Jamison, Cheryl Alters 1953–

PERSONAL:

Born June 17, 1953, in Illinois; daughter of Marcellus M. and Betty E. Alters; married Bill Jamison (a writer), 1985; children: Heather Jamison Neale (stepdaughter). Education: Illinois State University, B.S., 1975; University of Illinois at Springfield, M.A., 1977.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Tesuque, NM.

CAREER:

Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

James Beard Award, 1994, for Smoke and Spice, and 1995, for The Border Cookbook.

WRITINGS:

WITH HUSBAND, BILL JAMISON

The Insider's Guide to Sante Fe, 2nd revised edition, Harvard Common (Harvard, MA), 1990, 4th revised edition published as The Insider's Guide to Sante Fe, Taos, and Albuquerque, 2000.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

American Home Cooking: Over Three Hundred Recipes Celebrating Our Rich Tradition of Home Cooking, Broadway Books (New York, NY), 1999.

A Real American Breakfast: The Best Meal of the Day, Any Time 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.

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

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.

SIDELIGHTS:

Cheryl Alters Jamison is a cookbook and entertainment writer who has collaborated with her husband Bill Jamison on numerous cookbooks focusing primarily on American food and outdoor cooking. For example, American Home Cooking: Over Three Hundred Recipes Celebrating Our Rich Tradition of Home Cooking provides tips on cooking a wide range of American favorites, from deviled eggs and stratas to game foods and pancakes. Writing in Booklist about American Home Cooking, Barbara Jacobs noted: "Is [it] … the definitive word on U.S. gastronomy? A case could be made." A Publishers Weekly contributor noted: "The Jamisons authoritatively articulate the pastiche of multicultural influences that characterize American regional cuisine, enabling readers to rediscover national (and regional) culinary treasures."

The Jamisons are big fans of outdoor cooking, which they address in several of their books, including Born to Grill: An American Celebration. The authors begin by instructing readers on the proper way to build and outdoor fire for grilling and then, along with their recipes, offer advice on the best condiments, many of them homemade. "Such meticulous attention to detail makes this a superior resource," wrote Mark Knoblauch in Booklist. A Forbes contributor simply stated: "This is it: the Bible of the [grill]." In another outdoor cookbook, titled Smoke and Spice: The Joy of Real Backyard Barbecue, the authors provide 300 barbecue recipes largely based on slow cooking over smoldering wood or other types of fires. Barbara Jacobs, writing in Booklist, noted that "no detail is too unimportant" for the authors.

In their 2002 book A Real American Breakfast: The Best Meal of the Day, Any Time of the Day, the Jamisons provide approximately three hundred breakfast recipes along with a colorful mix of photos and old-time restaurant menus. A California Bookwatch contributor called A Real American Breakfast "a lively, fun cookbook." Referring to the book as "immensely appealing," Judith Sutton wrote in Booklist that the book is "as much a social history as a cookbook."

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 of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico, p. 375; April 15, 1998, Mark Knoblauch, 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.14; May 1, 2000, Bill Ott and Brad Hooper, review of The Insider's Guide to Santa Fe, Taos, and Albuquerque, p. 1595.

California Bookwatch, October, 2006, review of A Real American Breakfast: The Best Meal of the Day, Any Time of the Day.

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

Inside MS, spring, 2001, Marsha Berman, review of Born to Grill, p. 48.

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 Sutton, review of A Real American Breakfast, p. 173.

New York Times Book Review, June 2, 2002, Dwight Garner, review of A Real American Breakfast: The Best Meal of the Day, Any Time of the Day, p. 6.

Publishers Weekly, August 21, 1995, review of The Border Cookbook, p. 62; April 1, 1996, review of Sublime Smoke, p. 71; 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.

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

Whole Earth, fall, 1998, Daphne Derven, review of Born to Grill, p. 111.

ONLINE

Cooking with the Jamisons,http://www.cookingwiththejamisons.com/ (April 5, 2007).

Global Gourmet,http://www.globalgourmet.com/ (April 5, 2007), "A Conversation with Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison, Authors of American Home Cooking."