Barbecue - What is it

[SmokyMose]

I think it needs to involve a bit of smoke to be BBQ, whether charcoal or wood, which is why I've never been interested in a gas grill...

 

[SmokyMose]

Rainy day and I'm googling the origins of BBQ - a lot of info out there but this was a quick and interesting read

What's the History of the Barbecue?

A favorite American pastime and a summer tradition for many, Barbecues have a long and surprisingly patriotic history.

www.livescience.com

So much for the BBQ Pistol ................

Very interesting texo!

 

[cansmoke]

Interested in everyone's opinion on this.
When you say "barbecue," what are you actually talking about?

I asked friends and family. Noone seems to agree on criteria.

Pulled pork, ribs, brisket. I think most people would call that barbecue.
What about smoked sausages?
Burgers and hotdogs on a gas grill?
Rotisserie chicken?
Anything cooked outside over fire and smoke?
Must be low-n-slow?
Does it need a certain type of sauce or rub?
...etc...
?

To me barbeque is a style of cooking not what food is cooked. It also is a "lifestyle" thing with a "cold one" getting involved somehow OUTSIDE

 

[noboundaries]

Growing up in California, barbeque was grilling. "We're going to barbeque," or "Go fire up the barbeque," both referred to the charcoal grill. Gas grills were unheard of when I was growing up.

We moved to TN in my early teen years. The deck had a natural gas grill with lava rocks. Our neighbors had a charcoal and a natural gas grill. Grills were grills. Barbeque referred to whatever meat you grilled, or smoked if you had a smoker. I had to adapt to the difference in usage for the word barbeque.

Now that I'm back in CA, I grill, I smoke, and I eat barbeque. Still, in CA, anything cooked over an open fire of any kind is barbeque or barbequing.

 

[bigfurmn]

Whoa mind blown. Never really thought about it. I personally believe BBQ is more the event than it is what is cooked. You invite friend and family over for a BBQ I think you can smoke, grille, griddle, fry or any other outdoor (very important) cooking. I believe BBQ is how and who you cook with, not what you are making. Then again I could be totally wrong too. Lol

 

[PolishDeli]

Yep, thats about the range of answers i expected. Thanks for contributing everyone.

For me, the definition is fluid.

At a July 4th BBQ, i'm expecting grilled hotdogs.
But, at a BBQ restaurant, I'm not expecting grilled hotdogs.

Thanksgiving Ham? It's smoked pork after all. But its just not BBQ.

Smoked Mackerel? It checks all the BBQ boxes. But its not BBQ. Its smoked mackerel.

" I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it..." - Justice Potter Stewart

 

[shreya09]

Electric barbeque grills are highly versatile and enable indoor and outdoor cooking. This is expected to increase the demand for these grills in the next few years. Integration of various cooking styles such as pit style cooking propels the growth of the global barbecue grill market.