CLOVERDALE — A decade into his competitive cooking career, Cloverdale's "BBQ Brian" Misko now has a 181-page book to show for it, along with many kilometres driven and memories made.
His new "Grilling with the House of Q" compilation (Figure 1 Publishing) offers page upon page of "inspired recipes for backyard barbecues," as its subtitle suggests.
At a recent booklaunch event at Central City Brewers + Distillers, Misko fed the crowd with the help of his wife Corinne, daughter Kassandra and a small team of cookers, including House of Q's first hired employee, Greg Ewart, the company's manager of sales and operations.
"I've had the idea for a book for years, and this one came together in February of 2014 on a rapid schedule," Misko told the Now. "I had an arsenal of recipes but it all had to be crafted and honed and put in a wrapper."
Misko's favourites include his smokedbacon Mac 'N' Cheese, the Grilled Asparagus Tart ("it pushes the envelope a bit, and is really tasty," he says) and the Bacon Bites ("Just bacon, some spice and sauce, that's it - a oneinch cube of bacon. It sounds simple but it's so easy to screw up").
When Misko first entered the barbecue scene, he was selling computer software in the southern States. He stumbled upon a barbecue event in Texas, and was hooked.
He credits fellow barbecuer Ron Shewchuk for words of wisdom that helped fire him up to enter the world of competitive cooking.
"Just when I was starting out, he said to go buy a $300 cooker and start practising," Misko recalled. "So I did and, lo and behold, a decade later, not only is this my occupation, I'm a world champ in barbecue ribs, I'm a cook book author, I have a line of sauces sold throughout North America and I'm on TV doing this on a regular basis. Those are the pinch-me moments on this path I've been on.