Here is an exceptionally complete guide to making real smoked food at home that tastes far better than commercially made products.

Anderson's fanatical obsession with smoking and smoked food comes through clearly in the book. However, this love affair drives him to a level of detail that can probably only be appreciated by someone like him. I could've done without all the history, all of the talk about how to smoked food in the Far East - and what local wood is appropriate. If the book was better orgainized, I could skip those sections, but it seems like every few pages Anderson goes off on another personal indulgence at the expense of the book's fluidity. He also spends more time discussing cold smoking. I had no use for this topic since my smoker (cabinet style with an offset wood burning firebox) is not designed for this. The recipe section also is a little heavy on jerky and a little light on what I was looking for - recipe's for rubs, marinades and sauces, and cook times with different types of wood.

After some disappointing experiences with hobby wood smokers and flashier and often more attractive texts on curing and smoking, I was delighted to find this book (I bought the English edition - at a signficantly higher price - in the UK after browsing it in a hunting/fishing shop on a wet day).

The author does tend to be a bit obsessive but clearly his instructions are written from exhaustive, first hand experience. He encourages a flexible approach and rightly says that recipes will need to be adapted for indiviual use or taste(factors which may have deterred some previous reviewers who felt the text was too basic or lacked specifics). The discussion and comparison of smoking techniques (hot, cold and water smokers)is helpful in deciding what type or types to buy or make.

Finding reliable guidelines on small scale curing and cold smoking meat is difficult, this little book is a mine of useful information for a hobbyist like me (the family particularly misses UK style bacon in the USA). We have also tried a few of the fresh sausage recipes (which don't need smoking)and have been pleased with the results. More importantly, after reading this book, I now understand why we had some really inedible results with previous attempts.

Precisely the kind of information I needed to advance from my previous pedestrian attempts at smoking.

needed some data on smoking and this was the book to supple that data,thank you.

This book is worthless if you need advise in "At-Home Smoking Meat" using a gas up-Right smoker !! (ie Camp-Chief..etc.)It's geared toward commercial use,not the "Back-Yarder".