubs. Great for a beginner and nice refresher for a seasoned smoker enthusiast.

Being that I own a Traeger grill/smoker, I was somewhat intrigued to learn more about this book. After reading others' review on the book, I decided to purchase the Kindle version. I'm glad I did. For those of you who do not have a grill/smoker yet, I would STRONGLY encourage you to look into this book. The author does an outstanding job proivding a very comprehensive background on the grill/smokers and explains in thorough details, about all of the componenents of these grill/smokers. He also provides you with two detailed charts on both, cooking time and the type of wood to use in cooking the various types of food in the grill/smoker. I love this and use it as a source of reference while preparing my food. Last but not least, a VERY nice section on a lot of scrumptuous recipes to make on the grill/smoker. In the Kindle version, the indexing works GREAT! One can click on a recipe and go directly to it. That, to me, is an important part of ANY Kindle book. Sadly, not all Kindle books are designed the same way. PROS: Thorough details, easy to read and understand, great recipes, indexing on Kindle CONS: None noted

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.

I have found using the authors recommendation on the amount of time to smoke meat or a turkey is less than the actual amount of time it takes to reach the recommended temperatures. I have had to add in some cases up to an extra hour or two. Other than that the book is very informative. Great recipes for marinades and rubs plus other things to smoke.

This is an excellent book to have for smoking any kind of food on a pellet smoker. I got a cabinet smoker and I regularly smoke brisket, pork butt, chicken and the like. This book covers all proteins for smoking and includes perfect temperatures. 5 stars.

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!!