Barbecue: the great American pastime

Baseball may be up to the task, but barbecue is another great American pastime. While its popularity is well known, its origins, its definition, and even how it’s spelled (BBQ, bar-be-cue, barbecue) are clouded by the thick smoke from the grill.

For many Americans, “barbecue” is a gathering of friends in the backyard to eat food prepared over a hot grill. For those who are serious about their barbecue, there is a distinction between barbecue and grilling. Grilling is preparing food outdoors using the indirect heat of a wood fire. Grilling is what many backyard chefs do when they cook hamburgers, hot dogs, seafood, whatever on a hot grill using direct heat. That grill can use barbecue briquettes, wood chips, gas, or any combination of those fuel ingredients. Both can involve some kind of hot sauce or hot barbecue sauce to heat things up. Roast, because it is slow and indirect cooking, is generally reserved for large chunks of meat such as pork (whole or roast), beef brisket, ribs, etc. It can take more than 12 hours to cook a whole pork or large beef brisket with ribs that take four to five hours to cook. “These low temperatures and the slow, low and slow cooking create the unique, smoky look, taste and texture of meat that is true barbecue,” notes the California Barbecue Association website.

There are almost as many theories about the origins of the word “barbecue” as there are ways to prepare barbecue. Some trace the French word “barbe-a-queue”, which is loosely translated as from beard to tail. In other words, cook a pig from tip to toe. Others say that the term derives from the Spanish word “barbecue”, which means a frame of sticks, which was used to hoist a piece of meat over the fire to cook it. And the term “barbecue” is supposedly derived from the Arawak word “babracot” for wooden appliances. Tar Heel magazine was quoted as saying that the word “barbecue” came from a 19th century ad that cited a combination of whiskey bar, brewery, pool establishment, and roast pork vendor, which is summed up as bar-beer-cue. -pig.

How it got to the United States is also anyone’s guess. The California Barbecue Association posits that barbecue first came to California by Franciscan friars who brought it from the Caribbean. In the 17th century, the friars came to California, which was then part of Mexico.

Another theory is that barbecue originated in the late 19th century during Western cattle drives. Slow cooking the tough meat over a fire was a way to tenderize the meat and make it tastier. German butchers reportedly brought barbecue to Texas in the mid-1800s. The truth is, barbecue has been an American pastime for hundreds of years. Some say that large barbecue gatherings were common from about 50 years before the Civil War in the south. Later in the 19th century, it became a mainstay at church picnics and political rallies, as well as private parties. Today almost everyone grills or barbecues at one time or another, whether it’s a small hibachi grill on an urban fire escape or a complete pork roast with a barbecue pit dug in your backyard.

There are also regional differences when it comes to barbecue. Vinegar-based sauces are reportedly what turns backyard chefs on fire in North and South Carolina. Tennessee barbecue sauces tend to be spicy and sweet, as well as tomato-based. Dry massages can be used almost anywhere. Kansas City, Missouri, another barbecue place, uses a tomato-based sauce like Tennesseans, but also adds molasses to the mix. Texas sauces show a Mexican influence and can use chili peppers and limes in the sauce or as an accompaniment to food.

In addition, the type of meat that is used also varies by region. Beef is paramount in Texas, while pork is the ancient resource of the Carolinas and the rest of the South. In the Pacific Northwest and the East Coast, most people grill rather than barbecue. Specifically for the Pacific Northwest, grilling fish, especially salmon, is popular as is the use of cedar planks to add flavor.Grillin ‘and chillin’ with the Flintstones

Certainly, it is clear that cooking over a wood fire was something that we all did in prehistoric times and mainly with meat. It was the first type of cuisine, popular around 125,000 BC. C. and helped propel us to the current meat-centered diet.

The barbecue and grill also emerged independently all over the planet. Grilling is a popular way of preparing meat in China and Korea, for example, as well as the Caribbean.

According to the History Channel, “barbecue” first appeared in print in 1655 when the United States was a colony of Great Britain, and in the mid-19th century barbecue was a popular way of preparing meat, especially in the West.

Barbecue really started cooking in the 1920s thanks to Henry Ford and his assembly line. It sounds like an odd couple, Henry Ford and barbecue, but economic necessity attracted Ford to create the charcoal briquette, now a critical fuel source for grills. Ford invented the briquette because its assembly line produced not just cars, but lots of pieces of wood. Ford thought he could turn his junk into cash and he did.

Similarly, utility companies introduced gas grills in the 1950s and then a Weber Brothers Metal Works worker designed the first Weber kettle grill in 1951, also according to the History Channel.

As time passes, the steakhouses continue to perfect their craft. One of the top barbecue trends is the “water smoker,” says the website infoplease.com. The water smoker can be powered by electricity or charcoal. An outdoor cook burns wood chips and boiling water to cook the meat slowly while the water / steam circulates the food and keeps it moist.

And whether you’re grilling or grilling, one of the best ways to prepare meat or vegetables is to first marinate them in the marinade or sauce of your choice. If you are simply grilling meat over a hot flame, marinades may not be required, but a dipping sauce provided with the food can add flavor.