NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A complete meat and brisket-cooking education from the country’s most celebrated pitmaster and owner of the wildly popular Austin restaurant Franklin Barbecue.

When Aaron Franklin and his wife, Stacy, opened up a small barbecue trailer on the side of an Austin, Texas, interstate in 2009, they had no idea what they’d gotten themselves into. Today, Franklin Barbecue has grown into the most popular, critically lauded, and obsessed-over barbecue joint in the country (if not the world)—and Franklin is the winner of every major barbecue award there is.
 
In this much-anticipated debut, Franklin and coauthor Jordan Mackay unlock the secrets behind truly great barbecue, and share years’ worth of hard-won knowledge. Franklin Barbecue is a definitive resource for the backyard pitmaster, with chapters dedicated to building or customizing your own smoker; finding and curing the right wood; creating and tending perfect fires; sourcing top-quality meat; and of course, cooking mind-blowing, ridiculously delicious barbecue, better than you ever thought possible.

This audiobook contains a conversation with the authors.

The ultimate guide to live-fire grilling and smoking at home, with recipes that will have you cooking up meat, vegetables, fish, and more like a true Texas fire wrangler—from the James Beard Award–winning team behind the New York Times bestseller Franklin Barbecue.

Aaron Franklin, bestselling author and proprietor of Austin hotspot Franklin Barbecue, turns to backyard live-fire grilling and smoking in Franklin Smoke. Along with award-winning food writer Jordan Mackay, Franklin addresses the mysterious area where smoker and grill intersect, describing when and how to best combine the two. This complete resource, which features inspiring and helpful photographs, proves that lighting a backyard fire is no big deal on a weeknight—and that you can (and should!) cook this way for fuller flavors and a deeper engagement with the elements. 

The trick is in treating fire as an ingredient, not a medium. Franklin and Mackay detail strategies for executing meals over the full lifespan of a fire, employing low- and high-heat techniques as well as indirect cooking and smoking. Whether you’re an old pro looking for new tips or have just purchased your first grill or smoker, the book shares expert techniques designed for any type of backyard grill, from inexpensive kettle-style grills, Big Green Eggs, offset cookers, and hand-built fire pits.

Featuring detailed chapters on tools, techniques, and methods of grilling and smoking a variety of ingredients, Franklin Smoke answers all of your burning questions—from “How do I smoke a whole turkey?” to “What kind of wood should I use?”—while offering delicious new ways to incorporate both fire and smoke into your everyday cooking.

The audiobook includes a downloadable PDF containing recipes, techniques, and selected photographs from the printed book.