grilling with house of q by brian misko {cookbook review}

title: Grilling with House of Q
author: Brian Misko

publication date: April 15, 2015
publisher: Figure 1 Publishing

I want to inspire novice cooks to be brave and to try cooking on the grill. I want to show those who know their way around a grill how to play: to see new ideas, to expand their skills or to round out a meal with appetizers, side dishes and desserts. So please, be creative, be confident and make a delicious dish.
— Brian Misko (Grilling with House of Q)

If you’re a fan of the House of Q line of BBQ sauces, then Brian Misko needs no introduction. For everyone else, House of Q is an award-winning competition BBQ team and BBQ sauce and spice maker based in Langley, BC and led by Brian.

Having won numerous competitive cooking awards from across North America (including 1st Place in the Rib category at the 2014 World Food Championships in Las Vegas, NV) and awards for their BBQ sauce/spice line-up, Grilling with House of Q is Brian’s first cookbook.

the first nibble:

After flipping through the book, I definitely had a hankering to go out and grill something. The recipes and photos are colourful and approachable and Brian’s special knack for story-telling makes it very appealing to me.

I also appreciated the pages of tips throughout the book, including ‘BBQ Brian’s Top Five Tips for Better Burgers’, ‘Marinade Myths’ and ‘All About Brines’. There are also origin stories for the House of Q products, including their famous Apple Butter BBQ Sauce, and there’s even a section with Brian’s Championship BBQ recipes.

On my first pass through the book, the most tempting recipes from each chapter were:

• Appetizers: No-fail Smoked Chicken Wings, pg. 29
• Sausages and Burgers: Jalapeno ‘n’ Cheese Cornbread Waffle Burgers, pg. 38
• Pork: Smoked Ribs, pg. 50
• Beef: Steak Bites, pg. 67
• Poultry: Grilled Duck Breasts with Cherry Merlot Sauce, pg. 91
• Seafood: House of Q Fish and Chips, pg. 101
• Competition BBQ: Championship Slow-Smoked Ribs, pg. 114
• Vegetables, Salads and Sides: Brian’s Cornbread, pg. 140
• Desserts: Jack Daniel’s Maple Pecan Pie Cinnamon Bun Bread Pudding, pg. 153
• Brines, Rubs, Sauces and Spreads: Apple Butter Onions, pg. 168

 

the nitty-gritty:

number of recipes (as stated by book): n/a

recipe list? Yes, at the start of each chapter, there’s a list of recipes contained in that chapter

table of contents: The Table of Contents is very well laid out with lots of specific chapters, making it very easy to find what you’re looking for. Besides ‘meal category’ breakdowns (Appetizers, Sides, Desserts, etc), there’s also chapters for all the main meat categories, plus (I love this one) a whole chapter with Brian’s Competition BBQ recipes!

photography:  Filled with mouth-watering grilling shots, the food is unpretentious, outdoorsy and pretty much what you would want and expect to see from a grilling cookbook. I love the inclusion of photos of Brian and his team cooking competitively, plus people enjoying the food – it matches the feel and message of Brian’s book: that grilling is meant to be enjoyed and shared.

I do wish that there were more photos for each recipe (I’m the type that likes to see what I’m about to attempt making!)

photo to recipe ratio*:  out of 81 total recipes**, 32 recipes had at least one accompanying ‘finished dish’ photo or step-by-step photo (photo : recipe ratio = 1 : 2.5)
notes:
* this is a manual count, so numbers may be slightly off due to human error (mine)
** only ‘main’ recipes are counted – recipes that appear as part of another dish are not counted

recipes:
– separate ingredient list? yes
– serving info given? yes
– prep/cook time given? no
– recipe format: paragraphs

The recipes are well-laid out and chock-full of information. At first glance, I felt the recipes were a little text-heavy, but the more I read them, the more I appreciated all the information that Brian included. The steps (written in paragraph format) are concise, but detailed and leave no gaps. I had absolutely no problem following along with even the more complex recipes with ease.

Besides the recipes, Brian includes lots of tips, techniques and other interesting info, including stories about the recipes, which made the book useful, but enjoyable to read too. I love reading about the inspiration behind dishes – it’s always fun to see the thought process behind recipe-creation.

BONUS! Click here for Brian’s Bacon Baklava recipe + a Behind the Scenes story on his inspiration. (Special thanks to Brian and Figure 1 Publishing for making this recipe available to me. Please note that the recipe and photo belong to Brian Misko and are used with his permission)

the last bite:

Besides the recipes, the pages (and pages!) of useful tips and interesting stories make this a perfect fit for cookbook ‘readers’ like myself.

The press release when this book was launched stated that Grilling with House of Q was “part handsome cookbook, part instruction manual and part story collection”. Does the book live up to this tagline? I definitely think so!

I love the tone that runs throughout Brian’s book – it’s so enthusiastic and encouraging. You really believe him when he says that anyone can become a great griller. He makes high-level, competitive cooking seem attainable (and fun!) and his book highlights why grilling is a favourite way for many people to cook – it’s about enjoying the food, the outdoors and the people you’re cooking for.

Brian was gracious enough to spend some time answering some questions for my Author Q&A series. You can read my interview with him here.

Click here to purchase Grilling with House of Q from The Book Depository (free worldwide shipping) or Amazon.

Disclosure: I received a copy of Grilling with House of Q from the publisher for review purposes. I did not receive any financial compensation for writing this post and the post was not reviewed by the publisher prior to publication. All opinions expressed are my own. Please read my disclosure policy for more information.

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