Books that teach?

[Potkettleblack]

Let's see... Meathead... yes.
Raichlen's How to Grill... tie for first.
I read Franklin's book, and if you want to run an offset, I think it's a great book. Not that great for other cookers.
Bill Kim's book about American-Korean BBQ is really fun. The recipes are massive flavor bombs, and, if you spend a weekend making sauces and spice blends, you combine and doctor them to make pretty much everything in the book pretty quickly.
Gonna second the J. Kenji Lopez-Alt Food Lab book. Nothing in there is an everyday recipe, but you can dial a lot of it down for more pedestrian cooking.
Gonna second Joy of Cooking... nearly anything you want, it's in there, logically, with variations.

[TripleB]

I enjoy reading cookbooks. Just re-read Legends of Texas Barbecue by Robb Walsh. Franklin's BBQ book is great and you'll get more advice than you'd ever use from amazing ribs. But regarding techniques for food and apart from what has been mentioned above, I found the following were very good for me.

- Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat. Goes over the elements of good cooking. She does not talk down to her audience. Practical and straight forward with her own personal experiences in the professional kitchen sprinkled in.

- Louisiana Kitchen by Chef Paul Prudomme. If you love Cajun/Louisiana cooking, it's a must have.

- Never Cook Bacon Naked by Chef Dallas. It was one of the first cookbooks I bought when I got married. Though it focuses on Basque cooking, it provided a lot of insight on essential kitchen equipment, kitchen science and a lot of tips here and there. I still peruse it on occasion.

[STEbbq]

Salt Fat Acid Heat is also on the wish list now. Thank you!

Any examples of things you changed to improve your smoking game, thanks to this book?

[TripleB]

SFAH did nothing for my smoking game. It helped me with understanding flavor better. For example, I have a Tri-Tip recipe that I perform at least 2/mo. and everyone loves. SFAH showed me that it is the acid in my mop sauce that brings the dish together.

[klflowers]

I am with TripleB on Salt Fat Acid Heat. Great book. Also Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything. And this:

[klflowers]

HouseHomey, that is funny. My wife was looking through the freezer and mentioned there is a butt that needs to be made into sausage just yesterday.

[STEbbq]

Any idea how this book might compare to Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages?

[klflowers]

STEbbq, no, I have never looked at the book you reference. I will take a look at it though; you can never have too many sausage books IMO

[ssandy_561]

If you think you are good at making sauces you are not! Lol. I love this book

[TripleB]

Wow, you hooked me with that line. So I went ahead and bought the book.

[ssandy_561]

Also this book has opened my mind and has made me become more creative with flavors. It has helped me create some incredible food.

(It has also had me crash and burn a few times)

[STEbbq]

I am really intrigued by this one. Is it possible to provide a BBQ-related example of how it worked out for you, with say chicken or beef? Just trying to understand how it works in practice.

[ssandy_561]

This one might not be for everyone. Its not really a cookbook but more like an encyclopedia / dictionary for flavor. It gives you flavors that go well with ingredients. It has helped me create incredible home made BBQ sauces (and a few that were disgusting) and it has expanded my spice cabinet from the 12 spices I used to have in it to 50+ spices (Or as my better half says "Way too many")