• By CHERAMIE SONNIER
• Advocate Food writer
• Published: Jul 9, 2009

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While my husband and I enjoy good barbecue, neither of us is into backyard grilling. That means we have to go out for barbecue. Our choices are slim in Louisiana, according to “America’s Best BBQ: 100 Recipes from America’s Best Smokehouses, Pits, Shacks, Rib Joints, Roadhouses, and Restaurants” by Ardie A. Davis and Paul Kirk (Andrews McMeel Publishing LLC, $19.99, paperback).

In fact, the book by the two experts, well-known in the barbecue contest circuit, doesn’t mention a single Louisiana eatery in its list of the country’s top barbecue spots. But, if a reader thinks there’s some eatery worthy of being included or a place was picked that the reader thinks shouldn’t have been, the authors want to know. They say so on the book’s last page, Page 224. They ask the reader to go to their Web site at http://www.americasbestbbqbook.com and let them know.

The pair, both certified master barbecue judges, spoke at a barbecue seminar that I attended at the Association of Food Journalists’ conference in Kansas City in 2000. It was quite an education — and lots of fun.

Davis founded the American Royal’s sauce contest and is a charter member of the Kansas City Barbeque Society and a cookbook author. Davis is also known as Remus Powers, Ph.B. or doctor of barbecue philosophy, a polite figure who dresses in a bowler hat and an apron with three polished rib bones on it.

Kirk, an inductee into the Kansas City Barbeque Society Hall of Flame, has won hundreds of cooking and barbecue awards, including seven world championships. He earns his living teaching barbecue classes all over the world. He, too, has written cookbooks and is a partner in the Righteous Urban Barbecue (also known as RUB) restaurants in New York City and Las Vegas. (It’s No. 5 on his Top 10 list and 10th on Davis’ list.)

“America’s Best BBQ” is loaded with photos and includes original recipes from many of the barbecue joints. For the places that wouldn’t divulge recipes, the authors have substituted their own versions. Recipes are divided into starters, main dishes, sides and condiments and desserts. The book also includes “Legacy Recipes” and a chapter on barbecue basics.

There are a few unusual recipes, Fried Cheese Stick Grits and Deep-Fried Oreos among them, and at least one that is misnamed. That’s the “gumbo” recipe provided by BB’s Lawnside Bar-B-Q in Kansas City, Mo. The recipe, which makes 8 to 10 quarts, doesn’t have a roux base, but instead is made with Swanson’s chicken broth and includes an entire 6-ounce bottle of Louisiana hot sauce! It might be better to call this a spicy soup.

Regardless, this is a book that any barbecue aficionado who seeks out barbecue places while traveling would like to have.

Two other cookbooks that those who are interested in brushing up on the techniques for grilling and smoking will like by Davis are “25 Essentials: Techniques for Grilling” and “25 Essentials: Techniques for Smoking.” The 7x7-inch, 128-page books are published by Harvard Common Press, have a spiral binding inside a hardcover and cost $12.95 each.

Both books have much more sophisticated recipes than “America’s Best BBQ.” For example, the grilling book includes recipes ranging from Perfectly Grilled Burgers to Crispy-Skinned Grilled Duck Breast With Citrus Chutney and a dish I want to try, Planked Goat Cheese With Sun-Dried-Tomato and Basil Pesto, which Davis calls a signature dish of him and his wife. The book on smoking includes a recipe for Classic Barbecued Spareribs and Smoke-Roasted Rustic Root Vegetables.

The books also include measurement equivalents and a list of resources.

A dessert recipe from “America’s Best BBQ” that sounds yummy follows.