Barbecue
Definition and Origin
In 1492 when Columbus discovered the New World he found
the Arawak Indians cooking meat over pits of fire – they called this process barbacoa which is, presumably, the origin
of what is today known as barbecue.
Barbecue (also barbeque, BBQ and barbie)
is a method and apparatus for char grilling food in the hot smoke of a wood
fire, usually charcoal fueled. In
the United States, to grill is to cook in this manner quickly, while barbecue is typically a much slower method utilizing less heat than grilling, attended to over an extended
period of several hours.
The term as a noun can refer to the meat or to the cooking
apparatus itself (the "barbecue grill" or
simply "barbecue"). The term as an adjective can refer to foods
cooked by this method. The term is also used as a verb for the act of cooking
food in this manner.
Barbecue is usually done in an outdoor environment by
cooking and smoking
the meat over wood or charcoal. Restaurant barbecue may be cooked in
large brick or metal ovens specially designed for that purpose.
Barbecue has numerous regional
variations in many parts of the world.
Welcome to the new world of barbecuing. Sure, this is still
the perfect way to entertain a group of friends on a hot, sunny day. But
today’s barbecue is also an integral part of our kitchen equipment which can be
used for everything from family meals to that special dinner party. And you
know what? There is something about the smoky aromas of food being cooked over
glowing coals that still, to this day, excites my palate and invariably starts my
mouth watering.
Barbecue Etymology
Most etymologists believe
that barbecue derives from the word barabicu found in the
language of the Taíno people of the Caribbean and
the Timucua of Florida, and entered European languages in the
form barbacoa. The word translates as "sacred fire
pit." The word describes a grill for cooking meat, consisting of a
wooden platform resting on sticks.
Traditional barbacoa involves
digging a hole in the ground and placing some meat (usually a whole goat)
with a pot underneath it, so that the juices can make a hearty broth. It is
then covered with maguey leaves and coal and set alight. The cooking
process takes a few hours.
It has been suggested that both
the word and cooking technique migrated out of the Caribbean and into other
languages and cultures, with the word (barbacoa) moving from Caribbean dialects
into Spanish, then Portuguese, French, and English.
The Oxford English Dictionary cites the first recorded use of the
word in the English language as a verb in 1661, in Edmund
Hickeringill's Jamaca Viewed: "Some
are slain, and their flesh forthwith Barbacu'd and eat." It also
appears as a verb in the published writings of John Lederer, following his
travels in the American southeast in 1672. The first known use of the word
as a noun was in 1697 by the British buccaneer William Dampier. In
his New Voyage Round the World, Dampier writes: And lay there all night,
upon our Borbecu's, or frames of Sticks, raised about 3-foot (0.91 m) from
the Ground.
Samuel Johnson's 1756 dictionary
gave the following definitions:
"To Barbecue – a term
for dressing a whole hog" (attestation to Pope) "Barbecue – a hog dressed whole"
While the standard modern English
spelling of the word is barbecue, local variations
like barbeque and truncations such as bar-b-q or bbq may
also be found. The spelling barbeque is given
in Merriam-Webster OnLine as a variant spelling, while the Oxford
English Dictionary states that barbecue is "often misspelled as
barbeque".
In the southeastern United
States, the word barbecue is used predominantly as a noun referring
to roast pork, while in the southwestern states cuts of beef are
often cooked.
Barbecuing Techniques
Barbecuing
encompasses four or five distinct types of cooking techniques. The original
technique is cooking using smoke at lower temperatures (usually around 240–270
°F or 115–125 °C) and significantly longer cooking times (several hours), known
as smoking.
Another technique is baking,
utilizing a masonry oven or any other type of baking oven, which uses
convection to cook meats and starches with moderate temperatures for an average
cooking time (about an hour plus a few extra minutes).
Yet another technique
is braising, which combines direct
dry heat charbroiling on a ribbed surface with a broth-filled pot for moist
heat, cooking at various speeds throughout the duration (starting fast, slowing
down, then speeding up again, lasting for a few hours).
Finally, grilling is done over direct dry heat,
usually over a hot fire (i.e., over500 °F (260 °C)) for a short time
(minutes). Grilling may be done over wood, charcoal, gas (natural gas or propane), or electricity.
1) Smoking
Smoke roasting or smoke baking refers to any
process that has the attributes of smoking combined with either roasting or
baking. This smoking method is sometimes referred to as "barbecuing",
"pit baking", or "pit roasting". It may be done in a smoke
roaster, closed wood-fired masonry oven or barbecue pit, any smoker that can
reach above 250 °F (121 °C), or in a conventional oven by placing a pan
filled with hardwood chips on the floor of the oven so the chips smolder and
produce a smoke bath. However, this should only be done in a well-ventilated
area to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.
Evidence suggests
that smoked foods may contain carcinogens. The smoking process contaminates
food with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are known carcinogens,
so, in theory, consuming smoked food increases the risk of gastrointestinal
cancer. Some studies have found a positive statistical correlation between
intestinal tract cancer and the frequent intake of smoked foods. In one
Hungarian longitudinal study, a district in which home-smoked meat was the
predominant protein source consumed showed that the incidence of stomach
cancer, relative to all other cancers, was nearly twice as high (47%–50%) as
that of the general Hungarian population (29.9%).
Other sources,
however, while agreeing that PAHs help cause cancer, note the dearth of
research studies proving a strong correlation between the intake of smoked
foods and increased cancer risk. The National Cancer Institute emphasizes that
"population studies have not established a definitive link between ...
cooked meats and cancer in humans," but suggests individuals reduce their
exposure to PAHs.
2) Baking
The masonry oven is
similar to a smoke pit in that it allows for an open flame, but cooks much
faster, and uses convection to cook. Barbecue-baking can also be done
in traditional stove-ovens. It can be used to cook not only meats, but breads
and other starches, and even various casseroles and desserts. It uses both direct and indirect heat to
surround the food with hot air to cook, and can be basted much the same as
grilled foods.
3) Braising
It is possible to
braise meats and vegetables in a pot on top of a grill. A gas or electric
charbroil grill would be the best choices for what is known
as barbecue-braising, or combining dry heat charbroil-grilling directly on
a ribbed surface and braising in a broth-filled pot for moist heat. To braise,
put a pot on top of the grill, cover it, and let it simmer for a few hours.
There are two advantages to barbecue-braising: the first is that this method
now allows for browning the meat directly on the grill before the braising, and
the second is that it also allows for glazing the meat with sauce and finishing
it directly over the fire after the braising, effectively cooking the meat
three times, which results in a soft textured product that falls right off the
bone. This method of barbecue has a varying duration (depending on whether a slow cooker or pressure
cooker is used), and is generally slower than
regular grilling or baking, but faster than pit-smoking.
4) Grilling
Grilling usually
involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for
cooking meat quickly. Food to be grilled is cooked on a grill (an open wire
grid such as a gridiron with a heat source above or below), a grill pan
(similar to a frying pan, but with raised ridges to mimic the wires of an open
grill), or griddle (a flat plate heated from below). Heat transfer to the food
when using a grill is primarily via thermal radiation. Heat transfer when using
a grill pan or griddle is by direct conduction. In the United States and
Canada, when the heat source for grilling comes from above, grilling is termed broiling.
In this case, the pan that holds the food is called a broiler pan, and heat
transfer is by thermal radiation.
Direct heat grilling
can expose food to temperatures often in excess of 260 °C (500 °F).
Grilled meat acquires a distinctive roast aroma from a chemical process called
the Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction only occurs when foods reach
temperatures in excess of 155 °C (310 °F).
Risks of grilling. As is true of any high-temperature frying
or baking, when meat is grilled at high temperatures, the cooking process can
generate carcinogenic chemicals. Two processes are thought to be responsible. Heterocyclic
amines - "HCAs are formed when amino acids, sugars, and creatine react at
high temperatures." Additionally, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons -
"PAHs are formed when fat and juices from meat grilled directly over an
open fire drip onto the fire, causing flames. These flames contain PAHs that
then adhere to the surface of the meat. PAHs can also be formed during other
food preparation processes, such as smoking of meats."
However it is possible to significantly reduce carcinogens
when grilling meat, or mitigate their effect. Garlic, rosemary, basil, mint, sage,
savory, marjoram, oregano, olive oil, cherries, and vitamin E have been shown
to reduce formation of both HCAs and PCAs. Another method is pre-cooking the
meat in the microwave, then draining meat juices so they do not fall onto
flames, preventing release of PCAs. Side dishes and drinks rich in antioxidants,
such as tea, have also been shown to neutralize the toxins by mixing in one's
stomach.
Benefits of grilling. Grilled foods
can be lower in saturated fat, if fat is allowed to drip out after it
liquefies.
How
Long Does It Take to Cook?
There are so many variables in barbecuing – the BBQ itself, which part
of the grill you are cooking on, the thickness of the meat, poultry or seafood,
even the weather. Remember you can cheat a little by making a very small cut in
anything with the point of a very small sharp knife and taking a peek. And, at
the risk of repeating myself, for larger joints, whole chickens and the like,
an instant-read thermometer is invaluable. I also have, on the side of my gas-fired
BBQ, a burner which certainly makes cooking sauces, blanching veggies and so on
a lot easier. But if this is not the case with your barbie, it’s worth considering
buying one of those small individual units complete with gas bottle which are available
in most Asian groceries, camping shops and hardware stores.
The
Barbecue Itself
I have both a kettle and a gas-fired BBQ. Although they are pretty much
interchangeable, I tend to use them for particular jobs. For example, I always
use the kettle for large pieces of meat, whole chickens and the like, while I
prefer to cook steaks, cutlets, fish fillets and all those small numbers on the
gas-fired version where the direct heat tends to be fiercer. And if you don't
happen to have a kettle barbecue but instead have a covered oven type gas-fired
number, just think of indirect heat as the equivalent of moderate heat, and
direct heat as fairly high.
When
is it Hot Enough?
To tell how hot your barbie is, hold your hand about 10 cm above the
grill, then start counting until you have to remove your hand – one potato, two
potatoes and so on until four, is a hot fire. Five to six potatoes is medium
high, seven to nine is medium, ten to twelve is medium low and thirteen to fifteen
is very low and the coals most probably need replenishing.
Barbecuing Styles
In British usage, barbecuing refers
to a fast cooking process directly over high heat,
while grilling refers to cooking under a source of direct,
high heat—known in the United States and Canada as broiling.
In American English usage, however, grilling refers to a
fast process over high heat, while barbecuing refers to a slow
process using indirect heat and/or hot smoke (very similar to some forms of roasting). For example, in a typical U.S. home grill, food
is cooked on a grate directly over hot charcoal, while in a U.S. barbecue, the
coals are dispersed to the sides or at significant distance from the grate. Its
South American versions are the southern Brazilian churrasco and
the Argentine asado.
Alternatively, an apparatus
called a smoker with a separate fire box may be used. Hot smoke is drawn past
the meat by convection for very slow cooking. This is essentially how barbecue
is cooked in most U.S. "barbecue" restaurants, but nevertheless, many
consider this to be a distinct cooking process called hot smoking.
American South and
Midwest
In the southern
United States, barbecue initially revolved around the cooking of
pork. During the 19th century, pigs were a low-maintenance food source
that could be released to forage for themselves in forests and woodlands. When
food or meat supplies were low, these semi-wild pigs could then be caught and
eaten.
It was the Spanish who
first introduced the pig into the Americas and to the American Indians.
The Indians, in turn, introduced the Spanish to the concept of true slow
cooking with smoke. The Spanish colonists came to South Carolina in
the early 16th century and settled at Santa Elena. It was in that early
American colony that Europeans first learned to prepare and to eat
"real" barbecue.
According to estimates, prior to
the American Civil War, Southerners ate around five pounds of pork for
every one pound of beef they consumed. Because of the poverty of the
southern United States at this time, every part of the pig was eaten
immediately or saved for later (including the ears, feet, and other
organs). Because of the effort to capture and cook these wild hogs, pig
slaughtering became a time for celebration, and the neighborhood would be
invited to share in the largesse. In Cajun culture, these are
called boucheries. These feasts are sometimes called 'pig pickin's.' The
traditional Southern barbecue grew out of these
gatherings.
Each Southern locale has its own particular variety of
barbecue, particularly concerning the sauce. North Carolina sauces
vary by region; eastern North Carolina uses a vinegar-based sauce, the
center of the state enjoys Lexington-style barbecue, which uses a
combination of ketchup and vinegar as their base, and western North
Carolina uses a heavier ketchup base. Lexington boasts of being "The Barbecue Capital of the World"
and it has more than one BBQ restaurant per 1,000 residents. South
Carolina is the only state
that includes all four recognized barbecue sauces, including mustard-based, vinegar-based, and light and
heavy tomato-based. Memphis barbecue is best known for tomato-
and vinegar-based sauces. In some Memphis establishments and in
Kentucky, meat is rubbed with dry seasoning (dry rubs)
and smoked over hickory wood without sauce; the finished
barbecue is then served with barbecue sauce on the side.
The barbecue of Alabama, Georgia,
and Tennessee is almost always pork served with a sweet tomato-based
sauce. However, several regional variations exist as well. Alabama is
particularly known for its distinctive white sauce, a mayonnaise- and
vinegar-based sauce, originating in northern Alabama, used predominantly on
chicken and pork. A popular item in North Carolina and Memphis is the pulled
pork sandwich served on a bun and often topped with coleslaw. Pulled pork is prepared by shredding the pork after it has
been barbecued.
Kansas City-style
barbecue is characterized by its use of different types of meat (including pulled pork, pork ribs, burnt
ends, smoked sausage, beef brisket, beef ribs, smoked/grilled chicken,
smoked turkey, and sometimes fish), a variety attributable to Kansas City's
history as a center for meat packing in the U.S. Hickory is the primary wood
used for smoking in KC, while the sauces are typically tomato based with sweet,
spicy and tangy flavor profiles. Burnt ends, the flavorful pieces of meat cut from the ends of a smoked beef or pork
brisket, are popular in many Kansas City-area barbecue restaurants.
Pit-beef prevails in Maryland and is often enjoyed at large
outdoor "bull roasts", which are common for club or association
fundraising events. Maryland-style pit-beef is not the product of barbecue
cookery in the strictest sense, as there is no smoking of the meat involved;
rather, it involves grilling the meat over a high heat. The meat is typically
served rare, with a strong horseradish sauce
as the preferred condiment.
The state of Kentucky, particularly Western Kentucky, is
unusual in its barbecue cooking, in that the preferred meat is mutton.
This kind of mutton barbecue is often used in communal events in Kentucky, such
as political rallies, county fairs and church fund-raising events.
In much of the world outside of
the American South, barbecue has a close association with Texas. Many barbecue
restaurants outside the United States claim to serve "Texas
barbecue", regardless of the style they actually serve. Texas barbecue is
often assumed to be primarily beef. This assumption, along with the inclusive
term "Texas barbecue", is an oversimplification. Texas has four main
styles, all with different flavors, different cooking methods, different
ingredients, and different cultural origins.
In the Midwest, Chicago-style is
popular and involves seasoning the meat with a dry
rub, searing over a hot grill and a long slow cook in an oven. The meat,
typically ribs, is then finished with a sweet-tangy sauce.
Starting
the Feast
Let’s be fair, for an everyday meal nothing much apart from
good bread is really needed to start proceedings (plus, of course, the best
butter or olive oil). But a quick flash over the coals for that bread plus a
vigorous rubbing of a cut garlic clove will make bread even better (as will, in
the Spanish style, a similar vigorous rubbing with the fleshy side of a cut
tomato). And let us not forget bruschetta, which can be as simple as charred
bread topped with diced tomato, onion and basil with a splash of good oil, or
as complicated as a ragout of exotic mushrooms or braised artichokes on top.
There will be occasions when you need to pull out all the
stops and wow the mob. In this instance I often just buy a selection of fresh
seafood – prawns in the shell, freshly shucked oysters, crabs, yabbies, bugs
etc – and serve the lot on ice with plenty of napkins, finger bowls and a
selection of sauces. An antipasto platter is always a hit too. I have to admit
I cheat a little, dash into my favorite deli and pile my platter with goodies
such as pâtés, terrines, sliced prosciutto and salami, Persian feta, various
dips, marinated olives and whatever else takes my fancy. I then add some homemade
stuff such as asparagus wrapped in prosciutto (or smoked salmon) with
horseradish sour cream, barbecued veggies in the Spanish style, roasted capsicums or, in fact, almost any of the vegetable
dishes. I even, when I’m feeling generous, throw on some of the aforementioned
fresh seafood, once again breaking out the napkins, fingerbowls and sauces. And
may I suggest, after all this amazing effort, if the guests aren’t suitably
impressed I recommend that you:
(a) Never invite them again.
(b) Eat the lot yourself.
Barbecuing
Events and Gatherings
The
word barbecue is also used to refer to a social gathering where food
is served, usually outdoors in the late afternoon or evening. In the southern
United States, outdoor gatherings are not typically called
"barbecues" unless barbecue itself will actually be on the menu,
instead generally favoring the word "cookouts". The device used for
cooking at a barbecue is commonly referred to as a "barbecue",
"barbecue grill", or "grill". In North Carolina, however,
"barbecue" is a noun primarily referring to the food and never used
by native North Carolinians to describe the act of cooking or the device on
which the meat is cooked.
Often referred to as
"The World Series of
Barbecue", The American Royal Barbecue Contest is held each
October in Kansas City, Missouri. This event comprises two distinct
competitions held over the course of four days. The first contest is the
Invitational Contest, with competing teams being required to obtain an invitation by winning other qualifying
contests throughout the year. The second competition is an open contest that
any team can compete in. This open contest is the largest championship barbecue
competition in the world, with the 2007 event attracting 496 teams.
The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest is held annually
in Memphis, Tennessee, during the Memphis in May festival. According
to the Guinness Book of World Records, it is the world's largest pork barbecue contest.
Other barbecue
competitions are held in virtually every state in the United States during the
warmer months, usually beginning in April and going through September. These
events feature keen competitions between teams of cooks and are divided into
separate competitions for the best pork, beef and poultry barbecue and for the
best barbecue sauces.
Other Uses
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