Barbecue is one of those crazy words that means different things to different people. For one thing, fast food restaurants claim that anything with BBQ sauce is barbecue. On the other hand, die-hard backyard grillers (which tend to be a really particular bunch) think that only a particular cut of meat with a particular sauce cooked a particular way on a particular wood counts as barbecue. Smoking and grilling only confuse things more, are they different from grilling or are they different types of grilling?
Well, this article will try to clear all this up for you by describing exactly what barbecue means. There is quite a bit of discussion as to whether “barbecue” is a noun (a type of food) or a verb (a cooking method). Personally, I’d say it’s as much a style of cooking as it is a type of food (which, contrary to popular belief, doesn’t necessarily include BBQ sauce). True grilling requires four things. A barbecue almost always cooks meat first (with a few exceptions, like corn on the cob or potatoes). Second, it’s usually cooked outdoors (but we’ll make an exception for restaurants that build special indoor kitchens). Third, meat cooked over a live fire, not in an oven or on a stove. Fourth, true barbecue is slow cooked with indirect heat at a low temperature.
It is for this reason that grilling is not barbecue (and all suburban steakhouses are free to slap me with their spatulas for saying that). When grilling, meat cooks quickly (within minutes) over direct heat at a high temperature (5000F or higher). In barbecue, the meat is cooked slowly (in hours) in indirect heat at a low temperature (between 2000F and 2500F). Smoking counts as barbecue, it meets all the requirements listed above, but is a specialized type that includes aromatic smoke to flavor the meat. Now, you may be wondering (and rightly so) how the end result of grilled meat differs from, say, oven roasted or pan roasted meat. The answer is that barbecued meat is extremely tender and juicy.
Indirect low-temperature heat helps prevent meat from drying out, keeping it juicy. The long, slow cook time breaks down the collagen in the meat, making even the toughest cuts of meat nice and tender for easy eating. What most people don’t realize (including some die-hard grillers) is that barbecue marinades, ribs, sticks, and sauces are designed to achieve the ultimate goal of juicy, tender meat. Marinades almost always include an acid-based ingredient, such as vinegar, lemon juice (or some other citric acid), wine, or even beer. During the long soak of several hours, these acids tenderize the meat by breaking down the tissue, making it more tender and allowing the meat to absorb more moisture for a juicier end product when grilled. The rib almost always contains a healthy dose of salt, which draws the juices of the meat to the surface and prevents it from drying out. BBQ sauces for basting, usually applied in the later stages of cooking, frequently contain some type of sugar (brown sugar, molasses, or honey), which caramelizes around the meat from the heat and seals in the juices (olive and other oils). produce the same effect).
Even barbecue sauces (which in the US are either tomato or vinegar based) contain acids that continue to break down the meat, keeping it tender and moist even while eating. One last distinctive element of roast beef is a smoky flavor. Cooking over high heat allows the meat to absorb the smoke from burning wood. Even when cooked over charcoal or gas briquettes instead of wood, the meat takes on at least a hint of that indefinable grilled flavor. Smoking, of course, is a specialized form of grilling that deliberately tries to emphasize the smoky flavor. So that’s barbecue, meat cooked low and slow until juicy and tender. Different cultures in different countries have their own tastes and traditions of homegrown barbecue, but we will describe them in the next article.
