Bludso's BBQ Cookbook: A Family Affair in Smoke and Soul /// Kevin Bludso with Noah Galuten, photographed by Eric Wolfinger and Demetrius Smith

This is low and slow Texas BBQ done right: a family affair in smoke and soul, told through 75 recipes and stories from the founder of famous Los Angeles–based Bludso’s BBQ.

Kevin Bludso was born and raised in Compton, California, by a Black Panther–supporting mother and a police officer father. To stay out of trouble, he spent his summers in Corsicana, Texas, where he was schooled on the art of barbecue and worked long, hot hours on the pits at his granny’s legendary BBQ stand. In 2008, Kevin opened his own Bludso’s BBQ, a small walk-up stand in the heart of Compton that has led to multiple locations in California, Texas, and even Australia.
 
In this honest and engaging cookbook, Kevin teaches you everything you need to know about BBQ: from choosing, seasoning, and cleaning your pit to selecting your brisket, ribs, and sausages, plus all the rubs and sauces you could need. Kevin also shares seventy-five delicious recipes for main meats such as BBQ Lamb Leg, Spicy Curried Oxtails, Buffalo Rib Tips, Blackened Catfish, and Grilled Mojo Shrimp; sides such as Creole Cabbage, Pinto Beans, and Down Home Mac & Cheese; and even desserts such as Mom’s Banana Pudding, Buttermilk Pie, and Kevin’s famous Hennessy on the Rocks, along with mouthwatering photographs to accompany them. But Bludso’s BBQ Cookbook is also a story about Kevin’s family and community. It’s a love letter to the often misunderstood city of Compton, and the story of how Kevin has fed and supported his own community while teaching everyone the art of barbecue.
 
This is more than a cookbook; it’s Kevin’s incredibly personal story of family, food, and how following your passion sometimes leads you back home.

BIO

Kevin Bludso is a chef, television personality, and two-time Steve Harvey Neighborhood Award winner. In 2008, he opened Bludso’s BBQ in Compton, California, and it has since grown into an international empire, with a flagship restaurant, Bludso’s Bar & Que, in Hollywood, a concession stand at the LAFC soccer stadium, a location in Proud Bird by LAX, and a sprawling restaurant and bar called San Antone by Bludso’s BBQ in the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. He is returning for a second season as a the star of Netflix’s hit BBQ competition show The American Barbecue Showdown, and has multiple television appearances on shows such as Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and Bong Appétit, and as a recurring guest judge on Bar Rescue. Kevin currently resides in Corsicana, Texas, regularly traveling both nationally and internationally for his pop-up events and television appearances.

REVIEWS

The flavors of California and Texas are fired up and served with Southern pride in this top-notch debut from chef and restaurateur Bludso. Drawing from the stories and meals of his childhood in Compton, summers in Corsicana—where, growing up, he worked at his great-aunt Granny’s “bootleg BBQ stand”—and his L.A. barbecue joint, Bludso’s book is free of artifice, and so is his food. A brisket rub consists only of garlic salt and pepper (with an admonition to “do what the fuck you wanna do”), while other offerings go bold: rib tips are smoked, fried, and doused in Buffalo sauce; gravy is enriched with brisket drippings; and mac and cheese incorporates more than five cups of shredded cheese and two sticks of butter. Though Bludso knows his way around a smoker (and offers clear instructions for using a grill in its stead), his recipes reach beyond barbecue in a hearty breakfast chapter that includes fluffy buttermilk pancakes, and a section of holiday fare that features his restaurant’s famed fried turkey. Sweets like bread pudding and cobbler, meanwhile, feel more nostalgic than they do innovative (and, like most of Bludso’s recipes, aren’t for the cholesterol cautious), but they’re delicious, nevertheless. Barbecue lovers are in for a treat—make no bones about it. --Publishers Weekly

[H]  Ten Speed Press  /  April 12, 2022

1.01" H x 10.29" L x 7.83" W (2.5 lbs) 288 pages