BBQ

A centuries-old technique, “barbecue” (or barbeque, BBQ) allows the flavor of “wood smoke, herbs, spices, and sauces” to permeate the food (specially meat) while it cooks over an indirect heat/fire. When used as a noun, the phrase “barbecue” can apply to both the meat and the cooking equipment. When used as a verb, the phrase “barbecue” describes the process of “cooking or smoking” food over “charcoal or wood.”

Around the time Columbus arrived in the New World, native inhabitants in the West Indies used a cooking technique called “barbacoa,” which is where the name “barbecue” (BBQ) originated. The Spanish introduced this “culinary technique” to North America, and other European immigrants carried it west.

Because of the diverse “cultures and cooking methods” that these European immigrants brought with them from all around Europe, the United States today boasts a wide range of regionally distinct “barbecue” culinary styles.

On “March 25, 1540,” Hernando de Soto spotted “barbacoa,” close to modern-day “Macon, Georgia” during his journey in North America, making him one of the first Europeans to do so.

In a traditional “barbacoa,” the meat is placed in a hole dug in the ground with a “pot” underneath it to collect the liquids, which then become a thick soup. After that, coal and “maguey” leaves are placed over it, and are burnt. The process of cooking requires several hours.

A lot of Americans choose to eat “barbecue” (BBQ) at their favorite restaurant or food truck because great barbecue is “tougher” to make than it seems to be. Barbecue professionals are referred to as “pitmasters” in the US because of their exceptional expertise at using smoke pits to cook meat.

The majority of Americans use propane or “charcoal pellets” to power their outdoor barbecues and grills. “Skewers” are used in barbecues to roast meat away from the flames. The word is said to mean “cook whole” by some.

Barbecuing is done slowly over “low indirect heat” and the food is seasoned by the smoking process, whereas Grilling is often done fast over moderate-to-high direct heat with “little or no” smoke.

The “taste” of barbecue (BBQ) in a given area is influenced by the availability of different woods for “smoking,” as different woods have distinct flavors. A softer, sweeter flavor is imparted by “apple, cherry, pear, maple, and alder” woods. The many types of oak and hard woods like “hickory, pecan, mesquite,” and others give off a strong smoke flavor. Fish and poultry are treated with softer flavors wood, whereas “pork” (pig) and “beef” (cattle) are treated with stronger flavors wood.

BBQ Styles -

In general, barbecue (BBQ) experts distinguish four regional “barbecue styles” in the US: Texas, Kansas City (Missouri), Memphis (Tennessee), and Carolinas. Also, an entire hog is cooked in an underground oven using charred rocks and banana leaves for “Kalua” (classic Hawaiian BBQ). Hawaii’s Luau is a “traditional celebration” that features this BBQ pork that has grown to be a major tourist attraction.

Carolinas -

The use of “pork” is this style’s most notable characteristic. Many people credit “Pitt County, North Carolina,” and pitmaster “Skilton Dennis” with being the originators of traditional Carolina barbecue. Using a fire pit made of “hickory or oak” wood, Dennis’ recipe involves slow-roasted and smoked “pork,” which is topped with a vinegar-based sauce flavored with herbs and spices. The primary distinction is that South Carolina barbecue typically uses “mustard-based” sauce, whereas North Carolina uses “vinegar-based.”

More than one barbecue restaurant per 1,000 residents is located in “Lexington, North Carolina” (which bills itself as “the barbecue capital of the world”).

SC Legislature Act Number 231 of 2014 recognized barbecue as the official “State Picnic Cuisine.” South Carolina is recognized as “The Birthplace of Barbecue.”

Kansas City -

A variety of meats were slowly roasted over a wood fire in “Kansas City, MO,” then spiced with a dry rub of herbs and spices. Often served accompanying Kansas City barbecue, rather than brushed directly on the meat, is a sauce made of “brown sugar, molasses, and tomatoes.” “Pork, beef, lamb, chicken, turkey, and occasionally fish” are among the several types of meats.

Kansas City is a major “barbecue” (BBQ) hub for a number of reasons, including the availability of hardwood forest, the growth of the meatpacking sector, a trademark sauce, and outspoken boosters. Kansas City is also referred to as “the barbecue capital of the world” by several independent and private writers.

The world’s largest barbecue competition is held by “The American Royal,” a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that has been a Kansas City tradition since 1899.

Memphis -

Pork is used in Memphis barbecue as well, and it can be either “wet” (cooked with sauce) or “dry” (rubbed with herbs and spices). Memphis-style BBQ is cooked slowly over a pit. Moreover, sauces with a “tomato and vinegar” basis are the hallmarks of Memphis barbecue. Typically, “dry” ribs are consumed sans sauce.

The World Championship Barbecue Cooking event of Memphis-style barbecue was named “the largest barbecue-cooking contest in the world” by the “Guinness Book of World Records” in 1990. Like The American Royal, “Memphis in May” (MIM) is a community-based non-profit organization with 501(c)(3) status that organizes the “World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest,” the largest event in the city.

Because the Memphis area was “densely forested,” raising pigs there was simple and inexpensive because the animals could roam the woods unattended.

Texas -

Texas “barbecue” (BBQ) is a method of cooking inexpensive beef pieces over an extended period of time at “low temperatures,” resulting in extremely tender meat. Mesquite smoke and “basic salt and pepper” rubs are used to flavor the roasted beef. Some Texas recipes call for a sweet sauce made of “molasses” that preserves the taste of the slow-cooked meats.

According to the “County Business Patterns” series, 47,326 restaurants and other eating facilities (NAICS 7225) were located in Texas in 2019. Many of these venues were serving the state’s well-known barbecue. Texans now boast that their BBQ is the “best in the world,” thanks to eateries and eye-catching roadside ads.

How To BBQ -

There are four or five different kinds of cooking “methods” (smoking, baking, braising, open-pit, closed-pit, etc.) that are used in barbecue. For barbecuing, people typically use cheaper, harder pieces of meat like “flank, bottom sirloin, and/or brisket.”

The classic method, known as “smoking,” involves cooking with smoke at lower temperatures (often between 115°C and 145°C) and noticeably longer cooking durations (14 to 17 hours). Indirect cooking of food in presence of fire is smoking. To ensure that the heat maintains the appropriate temperature throughout the operation, a “thermometer” is required to measure the air temperature inside the “smoker.”

The two primary steps in the cooking process of Braising are to “sear or brown the food over dry heat” and then simmer it slowly in a pot with a lid on while it cooks. The “moist” or “simmer” step entails cooking after submerging the target in a specific volume of “liquid” (such as water, wine, or broth). Additionally, braising makes it possible to “glaze the meat” with sauce and finish it over the fire right after the simmering stage.

Baking is a technique that uses “convection” to cook meats and starches at moderate temperatures for an average cooking period. It can be done in a “masonry oven” or any other form of baking oven. When food is baked, heated air is circulated around it to cook it “uniformly” all over. Direct and indirect heat options are available in “traditional” stove-ovens. A masonry oven, also called a “brick oven,” functions similarly to a “smoke pit” in that it permits open flames but cooks’ food considerably more quickly by using convection.

When using the “open-pit” barbecue method, the meat is grilled directly over a small fire that is four or five feet above it. The fire often “intensifies” in between, so this method is difficult and requires extreme caution. Most open pits are simple structures, consisting of a stack of six or seven “cinder blocks,” with a mesh grill placed on top. The bottom of the pit is filled with hot coals. In order to provide a semi-enclosed space that traps heat and smoke inside the pit, corrugated “tin sheets” are occasionally placed above the meat on the grill.

With “closed-pit” cooking, the meat is cooked inside a closed area so that flavor-enhancing smoke can penetrate meat. The “enclosed structures” that can be used for this technique range in size from big rooms like a car garage to small containers like 50-gallon barrels. One can utilize “direct or indirect” fire in a closed-pit structure.

*the aforementioned data came from “gov.georgia.gov/document/2023-proclamation/georgia-bbq-day-3252023/download”, “census.gov/history/www/homepage_archive/2021/july_2021.html”, “amview.japan.usembassy.gov/en/american-bbq/”, etc.

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