Horn Barbecue: Recipes and Techniques from a Master of the Art of BBQ

Book Synopsis: “Horn Barbecue is a master class in how to make mouthwatering barbecue. A history-making cookbook.” —Sunset Magazine

Finalist, International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Cookbook Awards for 2022

Master the art of genuine smoke-cooked barbecue with 70 mouthwatering recipes, smoking techniques, and BBQ wisdom from star pitmaster Matt Horn.

Not only will you learn how to make classics of Texas- and Carolina-style BBQ, like brisket and pulled pork, you will expand your BBQ repertoire to include “West Coast Barbecue,” the signature style that has made Horn famous, with recipes like Smoked Tri-Tip, Burn Barrel Chicken, and Jalapeno Cheddar Links.

Rookies who just bought their first backyard smoker (or who want to smoke on a standard grill) as well as seasoned BBQ veterans will find a whole world of new ideas in this authoritative guide to cooking low and slow over smoky, smoldering woods.

Following a thorough introduction to smoking, including types of smokers, how to turn your existing grill into a smoker, barbecue tools, best meat cuts for smoking, and answers to the most common questions about smoking, you’ll learn how to make crave-worthy things like:

• Pork Ribs, Beef Ribs, Pork Shoulder, and Burnt Ends
• Matt’s grandmother’s amazing recipe for Smoked Oxtails
• Southern-style classics, like Hot Link, Smoked Catfish, and Smoked Jambalaya
• Texas-style Beef Brisket, in Matt’s unique style
• Easy-to-make sides, such as Smoked Pit Beans, Cornbread, Hoe Cakes, Collards, and Candied Yams
• Crowd-pleaser desserts, from Banana Pudding to Peach Cobbler to Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Horn, one of Food & Wine’s ten “Best New Chefs” for 2021, is the most exciting new talent in American barbecue in years. His Horn Barbecue restaurant in Oakland, California, recently awarded a rare “Michelin Bib Gourmand” designation, has lines outside that run for blocks and hundreds of rave reviews in the media. The draw? Cooked-to-perfection meats rubbed, mopped, basted, and sauced the way good BBQ should be, plus comforting sides and fixins’ and inspired desserts and drinks. Now the restaurant’s secret recipes, and many more from Matt’s own personal repertoire, are revealed in the pages of this exciting, user-friendly, and beautifully photographed book.

So what sets this cookbook apart from the rest? Matt’s original barbecue style. Other barbecue cookbooks focus on one regional tradition, such as Texas or the Carolinas. Matt draws on both of those traditions—and recipes from them appear liberally in this book—but he draws on other traditions as well and adds his own California-style spin to the mix, by working in lots of veggies and fruits and by featuring things like poultry and seafood, which are non-traditional BBQ proteins.

Matt also tells his own inspiring story of how he learned to make BBQ and open a restaurant, and about how his journey echoes and continues the glorious lineage of Black barbecue in the US—an amazing yet often unknown history.