Two decades after barbecue kingpins Vince Staten and Greg Johnson published their ode to the top 100 barbecue joints around the United States, they have logged thousands more miles—and at least as many rib racks—in their quest to monitor, taste, and even create the very best. Part travel guide, part recipe book, REAL BARBECUE is really a celebration of a way of life, peppered with such sage advice as, “A man that won't sleep with his meat don't care about his barbecue” (Early Scott). This update of the classic has a completely new design with photos, trivia, detailed locations of great eating joints coast to coast, sidebars about sauces and sides, columns about cook pits and shack architecture, sections devoted to Texas ribs, Cowboy-que, lowcountry pulled pig, California-que-zeen, and real-man reviews of rib joints such as Allen & Sons in Pittsboro and Vince Staten’s Old Time Barbecue in Prospect (he put his money where his mouth is). Secret recipes and mail-order finds are also included. This is your guide to the best barbecue across America, often identified only by a thick black column of smoke in the distance.


A syndicated columnist and author of ten books, including Kentucky Curiosities(Globe Pequot Press), Vince Staten has appeared on such media as "Late Night with David Letterman," "Dateline NBC," "Today on NBC," and NPR's "Morning Edition." His varied career encompasses writing, lecturing, teaching, and co-owning Vince Staten's Old Time Barbecue in downtown Prospect, Kentucky. Greg Johnson is the Features Editor for The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky.

"This book is to barbecue what Rand-McNally is to maps."—Playboy magazine

"What Masters and Johnson did for sex, Staten and Johnson do for barbecue."—Willard Scott

"This is a helluva readable book...There's as much flavor in the writing as in the Rev. Noble Harris' sauce at House of Prayer Bar-B-Que in Fort Lauderdale...Toss this on the dash and hit the road."—Gannett News Service