SOUL FOOD

Cuisine, One Plate at a Time,” which won Miller his first James Beard Foundation Book Award in 2014. Three years later he published “The President’s Kitchen Cabinet,” which introduced readers to the many talented Black chefs, some enslaved, who cooked in the White House.

Although “Black Smoke” has a national perspective, Miller dishes up many choice morsels of Denver barbecue lore. He takes his audience back to the 1880s when a group of Denver businessmen hired Columbus B. Hill, an African American barbecue chef, to cater a picnic for 2,500 people. The meal, Miller wrote, featured pitsmoked “…beef, possum and other tempting delicacies.”

One problem: as Hill’s fame spread, thousands of uninvited guests began showing up at his barbecues.

“…and they were hungry,” Miller noted dryly in “Black Smoke.” Even for possum.

Miller also profiles Denver’s most beloved pitmaster, “Daddy” Bruce Randolph. The Arkansas