Jamison, Bill 1942-

views updated

Jamison, Bill 1942-

PERSONAL:

Born March 7, 1942, in Oklahoma; son of Braxton and Lois Jamison; married Cheryl Alters (a writer), 1985; children: Heather Jamison Neale. Education: University of North Texas, B.A., 1964; doctoral study at University of Kansas, 1967.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Tesuque, NM.

CAREER:

Southwest Texas State University, professor of American history. Worked in arts management, as a lecturer for the National Humanities Series, and as a consultant in London, England to British Airways and Honeywell.

AWARDS, HONORS:

James Beard Award, 1994, for Smoke and Spice: The Joy of Real Backyard Barbecue, and 1995, for The Border Cookbook: Authentic Home Cooking from the American Southwest and Northern Mexico.

WRITINGS:

WITH WIFE, CHERYL ALTERS JAMISON

The Rancho de Chimayo Cookbook: The Traditional Cooking of New Mexico, Harvard Common Press (Boston, MA), 1991.

Texas Home Cooking, Harvard Common Press (Boston, MA), 1993.

Smoke and Spice: The Joy of Real Backyard Barbecue, Harvard Common Press (Boston, MA), 1994, revised edition published as Smoke and Spice: Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue, 2003.

The Border Cookbook: Authentic Home Cooking from the American Southwest and Northern Mexico, Harvard Common Press (Boston, MA), 1995.

Best Places to Stay in Mexico, 3rd edition, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995.

Best Places to Stay in Hawaii, 3rd edition, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995.

Sublime Smoke: Bold New Flavors Inspired by the Old Art of Barbecue, Harvard Common Press (Boston, MA), 1996.

The Insider's Guide to Santa Fe, Taos, and Albuquerque, 4th edition, Harvard Common Press (Boston, MA), 1996.

Best Places to Stay in the Caribbean, 4th edition, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1996.

Born to Grill: An American Celebration, illustrations by Sara Love, Harvard Common Press (Boston, MA), 1998.

American Home Cooking: 400 Spirited Recipes Celebrating Our Rich Traditions of Home Cooking, Broadway Books (New York, NY), 1999.

A Real American Breakfast: The Best Meal of the Day, Anytime of the Day, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2002.

Chicken on the Grill: 100 Surefire Ways to Grill Perfect Chicken Every Time, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2004.

The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining: Spirited Recipes and Expert Tips for Barbecuing, Charcoal and Gas Grilling, Rotisserie Roasting, Smoking, Deep-Frying, and Making Merry, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2006.

Grilling for Friends: Surefire, Fun Food for Great Grill Parties, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Bill Jamison, with his wife, Cheryl, is the author of a number of cookbooks. The Jamisons first wrote travel guides, which led to their culinary writing. They now concentrate on food writing and have published books that reflect their tastes and backgrounds. Bill, for example, hails from the Texas Hill Country, where barbeque and grill cooking is a way of life. Neither of the Jamisons have had professional culinary training or restaurant experience, but instead have used trial and error to perfect their recipes and tips. The Jamisons were approached to write their first cookbook, The Rancho de Chimayo Cookbook: The Traditional Cooking of New Mexico, by the management of the Rancho de Chimayo restaurant in commemoration of their twenty-fifth anniversary. The cookbook includes recipes and a history of the restaurant and the village in which it is located.

They next published Smoke and Spice: The Joy of Real Backyard Barbecue, a half million copies of which were sold before it was reprinted nearly a decade later as Smoke and Spice: Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue. In this volume, the Jamisons perfect everything from the hot dog to country ribs, jerked salmon, and the traditional steak, include appropriate accompaniments, and finish with cool desserts to top off the meal. They offer instructions on building smokers and creating distinctive pastes, dry rubs, marinades, and mops. The second edition of the cookbook updates some of the old recipes and includes approximately 100 new ones.

The Border Cookbook: Authentic Home Cooking from the American Southwest and Northern Mexico contains more than 300 Western, Native American, and Spanish and Mexican-style recipes that are accompanied by histories of their origins and the cultures that created them. Patricia Sharpe noted in Texas Monthly that this cookbook "includes many classics that Texans know and love, such as pico de gallo and cumin-laced chili, but the most fascinating recipes may well be the ones that are least familiar."

Born to Grill: An American Celebration is a big book that includes recipes for every conceivable grill dish, including vegetarian and fish offerings. Meat dishes include nine kinds of beef burgers, plus others made of tuna, shellfish, lamb, venison, and turkey. In addition to burgers, the list of meat dishes includes chops, steaks, and kebobs, and there is a chapter devoted to grilling pizza. Other chapters discuss marinades and rubs. The Jamisons also instruct the reader on the various techniques of grilling, favoring their high-heat, open-air method. They discuss hot spots, flare ups, and other problems that can affect food quality. A Forbes reviewer wrote: "This could very well be the perfect summer cookbook for the backyard Prometheus."

American Home Cooking: 400 Spirited Recipes Celebrating Our Rich Traditions of Home Cooking contains dishes that are familiar and others, like conyo (roasted rabbit), that are not. Familiar meals include tuna casserole and pizza, and regional favorites, such as New England clam chowder, fried green tomatoes, and seafood salad. "Culinary trivia … and technique tips lend nuance and context to America's rich culinary tapestry," commented a Publishers Weekly contributor.

A Real American Breakfast: The Best Meal of the Day, Anytime of the Day includes 275 recipes that feature traditional offerings, such as eggs, pancakes, breads, and cereals, as well as original and international recipes, including Swedish pancakes and Asian rice porridge. Others that can be taken along are smoothies and egg sandwiches. Breakfast trivia is offered, as well as techniques. A Publishers Weekly contributor concluded: "Our country's breakfast traditions are wildly diverse, and the Jamisons' enthusiasm for their subject is a great incentive to get out of bed and try them all."

Chicken on the Grill: 100 Surefire Ways to Grill Perfect Chicken Every Time offers every imaginable chicken dish, from appetizers and wings to recipes that use the whole chicken. The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining: Spirited Recipes and Expert Tips for Barbecuing, Charcoal and Gas Grilling, Rotisserie Roasting, Smoking, Deep-Frying, and Making Merry covers every aspect of cooking referred to in the title, with 200 recipes for seasonings, rubs, and sauces and instructions on how to use them with various types of meat and fish, as well as vegetarian, salad, pasta, and dessert recipes, all of which can be cooked and/or eaten outdoors.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 15, 1994, Barbara Jacobs, review of Smoke and Spice: The Joy of Real Backyard Barbecue, p. 1314; October 15, 1995, Barbara Jacobs, review of The Border Cookbook: Authentic Home Cooking from the American Southwest and Northern Mexico, p. 375; April 15, 1998, Mark Koblauch, review of Born to Grill: An American Celebration, p. 1408; October 15, 1999, Barbara Jacobs, review of American Home Cooking: 400 Spirited Recipes Celebrating Our Rich Traditions of Home Cooking, p. 404.

Forbes, May 4, 1998, review of Born to Grill, p. S140.

Kansas City Star, June 26, 2006, Lauren Chapin, review of The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining: Spirited Recipes and Expert Tips for Barbecuing, Charcoal and Gas Grilling, Rotisserie Roasting, Smoking, Deep-Frying, and Making Merry.

Library Journal, April 15, 1998, Judith C. Sutton, review of Born to Grill, p. 109; October 15, 1999, Judith C. Sutton, review of American Home Cooking, p. 98; February 15, 2002, Judith C. Sutton, review of A Real American Breakfast: The BestMeal of the Day, Anytime of the Day, p. 173; March 15, 2003, Judith C. Sutton, review of Smoke and Spice, p. 110; May 15, 2004, Susan Hurst, review of Chicken on the Grill: 100 Surefire Ways to Grill Perfect Chicken Every Time, p. 107; April 15, 2006, Judith C. Sutton, review of The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining, p. 104.

Publishers Weekly, August 21, 1995, review of The Border Cookbook, p. 62; March 2, 1998, review of Born to Grill, p. 63; August 2, 1999, review of American Home Cooking, p. 77; January 21, 2002, review of A Real American Breakfast, p. 83; February 3, 2003, review of Smoke & Spice: Cooking With Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue, p. 72; February 13, 2006, review of The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining, p. 82.

Texas Monthly, October, 1995, Patricia Sharpe, review of The Border Cookbook, p. 130.