Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling
by Meathead Goldwyn, Greg Blonder · Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The anchor science text for the topic. Goldwyn and physicist Greg Blonder devote roughly the first half to why barbecue works, covering heat transfer, salt and brining chemistry, collagen-to-gelatin conversion, combustion and smoke, then apply that model to specific cuts and cooker types. Unlike most barbecue books it leads with mechanism and treats recipes as worked examples, so a reader finishes able to reason about an unfamiliar cut or cooker.
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