14 · Art, print, sources
Original work. Locked style.
Recipes, rubs, sauces, and methods were written from regional principles, then changed until they were not anyone else’s formula. History may name an originator in one sentence. The cook stays original.
Visual system
Color clipart, bold ink outline, vintage American poster / folk-print. Flat fills. Palette: barn red, navy, cream, post-oak brown, hickory gold, smoke gray, mustard. Stars and stripe banners in margins only. No photorealism, no real people, no logos, no branded pits. Titles live in type, not in the plate — image models cannot be trusted with lettering.
Image generation list
Style lock prepended to every prompt: vintage American WPA folk-print, thick bold black ink outlines, flat fills, limited palette as above, cream paper, no photorealism, no watermarks, no words.
| Figure | File | Prompt line |
|---|---|---|
| Fig. 1 Cover | cover.jpg | Vintage American WPA folk-print poster of a long horizontal offset barbecue smoker in navy and post-oak brown, sitting on a cream paper field. A flag-colored sky of barn red and navy with cream stripes rises behind it. Thin pale-blue wood smoke curls from a tall chimney. Thick bold black ink outlines, flat color fills, screen-print texture. Tiny five-point stars sit quietly in the four corners. Aged cream paper background. Color clipart, not a photograph. |
| Fig. 2 Map | map.jpg | Vintage American folk-print poster map of the United States as a simplified cream-colored landmass with bold black ink outlines. BBQ smoke-belt regions glow in flat fills. Thin blue smoke wisps. Stars and stripe banners in the margins. No city names. |
| Figs. 3–11 Gear | eq-*.jpg | Single unlabeled cooker on cream paper, bold ink, flat fills, no logos, no words. Offset, vertical, pellet, kamado, kettle two-zone, drum, brick pit, Santa Maria grate, gas + chips. |
| Fig. 12 Firebox | firebox.jpg | Offset firebox cross-section with air chevrons, coal bed, thin blue smoke riding the chamber ceiling toward the stack. No words. |
| Fig. 13 Stall / wrap | stall-wrap.jpg | Three briskets: unwrapped, butcher paper, foil. Clock marks growing. No words. |
| Figs. 14–18 Cuts | cut-*.jpg | Meat-cut plates: packer point/flat, pork shoulder, St. Louis ribs, spatchcock chicken, sausage coil. Folk-print, no words. |
| Figs. 19–24 Plates | plate-*.jpg | Regional trays: Texas, Memphis, Carolina, KC, Louisiana, Alabama. Folk-print, no words. |
| Fig. 25 Wood | wood-chart.jpg | Five wood stacks in a row, mesquite with a warning star. No words. |
| Figs. 26–27 Feel | icon-probe.jpg, icon-bend.jpg | Probe sliding like butter; ribs bending in a U. No words. |
| Fig. 28 Safety | safety-strip.jpg | Thermometer, gloves, contained fire, resting meat in a row. No words. |
Print notes
- Letter-size (8.5 × 11 in). Wide margins in the print stylesheet.
- Figures sit in the chapter they explain, not in an art dump at the back.
- Pit cards are designed as one-page checklists. Use the Print button.
- Navigation, search, and screen buttons hide in print.
- US customary first, metric in parentheses, on the page as in the app.
What this is not
- Not a restaurant method book. No pit is “the” method.
- Not a copy of a published rub. Change the ratios if you must; do not paste someone else’s.
- Not a whole-hog slaughter guide. Principles plus a shoulder substitute, because safety first.