“I think of barbecue as communal food. It brings people together for the best of times”

Adrian Miller

WRITER

Among the many titles Adrian Miller has held throughout his career—James Beard Award–winning culinary historian, attorney, staffer to President Bill Clinton and then Colorado governor Bill Ritter Jr.—perhaps the tastiest is his gig as a certified barbecue judge. “I always think of barbecue as communal food,” he says. “It brings people together for the, and for “Pit Boss” (p. 55), Miller interviewed the pitmaster Derrick Walker of Smoke-A-Holics BBQ in Fort Worth. Through all of Miller’s hands-on research, one dish reigns. “Spareribs,” he says, “are my touchstone.”