Regional & International
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Bludso's BBQ Cookbook: A Family Affair in Smoke and Soul
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.
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.
Readers Top Reviews
George L. HudsonG
This cookbook is amazing. The recipes are so precise that you can’t mess up what ever you cook from the book. If you want to cook Bar-B-Que like a real pit master, then this is the cookbook you need. Good one Kev. George Hudson
Kelsey HowlandGeo
Got it for my boyfriend, he says it’s very knowledgeable and humorous. Right out the gate he followed the instructions for a smoking a brisket and got a perfect smoke ring and it was delicious!
fbjKelsey Howland
Great great story behind Mr. Bludso and his journey to becoming a great BBQ Chef! The recipes are endless and very helpful!!
Bernadette Lewisf
This cookbook has so much more than just great recipes, it has Chef Bludso journey, from the streets of Compton to the country roads of Corsicana Texas. His story is amazing, the photography is stunning and the recipes are easy to follow. It’s so much more than a BBQ cookbook, it’s his life journey! Get yours today, you will not be disappointed!
Short Excerpt Teaser
Introduction
I was born and raised in Compton, California, with a police officer father and a Black Panther–supporter mother. Every summer to stay out of trouble, I went to Corsicana, Texas, to work at my granny's illegal, bootleg BBQ stand.
I always just say that I'm so lucky to live the life I've lived. To be from Compton, to be born and raised with people like Dre and them in the city, in the concrete jungle, but then on the flip side to be able to be in the country every summer, to walk around barefoot, and go crawfishing and all that. Getting to grow up in both California and Texas gave me a whole different outlook than if I had just been raised in one place, and that's something I've been able to carry throughout my life. I just really think everything happens for a reason. Now I look back, and I've opened BBQ restaurants all over the world, I've gotten rave reviews from legends such as Jonathan Gold, I've hosted TV shows, I'm a two-time winner of the Steve Harvey Neighborhood Awards for Best Barbecue Place in America, and now I get to chill out and live in the country in Texas.
In this book, I want to teach you how to kick back, have fun, and make some good-ass BBQ. Then I also want to show you how I get down in the kitchen, too, cooking up way more than just BBQ. But for me this isn't just a cookbook. I also want to tell a story. I want to tell you about the family history, how we started, how we came to this, and a few of the things I've learned in my fifty-five years.
Shit Talking, Cooking, and Partying Lessons with Willie Mae Fields
I call her my granny, but Willie Mae Fields was really my daddy's auntie. She's the one who taught me how to BBQ. I swore up and down to her that I'd never go into the restaurant business. But Granny always said, "You're gonna have to own your own business because you're too much of an asshole to work for anybody else."
That first summer I went to Texas to stay with Granny, I was eight years old. I'll always remember that ride in her '74 gold, four-door Lincoln Continental. I was in the car with her, Aunt Alice, and Mr. Fred. (I still have no idea who Mr. Fred was. I don't even think he was family!) They were just partying, drinking, and driving, blues all in the car. The cooler was full of hog headcheese and sandwiches, and I was like, "What the f*** did I get myself into?"
Then in the house was Granny's crazy-ass husband, Johnny B., who was shell-shocked from the Korean War. So she'd say, "You want to stay here with this crazy motherf***er or you want to work with me in the morning?"
So I started working with her, getting up at six o'clock in the morning and going to her illegal BBQ restaurant on the weekends, with gambling going on, with no permits or health department or anything. She called it Little Rascals, and I watched her work that stand with Aunt Jean and Aunt Alice. It was just the three of them running this restaurant so incredibly. And all they did was cuss out each other all day. As a kid I'm watching this shit, like "Wow." I wasn't used to sitting there with somebody cooking, telling a story, talking shit, laughing, playing the music all loud. I wasn't used to that, and that's what made it better. You see, my parents were young. They were still working, still humping, so when I would go out to Texas, it was something special. I was hooked right away, and I went back every summer.
Granny did so much for so many people. She put people up, fed people. She was a legend in Corsicana. She was ninety-five years old when she died. Something like fifteen thousand people lined the streets of the town for her funeral procession. Everybody knew Willie Mae Fields. But don't get me wrong, Granny was a hustler too. She ran her little businesses in the back-her after-hours club, some other little red-light shit. No matter what, Granny didn't believe in being broke.
She also had a small juke joint next to her house where she could probably fit fifty people at a time, selling BBQ, Crown Royal, Schlitz Malt Liquor, gin, and whatever else. She called it The Halfway House. The juke joint was really long, kind of like a house on one side where you've got the kitchen and all that. At one end was this tiny waiting room that had a little speakeasy door so she could look through it and make sure you weren't the law. After she'd let you in, you'd walk through the kitchen, where it was hot as hell. Past that there was a bar area with a couple of rooms off to the side in case you wanted to do some . . . other stuff. She had AC in all the rooms and in the bar, but it was all window units. Wasn't no central air....
I was born and raised in Compton, California, with a police officer father and a Black Panther–supporter mother. Every summer to stay out of trouble, I went to Corsicana, Texas, to work at my granny's illegal, bootleg BBQ stand.
I always just say that I'm so lucky to live the life I've lived. To be from Compton, to be born and raised with people like Dre and them in the city, in the concrete jungle, but then on the flip side to be able to be in the country every summer, to walk around barefoot, and go crawfishing and all that. Getting to grow up in both California and Texas gave me a whole different outlook than if I had just been raised in one place, and that's something I've been able to carry throughout my life. I just really think everything happens for a reason. Now I look back, and I've opened BBQ restaurants all over the world, I've gotten rave reviews from legends such as Jonathan Gold, I've hosted TV shows, I'm a two-time winner of the Steve Harvey Neighborhood Awards for Best Barbecue Place in America, and now I get to chill out and live in the country in Texas.
In this book, I want to teach you how to kick back, have fun, and make some good-ass BBQ. Then I also want to show you how I get down in the kitchen, too, cooking up way more than just BBQ. But for me this isn't just a cookbook. I also want to tell a story. I want to tell you about the family history, how we started, how we came to this, and a few of the things I've learned in my fifty-five years.
Shit Talking, Cooking, and Partying Lessons with Willie Mae Fields
I call her my granny, but Willie Mae Fields was really my daddy's auntie. She's the one who taught me how to BBQ. I swore up and down to her that I'd never go into the restaurant business. But Granny always said, "You're gonna have to own your own business because you're too much of an asshole to work for anybody else."
That first summer I went to Texas to stay with Granny, I was eight years old. I'll always remember that ride in her '74 gold, four-door Lincoln Continental. I was in the car with her, Aunt Alice, and Mr. Fred. (I still have no idea who Mr. Fred was. I don't even think he was family!) They were just partying, drinking, and driving, blues all in the car. The cooler was full of hog headcheese and sandwiches, and I was like, "What the f*** did I get myself into?"
Then in the house was Granny's crazy-ass husband, Johnny B., who was shell-shocked from the Korean War. So she'd say, "You want to stay here with this crazy motherf***er or you want to work with me in the morning?"
So I started working with her, getting up at six o'clock in the morning and going to her illegal BBQ restaurant on the weekends, with gambling going on, with no permits or health department or anything. She called it Little Rascals, and I watched her work that stand with Aunt Jean and Aunt Alice. It was just the three of them running this restaurant so incredibly. And all they did was cuss out each other all day. As a kid I'm watching this shit, like "Wow." I wasn't used to sitting there with somebody cooking, telling a story, talking shit, laughing, playing the music all loud. I wasn't used to that, and that's what made it better. You see, my parents were young. They were still working, still humping, so when I would go out to Texas, it was something special. I was hooked right away, and I went back every summer.
Granny did so much for so many people. She put people up, fed people. She was a legend in Corsicana. She was ninety-five years old when she died. Something like fifteen thousand people lined the streets of the town for her funeral procession. Everybody knew Willie Mae Fields. But don't get me wrong, Granny was a hustler too. She ran her little businesses in the back-her after-hours club, some other little red-light shit. No matter what, Granny didn't believe in being broke.
She also had a small juke joint next to her house where she could probably fit fifty people at a time, selling BBQ, Crown Royal, Schlitz Malt Liquor, gin, and whatever else. She called it The Halfway House. The juke joint was really long, kind of like a house on one side where you've got the kitchen and all that. At one end was this tiny waiting room that had a little speakeasy door so she could look through it and make sure you weren't the law. After she'd let you in, you'd walk through the kitchen, where it was hot as hell. Past that there was a bar area with a couple of rooms off to the side in case you wanted to do some . . . other stuff. She had AC in all the rooms and in the bar, but it was all window units. Wasn't no central air....
