Review of Ed Mitchell's Barbeque Cookbook

This cookbook has been actively used in my kitchen this summer. It is Ed Mitchell's Barbeque--a compilation of recipes written in collaboration with his son, Ryan Mitchell, and Zella Palmer.  I won the cookbook in a giveaway on The Book Club Cookbook website.  Ed Mitchell is one of the most famous pitmasters in the nation, dedicated to authentic Southern, whole hog pit cooking which has led him to rise from a local legend to a national sensation. 

I was attracted to this cookbook after reading the story within the cookbook of how Ed began his pitmaster career. Ed, the grandson of a small farmer, had the privilege of growing up surrounded by delicious and wholesome food. He cherishes fond memories of those flavors and moments from his childhood. However, for many years, his education, military service, and employment with the Ford Motor Company kept him away from Wilson, North Carolina. It wasn't until 1990, when his father fell ill, that Ed returned to lend a hand to his mother.  When his father died he went to the local Piggly Wiggly to buy a thirty-five-pound pig, which is considered a small one, and fired up the coals. As smoke filled the air and the pork skin started to crackle, the few customers at the family restaurant started to inquire about lunch and what smelled so good. By chance, Ed discovered a talent for barbecuing, which quickly became a habit and brought him success.

This story reminded me of one my Italian-born husband always recalled about a tradition in his hometown in Calabria that was held every January called "Maialata," where each family would gather and help each other render a pig they raised. They butchered and cooked the meat from head to tail-- nothing went to waste. They preserved every bit to eat during the winter months ahead.

I also remember my father, who grew up in a coal mine town in eastern Pennsylvania, telling me how his family would make pickled pig feet and "head cheese" from a pig. He sometimes bought vinegar pickled pig feet in a jar that he found in the grocery and I even learned to enjoy them. Sure enough, Ed's cookbook includes a recipe for pickled pig feet and "North Carolina Souse Meat," also known as Hog's Head Cheese. This shows how different cultures have very similar food traditions and recipes that are cherished and handed down from one generation to the next.

The cookbook is full of delightful stories about the family history behind Ed's recipes.  

 "Ed's Mouthwatering Baby Back Ribs" on page 56 recounts how his rib recipe is the one he used to defeat Bobby Flay on the Food Network television show "Throwdown with Bobby Flay." 

I prepared the ribs the night before with a rub of his special blend of herbs and spices, such as paprika, black pepper, dry mustard, coriander, cumin, and salt.

The next day I had intended to grill the ribs as the recipe instructs but as luck would have it we had a very thunderstorm rainy day, so instead they cooked low and slow in my oven for two hours. Toward the end of cooking time, they get brushed with Ed's Eastern North Carolina Vinegar BBQ Sauce which he gives the recipe for on page 74 of his cookbook. 

They were delicious, moist, fall off bone, ribs!  

 

To accompany the ribs I made "Ed's Shing Slaw" on page 98 of his cookbook.

I was happy to find Duke's Mayonaise locally and also a pre-shredded mixture of cabbage and carrots which made preparing this coleslaw a snap!

So crunchy and good!

The coolness of the coleslaw was the perfect offset to the spicy heat of the ribs! I served it for dinner with a saute of vegetables.

My garden is full of ripening tomatoes so I was excited to prepare the "Hellwig Raleigh Country Club Tomato Pie" recipe on page 160. Ed says tomato pie is a country boy's lasagna and it is on the menu in his restaurant--John Hellwig is his sous chef--and it is a customer favorite. 

My only change in Ed's recipe was not using a prepared pie crust.  I have been eating low carb since May --see why on this post-- and so I baked the tomato pie in a springform pan with parchment paper on the bottom and instead of using bread crumbs I used ground pork rinds. Ed's mixture of cheddar cheese and gouda with the addition of his cayenne pepper hot sauce and brown sugar, along with fresh herbs from my garden made this pie taste fabulous!

The Tomato Pie was so good!

I have many bookmarks in Ed Mitchell's Barbeque for other recipes I want to try-- there are many for appetizers, biscuits and cornbread, salads and slaw, beef and pork, poultry, seafood, and even tofu, rice, grits and mac' n' cheese, vegetables, beans desserts, libations and instructions for building an authentic barbeque pit. He tells many interesting stories about his life, along with meeting with chef Anthony Bourdain, becoming a celebrity pitmaster in competitions in the Big Apple--NYC, and what he believes is the future of barbeque.

I hope I have enticed you to look for Ed Mitchell's Barbecue Cookbook to try some of his outstanding recipes.

 

Thank you, again, to The Book Club Cookbook for this wonderful cookbook!

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