What do you guys think of these articles are on the origin of BBQ/low and slow meat smoking?

[noboundaries]

And then came Edward G. Kingsford, George Stephen of Weber Bros. Metal Works, and Don McGlaughin and his gas-heated lava rocks. American modern grilling was born to became part of the summer cultural landscape. Spanish Caballeros, who had been grilling for generations, went "meh," and returned to their parrilla grills.

 

[paul_alex]

Just like today BBQ IS BBQ whether it's a Single Pork Butt or a Whole Hog!.
To say "BBQ was only done once or twice at big events." Is dismissing the reality of Southern Living.
Outdoor Kitchens and Outdoor Cooking in the South was and to a point is a way of life. A Kitchen Stove or Fireplace would heat a house that is already 95°F with 90% Humidity! Outdoor or " Summer Kitchens ", gets the family fed and keeps the house cooler. If your firing up your BBQ Pit to cook a Butt for dinner or Smoking a Whole Hog for your Daughter's Wedding, is that not the Same thing? Both are making BBQ!

" White people were eating Richer cuts..."

That depends on the time of year! Poor people, White, Black, whatever, ate what they Grew, Hunted, or Raised. If you have a small homestead Farm, you likely have a Garden, raise Chickens for Eggs and Meat, raised Hogs for meat, maybe had a Cow or Goats for Milk and Meat and Hunted for Variety.
The bulk of the families diet was grown in the garden or purchased inexpensively like Rice. There is a reason Southern Cornbread is a thing, Corn is easily grown with a high yield compared to other Grains like Wheat for Bread Flour. A bunch of Vegetables, Greens, Beans and some Preserved Smoked Meat for Flavor, Ham Hocks, and you could Fill Bellies!
Hunting provided a variety of Fresh Meat as did old, spent, Laying Hens and Roosters. Mom's Chicken and Dumplings! YUM.

Slaughtering a Hog was an Event and a Fall, Cold Weather, Ritual...Yes, you got to eat the Prime Loins ( Rich People Meat) as Roasts or Chops for a day or two, but you were preserving the bulk of that meat for the rest of the Year. Common methods of preservation, Salt Packing and Curing, Smoking then Drying, whole cuts and Sausage.

It's easy and common now, to Demonize Southern living as Rich White Folks eatin' High on the Hog while Oppressed Poor Black Folks were eating what white people threw away. That may have been reality for Slaves on the Plantation and to a point what was happening in some Cities, sad and a shameful part of American history...But...The reality is, after the Civil War and to this day, EVERYBODY did the Best they Could. They Made due with what they had or did without...JJ

I'm not agreeing with what they are saying. Just trying to understand the argument. I'll try to do some research from primary sources to determine if BBQ was done more regularly than they are arguing. But the gist of their argument is Native Americans taught blacks who further developed BBQ and then whites came along once everything from the technique and sauces were invented and started cooking it themselves. I think BBQ was the true melting pot of cuisine with everybody contributing something but that's not an acceptable viewpoint anymore. But let's say we accept the story that Native Americans invented it. I somehow doubt only African Americans were the only ones who smelled what Natives were cooking and were like "Maybe I should do that too. Smells great!".

But I think Central Texas BBQ should not be included with the rest of Southern BBQ as it is when it comes to this issue. It has a different lineage and different techniques.

 

[chef jimmyj]

There are people TODAY, that Insist and will argue that...
The World is Flat!
The Moon Landing with the thousands of people that worked on the project, is an Elaborate Hoax,
The Earth was Created in 7 Days approximately 5000 years ago and...
HITLER was a very Warm and Friendly Guy!!!

So...Why not add...
The TWO MOST PRIMITIVE CULTURES ON THE PLANET, Africans and Native Americans, got together and invented Barbecue while the MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED and CULINARILY ACCOMPLISHED COOKS IN THE WORLD, including the, French, Italian, German, Spanish and English Colonists/Newly Independant Americans, just stood by, watched...Then STOLE BARBECUE having no knowledge of Low and Slow meat Cooking and Smoking!!!

OK...That makes Perfect Sense to me!

Look, I have to go now. My Kids are waiting for me to join them on ALTAR7 a planet of the center Star in Orion's Belt...JJ

 

[paul_alex]

There are people TODAY, that Insist and will argue that...
The World is Flat!
The Moon Landing with the thousands of people that worked on the project, is an Elaborate Hoax,
The Earth was Created in 7 Days approximately 5000 years ago and...
HITLER was a very Warm and Friendly Guy!!!

So...Why not add...
The TWO MOST PRIMITIVE CULTURES ON THE PLANET, Africans and Native Americans, got together and invented Barbecue while the MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED and CULINARILY ACCOMPLISHED COOKS IN THE WORLD, including the, French, Italian, German, Spanish and English Colonists/Newly Independant Americans, just stood by, watched...Then STOLE BARBECUE having no knowledge of Low and Slow meat Cooking and Smoking!!!

OK...That makes Perfect Sense to me!

Look, I have to go now. My Kids are waiting for me to join them on ALTAR7 a planet of the center Star in Orion's Belt...JJ

I'm dying laughing over here

There's also Cajun cochon de lait and as far as I know Cajuns are the epitome of poor non slaveowning whites. Of course there is a video of the Cochon de Lait festival where it is mentioned that a black guy cooked for some of the first festivals. Maybe he invented cochon de lait according to the rewrite histry crowd?

In addition Greeks have antikristo. They also have kleftiko which is lamb cooked slowly underground.

And of course Central Texas BBQ is a continuation of European smokehouse type smoking imo.

And of course German spanferkel.

Even Sardinia wants to get in on the action ().

Even this article mentions the indirect heat of Sardinian porcetto. I wonder how these Sardinians managed to appropriate Native American and African American culture.

Sardinian Spit-roasted Porcetto: Tradition and Culinary Secrets - La Cucina Italiana

A recipe handed down verbally for hundreds of years, Sardinian spit-roasted suckling pig is one of the island’s most typical dishes.

www.lacucinaitaliana.com

I can't believe how dumb this argument is but here we are. I don't know why it bothers me so much. Other than taking it as a personal attack, I hate people trying to rewrite history to suit their modern sensibilities.

 

[paul_alex]

I mean come to think of it pretty much every culture has some form of low and slow, cooked over indirect heat, BBQed meat. Youtubing found me examples of goat in Iran, lamb in Morocco being cooked this way with the wood fire at somewhat of a distance, underground or spit roasted with some distance. Pretty sure this goes way back to when were domesticated or even before that. BBQ mammoth?

 

[paul_alex]

And then came Edward G. Kingsford, George Stephen of Weber Bros. Metal Works, and Don McGlaughin and his gas-heated lava rocks. American modern grilling was born to became part of the summer cultural landscape. Spanish Caballeros, who had been grilling for generations, went "meh," and returned to their parrilla grills.

Are parrilla grills good?

But going back to the premise of this thread seems like all of those things were invented by white people but yet BBQ is still somehow a black and native thing.

Despite Europe having
-indirect cooking of whole hogs (Sardinia), they are also sometimes spit roasted and cooked in fireplaces
-greek antrikristo
-spit roasting everywhere in the continent
among other techniques.

Yet somehow Native Americans get credit for low and slow grilling.

chef jimmyj was right about this idea being nonsense.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Yet somehow Native Americans get credit for low and slow grilling.

chef jimmyj chef jimmyj was right about this idea being nonsense.

Where the confusion occurs is credit being given to Native North Americans.
While cooking meat over or near a fire is Prehistoric, the particular technique of building a Grill over the fire is credited to Native South Americans, specifically the Caribbean Island tribe called the, TAINO....They called the technique Barbacoa, which morphed into Barbecue...JJ

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.google.com

A favorite American pastime and a summer tradition for many, barbecues have a long and surprisingly patriotic history.
They began when a human ancestor called Homo erectus began cooking meat with fire about 1.8 million years ago, according to Planet Barbecue (Workman Publishing, 2010). But barbecues the way that Americans know them now meat cooked over a grill or pit, covered in spices and basting sauce originated in the Caribbean.
The word barbecue comes from the language of a Caribbean Indian tribe called the Taino. Their word for grilling on a raised wooden grate is barbacoa. The word first appeared in print in a Spanish explorer's account of the West Indies in 1526, according to Planet Barbecue.
Since then, the popularity of barbecues has spread like wildfire. The history of barbecuing in America dates to colonial times, and it has been a part of American culture ever since. In fact, one of the first laws enacted in the colony of Virginia during the 1650s forbade the discharge of guns at a barbecue.

 

[SmokinEdge]

It’s interesting to note, while all innovations took place in Europe, there were the Chinese, the Inuit Indian and American Indian as well as Africa and South American peoples all at the same time. How about those Hawaiian folks!
All people come to the same conclusion, usually, when left alone. Like my dad always said, “ nothing new under the sun, son” I believe that.

 

[paul_alex]

Where the confusion occurs is credit being given to Native North Americans.
While cooking meat over or near a fire is Prehistoric, the particular technique of building a Grill over the fire is credited to Native South Americans, specifically the Caribbean Island tribe called the, TAINO....They called the technique Barbacoa, which morphed into Barbecue...JJ

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.google.com

A favorite American pastime and a summer tradition for many, barbecues have a long and surprisingly patriotic history.
They began when a human ancestor called Homo erectus began cooking meat with fire about 1.8 million years ago, according to Planet Barbecue (Workman Publishing, 2010). But barbecues the way that Americans know them now meat cooked over a grill or pit, covered in spices and basting sauce originated in the Caribbean.
The word barbecue comes from the language of a Caribbean Indian tribe called the Taino. Their word for grilling on a raised wooden grate is barbacoa. The word first appeared in print in a Spanish explorer's account of the West Indies in 1526, according to Planet Barbecue.
Since then, the popularity of barbecues has spread like wildfire. The history of barbecuing in America dates to colonial times, and it has been a part of American culture ever since. In fact, one of the first laws enacted in the colony of Virginia during the 1650s forbade the discharge of guns at a barbecue.

Right. Other people had low and slow smoking but they didn't have the raise wooden grate which nobody really even uses anymore. Our modern BBQ is more likely related to European smokehouses imo.

I mean its hard to argue that this spit roast from Lebanon is not low and slow meat smoking.

 

[paul_alex]

It’s interesting to note, while all innovations took place in Europe, there were the Chinese, the Inuit Indian and American Indian as well as Africa and South American peoples all at the same time. How about those Hawaiian folks!
All people come to the same conclusion, usually, when left alone. Like my dad always said, “ nothing new under the sun, son” I believe that.

True. Every culture has spit roasting. I bet even neanderthals had it lol

 

[mneeley490]

True. Every culture has spit roasting. I bet even neanderthals had it lol

Yeah, you haven't lived until you've tried BBQ'd mastodon. Ah, the good ol' days...

 

[paul_alex]

Yeah, you haven't lived until you've tried BBQ'd mastodon. Ah, the good ol' days...

or steppe mammoth!

 

[paul_alex]

Also I think it goes without saying Miachel Twitty is indeed a twit. As if only Africans and African American has slow roasted meats over open fires and Europeans and Middle Easterners didn't.

No surprise this triple chinned degenerate probably weighs 400 lbs.