Steven Raichlen

Author, journalist, lecturer, and TV host, Steven Raichlen is the man who reinvented modern barbecue. His 32 books include the international blockbusters The Barbecue Bible and How to Grill and the New York Times bestselling Planet Barbecue and Project Smoke (Workman Publishing). In The Brisket Chronicles, Raichlen explores how this epic meat is prepared around the world, from Texas barbecue to Jewish pastrami to Vietnamese pho. His latest book, How to Grill Vegetables, focuses on global plant-based grilling. Raichlen’s books (more than 6 million copies in print) have won five James Beard Awards and three IACP Julia Child Awards and have been translated into 17 languages. In 2012, he published his first novel: The Hermit of Chappaquiddick.

 

Steven Raichlen hosts the popular TV shows Steven Raichlen’s Project Fire and Project Smoke, Primal Grill, and Barbecue University on American Public Television, and stars in several French-language TV shows, including Le Maitre du Grill and Les Incontournables du BBQ. His Italian TV show, Steven Raichlen Grills Italy, airs on the Gambero Rosso network. An award-winning journalist, Raichlen writes regularly for The New York Times. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Esquire, GQ, and all the major food magazines. In 2015, he was inducted into the KCBS Barbecue Hall of Fame.

 

In 2021, Raichlen launched Planet Barbecue™, a line of ready to heat and eat barbecue and grilled foods. He also created the Project Smoke, Barbecue Essentials, and Steven Raichlen Signature lines of grilling accessories and seasonings. His latest venture is a new restaurant concept: the Star Grill by Steven Raichlen for the Windstar cruise line. The founder of Barbecue University™ at Montage Palmette Bluff in South Carolina, Raichlen has lectured on this history of barbecue at institutions as diverse as Harvard, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution.

 

Steven Raichlen holds a degree in French literature from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and studied medieval cooking in Europe on a Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowship. He was also awarded a Fulbright. When not grilling, you’ll find him on his bicycle or at the helm of his sailboat, Barbacoa. He and his wife, Barbara, live in Miami and Martha’s Vineyard. His websites are stevenraichlen.com and barbecuebible.com.