These are stories that desperately need to be told if we wish to strive for a more accurate account of American barbecue's foundation and continuing popularity. “The contributions of Black pitmasters have been ignored and even purposefully erased from the historical record. The book also features 22 barbecue recipes collected by Miller, including Henrietta Dull’s Whole Hog Barbecue and Big Moe’s Memphis-Style Chicken. Black Smoke shares their stories with beautiful photographs, historic maps, illustrations, unearthed documents and more. Though often overlooked, African Americans created the American barbecue culture that has come to be embraced by all. You can't talk about, and celebrate, barbecue in America without including African Americans.” I want readers to appreciate how African Americans significantly shaped American barbecue culture as cooks and entrepreneurs. “So many times I was left wondering, ‘Do people even know that Black people barbecue?’ I knew that I had to write a more comprehensive and inclusive version of the American barbecue story. “Over the years, I've watched too many television programs and read too many pieces about barbecue that failed to mention African Americans, who further developed and popularized the cuisine,” said Miller. The book is available for preorder now wherever books and ebooks are sold. In Black Smoke, Miller chronicles how Black barbecuers, pitmasters, and restaurateurs helped develop this cornerstone of American foodways – a story of Black perseverance, culinary innovation, and entrepreneurship. This beautifully illustrated chronicle also features 22 barbecue recipes collected just for this book.James Beard Book Award winner Adrian Miller is releasing his newest book Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue, celebrating the stories of the Black men and women who have shaped American barbecue, on April 27, 2021. Miller celebrates and restores the faces and stories of the men and women who have influenced this American cuisine. Though often pushed to the margins, African Americans have enriched a barbecue culture that has come to be embraced by all. It's a smoke-filled story of Black perseverance, culinary innovation, and entrepreneurship. In Black Smoke, Miller chronicles how Black barbecuers, pitmasters, and restauranteurs helped develop this cornerstone of American foodways and how they are coming into their own today. But why is it, asks Adrian Miller-admitted ’cuehead and longtime certified barbecue judge-that in today’s barbecue culture African Americans don't get much love?

And people aren’t just eating it they’re also reading books and articles and watching TV shows about it. Prepared in one regional style or another, in the South and beyond, barbecue is one of the nation's most distinctive culinary arts. Across America, the pure love and popularity of barbecue cookery have gone through the roof.

Black smoke by adrian miller